A Reflection on the Readings for the Third Week of Advent, December, 15, 2024
Reading 1: Zep 3:14-18a
Responsorial Psalm: Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.
Reading 2: Phil 4:4-7
Alleluia: Is 61:1 (cited in Lk 4:18)
Gospel: Lk 3:10-18
The message of the Season of Advent is: Repent, and prepare in anticipation for the coming of Christ. We are to watch with anticipation and be prepared, through repentance of sins, for the day of the Lord. And because we believe that Christ came into the world at his Incarnation, he has entered our hearts through the scriptures and the teachings he entrusted to the church, encouraging us to repent of our sins. Because we believe he will come again, we are called to rejoice and watch with anticipation for his coming again. Rejoicing in the Lord is the “golden thread” in our readings this week.
Zephaniah received his call to prophecy in the reign of King Josiah (640 to 609 B.C.) which places Zephaniah slightly earlier than Jeremiah. Zephaniah’s writings may have influenced Jeremiah.
Josiah was one of the good kings of Judah and the 2nd Book of Kings describes Josiah as finding what he believed to be the Law of Moses in the temple during renovations of the temple. According to 2nd Kings chapters 22 & 23, it would appear that the people didn’t even know they had such a law. Josiah ordered the Passover of the Lord to be observed as described in the book found in the temple. “No Passover such as this had been observed during the period when the Judges ruled Israel, or during the entire period of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, until the eighteenth year of King Josiah…” (2Kgs 23:22-23). If the Passover had not been celebrated since the people entered the Promised Land under Joshua, then it appears that they were unaware of the law prescribed by Moses during the Exodus. Josiah was so moved by finding this law that he ordered reforms throughout the land in compliance with the Mosaic Law. “Before him (Josiah), there had been no king who turned to the Lord as he did, with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole strength, in accord with the entire law of Moses; nor could any after him compare with him” (2Kgs 23:25). Zephaniah would certainly have found these reforms favorable. Unfortunately, when Josiah died in 609, his sons succeeded him to the throne and the old idolatry returned. This seems to be when Zephaniah was active.
Zephaniah is a short book of only three chapters, corresponding to the three divisions of the book. The first chapter declares a day of judgment for Judah in which the prophet inveighs against the sins of idolatry and lack of faith and against Josiah’s sons for their rejection of the Mosaic Law and corresponding reforms instituted by their father.
But, according to Zephaniah, judgment will not be limited to Judah. Chapter 2 declares a judgment on the nations. Whenever we hear the term “The Nations” in the Old Testament it is a reference to Gentiles. In the Old Testament, there are only two kinds of people, the Jews and everyone else, and everyone else is a Gentile. The Gentile nations were historically the enemies of Israel but, in particular, the nations of Assyria and Babylon whose kings fashioned themselves as gods. The most fundamental human sin is human pride, placing oneself as equal to or above God. That is the original sin of Adam and Eve; as the serpent said to Eve: “God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad” (Gn 3:5). Zephaniah’s prophesies against the nations emphasizes the great gulf between God and humanity and are a condemnation of human pride.
The 3rd chapter, from which our first reading comes this week, begins with a denouncement of Jerusalem as a city that will not accept God’s correction as given through the prophets and the Law of Moses. But the chapter ends with a prophecy of restoration for Jerusalem when God will leave a remnant of humble and lowly people in its midst who will be the purified remnant of Israel through whom God will re-establish the Nation of Israel. Notice these key phrases in our reading that will relate to our gospel: “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion;” “The Lord has removed the judgment against you;” “The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior.” The people are to rejoice at the prophecy of restoration and the forgiveness of their sins. They are to repent of their sins and watch with anticipation for the day of the Lord.
In our second reading, St. Paul carries on the theme of rejoicing because “The Lord is near.” Those who have experienced an internal conversion and have accepted Christ and his teachings should have no anxiety, and through prayer and thanksgiving, “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Therefore, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
In our gospel passage from Luke, we have people from all walks of life coming to John the Baptist, thinking he may be the promised Messiah they have been waiting for. John’s preaching must have been powerful as we would not have expected tax collectors and soldiers to accept John’s message, but they did and asked, “What must we do?” John’s ministry was baptism in the waters of the Jordan as the people confessed their sins (see Mt 3:6). People from all of Judea went out to John to receive that baptism. They were filled with anticipation and joy at the prospect of the forgiveness of their sins (see Mt 3:5). John could have reveled in their belief that he was the Messiah, but he did not. He made them aware that, as great as John was in their eyes, there was one mightier than he who was coming. The one who is coming will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. The people would have understood that fire and the Holy Spirit symbolized purification, a purification that John’s baptism could not achieve. The one who is coming will separate the good from the evil, and the evil, like chaff, will be consigned to unquenchable fire.
Certainly, we must prepare for Christ’s coming again through repentance and the church’s sacraments, but we should also be joyful with anticipation at our union with him in that joyful state of existence we call heaven. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice” (Phil 4:4)
Reference: Graphic ©LPi
