Fourth Sunday of Advent
St. Luke obviously didn’t have a CAD when he composed his Gospel account. But today he sets the scene and gives important details about the time of the Redeemer. One might think that this is the beginning of St. Luke’s account, but it’s actually chapter 3, as the first two chapters dealt with the conception of St. John, the conception of our Lord, and the Visitation, as well as our Lord’s Nativity and youth. This chapter begins the preaching of John at the Jordan, right before the Savior began His public ministry.
But even though this passage is after what we think about when we think about preparing for Christmas, it presents a good point for us on which to meditate: God enters into our time and our lives. In the pagan world, the gods and goddesses were usually either totally transcendent (they were too important to be involved in the affairs of mere mortals), or they were utterly immanent (they were often just more powerful versions of humans). But the Scriptures paint God as both transcendent and immanent, as He is other-worldly (no one can see God and live after the Fall, and God sometimes seems far off), but He also directly involves Himself in the lives of His Chosen People (calling Abraham to be a people; directing Abraham’s descendants; freeing the Chosen People from slavery in Egypt; choosing kings; sending prophets to proclaim His message and way of life; allowing the people to experience the effects of their sins; saving them from utter destruction).
The ministry of our Lord happens in a very particular time, to quote Charles Dickens, “the best of times” and “the worst of times.” Luke mentions Tiberius Caesar as the emperor, and Pontius Pilate as governor. Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, and the second emperor of Rome. Tiberius inherited and maintained the pax romana, the Roman peace, which, ironically, had been brought about by no small amount of violence and war, but during which time there was relative peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire. At the same time, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius’ governor in Judea, probably was not sent there for good behavior or as a reward. Judea did not want Roman rule, and there were regular riots and skirmishes with the far-advanced Roman army.
Herod, while not Roman, only had authority because of Rome. He was not respected among the Jews, and John the Baptist rightly criticized him for marrying the wife of his half-brother. Because his rule was dependent on Rome, he likely enjoy the favor neither of Rome (because he wasn’t Roman) nor the Jews (because Rome gave him power). St. Luke also mentions the religious leaders, Annas and Caiaphas, who will be named again in our Lord’s Passion, and who do not come off looking so good. So, the time in which our Lord preached could be good or bad, depending on who you were and where you lived.
God enters into this period, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And that should give us the hope to which Advent pushes us. Because our lives are often a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes our lives have peace, and sometimes we won that peace by interior fighting (hopefully not exterior fighting). But that peace can also be very secular, and disconnected from our religious life. There is a peace of God, which comes from following His will, and then there is a worldly peace, which comes from doing what we want and then doing everything we can to silence our conscience (which will eventually speak out, as the voice of God always does when we veer from His ways).
Sometimes we are like Herod and fool ourselves and try to make deals with our fallen human nature, and think that that it will give us power, and then we can simply appease our religious side with devotions, even if our life is not the way it should be, and not in according with God’s will. We bristle at the prophets who tell us to repent, even as we are intrigued by them as well. Like Herod, we want to listen to God’s word, but if something delightful demands our obedience, we cut off the head of the prophet because we lack the courage to do what is right.
Sometimes externally we are very religious, but inside we are dead. Christ often rebuked the Pharisees for this, for crossing their Ts and dotting their Is, but failing to truly live in a way that God called them. They have the audacity to think that they can stand in judgement of God’s Messiah, and then make shallow gestures of religious rage when our Lord affirms that He is who He says He is. Do we fall into that same trap of deciding that our way is the best instead of God’s, or that God has to fit into our standards, rather than fitting ourselves into His?
But sometimes we are following God’s will, doing our best to live according to His Gospel, to allow His peace to transform our lives, and allowing our outside practices to be a reflection of our interior relationship with God. Even then, we can always work and making more and more straight the pathways that lead, even in these last days of Advent, to God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
