Third Sunday of Advent
When I was younger, I would go camping with my family during the summer. One weekend during the summer was our family camping weekend, which included my grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins. One such family camping weekend, when I was in 5th or 6th grade, I decided to go exploring with one of my sisters and two of my cousins. We were having a grand old time, wandering around, until we realized we were lost. After the original panic of not knowing what to do, one of my cousins and my sister decided that they were going to try and find their way back by retracing their steps. I was pretty sure I had no idea how we had arrived at our location, so I decided to try to find another section of the State Campground, and then walk back to our site, following the numbers. We both eventually made it back, each with our own stories of how we made it.
A savior is only helpful when someone needs saving. You don’t rejoice at a lifeguard swimming out to get you when you just taking it easy, floating in your inner tube on the lazy river. You rejoice at a lifeguard when you’re drowning. Many soldiers celebrated General Patton pushing through in the forest of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, but not Easy Company of the 101st Airborne, because, while they were surrounded by Nazi troops and running out of supplies, they claimed they didn’t need Patton to save them. We only rejoice at Jesus’ coming, at the true meaning of Christmas, when we recognize that we need to be saved. Otherwise it’s just another day off from work.
To sin is to be lost. The Greek word for sin, πΌππΌππππΌ, means to miss the mark. It has the connotation of an arrow being off-course from hitting the bulls-eye. Whenever we sin, we go off target. We get lost, and we need to find our way back to the right path. The problem is, only Jesus gets us truly back to the right path to God. We can never do it by ourselves.
The worst thing, when you’re lost, is not recognizing that you’re lost. How many times have wives asked their husbands to stop and ask for directions, while the husband assured the wife he knew where he was going, only to end up farther away than ever 30 minutes later when he finally recognized he was lost and needed to ask for help. We can tend not to take sin so seriously, perhaps an over reaction to decades long gone where we gave sin more power and influence than it truly had. So many people figure that if they’re not Hitler or Stalin, then they’re doing ok. They’re just skipping Mass; they’re just lying occasionally; they’re just taking small supplies from the company; they’re just looking at porn by themselves; it’s not like they’re murdering anyone. Murder is certainly missing the mark. But so are all those other things.
The Jews knew they were in need of a savior. That’s why the crowds asked St. John the Baptist in today’s Gospel passage, “‘What should we do?’” St. John the Baptist didn’t say, “You’re not that bad, so don’t worry about it.” He gave them all practical things that they could do to repent, to turn away from their sins, and prepare for the Messiah to reveal Himself. St. John the Baptist told the people they were lost, so that they could rejoice when the one who was going to lead them back to the right path would appear.
Zephaniah also connects rejoicing and being saved in our first reading. Zion is encouraged to shout for joy, and Israel exhorted to sing joyfully, and Jerusalem told to be glad and exult because “The Lord has removed the judgment against you.” The joy that God is granting is one based upon being freed from sin. Instead of judgment and the penalty falling upon the guilty, God takes it upon Himself, and restores us to right relationship with Him. God does what we could not do, and that is certainly a reason to rejoice.
In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Jesus invites us to receive the greatest gift He gave us: the gift of chesed, the Hebrew word which means steadfast love and mercy. But we can only receive it if we are aware that we need it. We are dirty; we are in need of the shower of God’s mercy. But until we recognize that we have sinned and are in need of God’s mercy, it’s like we take an umbrella into the shower with us, to prevent us from getting wet. Pretty rediculous, right?
Brothers and sisters, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But the Good News is that God has come to save us, and in less than two weeks, we will celebrate when that Good News of the Incarnation became known to the world through the birth of Jesus. That is truly a reason to rejoice.
