GET MOVING – GET PREPARED – REJOICE
Zephaniah 3:14-18; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18
On 17 October 1989, San Francisco experienced a major earthquake. In one place, there stood a group of people watching fire-fighters try to put out a blazing fire. A cop came up to the crowd and yelled out to them: “What are you doing just standing there? Getting going! Go home and fill your bathtubs with water. Be prepared to live without city services for 72 hours. Your time is running out. Get going and get prepared.”
Roll back the clock two thousand years to the region around the river Jordan. We have a similar scene! Instead of a dishevelled cop, there is a dishevelled John the Baptist. The situation is the same: there was no geological earthquake but a political and moral one in Israel. The message and the urgency are the same. “Get going and get prepared!”
Today’s gospel continues from last Sunday; the people ask John: “What should we do?” John’s response may be summed up thus:
- be loving by sharing your resources
- be just/ honest
- be content with what you have
When we are LJC (loving-just-content), we will be ready for the coming of LJC (our Lord Jesus Christ)!
John announces the Lord’s coming as a coming of judgement. But it’s a judgement we can meet joyfully if we have loved and have faithfully done our daily work.
We find this theme of “joy in unlikely situations” in the other readings. In fact, this is a distinctive feature of Advent joy! Zephaniah announces the coming of the Lord as a day of doom and yet invites Israel to “shout for joy”! Paul calls the Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord always”; he writes to them from prison, uncertain about his future.
How can one be joyful in situations in which it seems impossible to be joyful? Joy comes – as Zephaniah prophecies – because “the Lord is in our midst”. Joy comes – as Paul writes – because “the Lord is near”. It comes not by us not by circumstances but because our future is secured by God and in God. Our task is to get moving and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming.
Let me ask: “What must I do?”
With whom will I share myself and my resources this Advent? Are there areas in my life in which I need to be just and honest? Will I be content with what the Lord has given me?
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