December 12, 2021
Third Sunday of Advent (Year C)
It is only fitting on this third Sunday of Advent that we have readings of glad tidings and preparation as we anticipate the arrival of the savior. The First Reading is from one of the lesser-known minor prophets known as Zephaniah (Zep 3:14-18a). He is writing about a day of warning known as the Day of the Lord. It is a call for repentance and reform for the nations surrounding Judah, including Moab, Ammon, Ashdod, and other Philistine nations which are facing destruction at the hand of the LORD.
But it is a day of joy for Jerusalem. They are instructed to celebrate because the LORD has removed the judgment against them and turned away their enemies. They are told, “The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals.”
The title of the prophecy informs us that the ministry of Zephaniah took place during the reign of King Josiah (640–609 B.C.), not long before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. which happened due to their worship of false gods. Thus, even though it has a ring of hope and promise the prophecy does not hold to true historical chronology.
Rather it anticipates a time period several centuries and world powers later when first the Persians, than the Greeks, and finally the Romans came into power. It coincides with the appearance of John the Baptist, son of the priest, Zechariah who was chosen to herald the arrival of the Messiah. In this gospel passage (Lk. 3:10-18) John the Baptist arrives with a number of instructions for the people he is baptizing. A person with two cloaks should share with the person who has none. Tax collectors should stop collecting more than the required amount. Soldiers should not practice extortion or falsely accuse anyone. They should be satisfied with their wages.
The people who surrounded John and heard him preaching wondered if he might be the Christ, the Messiah, for whom they were waiting. But John told them, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
This one who is mightier than John is Jesus. He will be the one to separate the good from the bad in the final judgment in the same way that a farmer separates wheat from chaff. “His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Although we celebrate the birth of an infant on Christmas Day and expect the arrival of shepherds and Magi to the crèche, it is this Jesus and his judgment on Jerusalem that the people of the day had anticipated for centuries prior since the time of all the great prophets down through the ages. From the time of the prophet Zephaniah and the king that he served, Josiah, the people of Judah had been awaiting the Day of the Lord for they had long since turned their backs on God, not only in their personal lives but also in their worship.
Thirty years after that first Christmas Day they failed to recognize the time of their visitation when the powers to be collaborated to hang him on a cross. But the grave could not hold him for the Day of the Lord arrived with his Resurrection as he undertook to separate the wheat from the chaff as the long-awaited Messiah.
