“For those of us here in the northern hemisphere, the days keep getting shorter as we approach Christmas, as we approach the winter solstice. There’s more darkness in the 24 hours than there is light, but as the days grow shorter, those of us who believe in the Gospel and the truth of Jesus Christ, we light more candles on our Advent wreath, indicating that the light of hope is increasing even as darkness looms. The first reading today, we don’t hear it too often from this prophet, Baruch, it’s that same theme of hope. Baruch was an assistant to the prophet, Jeremiah and he writes a consoling, hope filled words to the Jews who were in exile in Babylon. This happened hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus, the nation, the Jewish nation had been destroyed. Their temple leveled, demolished. They had been taken from their homeland and now we’re living as refugees in a foreign land and in the midst of that darkness, of that sadness, of that tragedy. Baruch says this to the people, ‘Take off your robe of mourning and misery. Put on the splendor of glory from God. Forever for God is leading Israel. Enjoy by the light of his glory with his mercy and justice for company.’ He encourages Israel that her travails and struggles as bad as they may be, will pass. God’s promises will be fulfilled. Indeed, they were. Not too many years later, the Jews returned to their homeland. They began to rebuild their temple. He invites them to live in hope, not in despair.
St. Paul and the second reading gives us the similar message Paul is writing to the Philippians the Christians in Philippi, a city in northern Greece, northeastern Greece. He’s writing to them from prison. He’s a prisoner. He’s been imprisoned for proclaiming the truth. It was written in this letter was written a rather dark time in Paul’s life, in his ministry and yet scholars look at it and they often entitle it the letter of joy. The famous line we hear, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always again, I say rejoice’ comes from Paul in this desert time of his life as he writes to the Philippians. It reveals his enthusiasm for Christ as the key to life and death. Not even death depresses Paul. He knows the rest of the story. It reveals the rejoicing of faith that he has based on the true understanding of who Jesus is and his role in salvation for all who profess him as Lord. Paul’s faith and joy, as evidenced by his statement in the reading today, and it’s one I particularly like because it’s used in the ordination ritual, in particular for the ordination when you’re ordained a deacon and of course, all priests ordained a deacon before there are ordained priest. Paul says, ‘I am confident of this, that the one who has begun a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus, that God who is begun this good work and you will bring it to completion.’ That was true for the people Paul was speaking to, and that’s true for you and I as well. He began That good work at you on the day that you were baptized and there may have been trials and deserts and struggles since then and maybe you’re in the midst of one now. Maybe you’ve been in the desert for a long, long time, but unless you refuse to open your heart to God’s grace, the one who has begun this good work in you will bring it to completion. The only way he won’t is if we don’t want him to, if we choose sin over him. Otherwise, he is faithful. He’s faithful.
Lastly, in the Gospel today, the scriptures say that ‘God sent his word of hope.’ It’s interesting that the passage today starts with this list of important people. So does the Christmas story, by the way, I quote from the text it says, ‘In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, Caesar, the most powerful man in the world at that time, is the emperor of the Roman Empire, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, another big name, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. Many shook in their boots if Herod didn’t like something. He was a powerful man and his brother, Philip was tetrarch and when the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas reigned. These were well-known religious figures when all these famous and powerful people were in charge, the Word of the Lord came to them. No, no. The Word of the Lord did not come to them. The Word of the Lord. The Word of hope and promise, the Word of truth and life, the Word of the Lord came not to the emperors than the high priests, but the Word of the Lord came to John, the Baptist, the son of Zachariah in the desert, to this humble, lowly man, a holy man who dared to speak truth to power and that word, as I said, came in the desert in a place of quiet of barrenness, a place that’s not comfortable, a place that sometimes is full of danger and threats, a place where we are often in want a place far away from glamor and glitz and from the plenty of the world. There in the desert and that deserted place, the Word of the Lord came to John and he uttered, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord. Ready your hearts.’
So what does this all mean for us? Well, first of all, it tells us, don’t lose hope. Take advantage of the desert places in your life. Some of you might be in a desert right now. Many people think our nation is then a desert right now or our world, but sometimes it’s in the desert, when we can hear the Lord’s voice most clearly when the other distractions are taken away and sometimes we hear Him best there. Baruch says to the Jews, Paul to the Christians, then and John the Baptist to all who would listen to him that God is at work, even though it might not seem obvious. The times may seem dark, the light may seem dimmer, but all of them say do not despair. The Baptist tells us to be ready. God’s hand is at work, have faith in him and in the promise of Jesus. Live in a manner that demonstrates such faith. One of the most powerful witnesses of Christianity, I think, is how Christians live in hope in the early Roman Empire. It was the witness of hope that converted a pagan empire from being anti-Christian to embracing the truth of the Gospel. It was that small group of Christians who, even as they were being persecuted and martyred for their faith, had joy. They prayed for their persecutors. They had confidence of what lie beyond the grave because they knew the rest of the story. They knew the promise of eternal life. They knew the power of the cross and they lived like they believed it.
Most people, I think, kind of understand human weakness if a believer falls into sin, but I think what they find even harder to understand is how can someone that believes the Good News of the Gospel be in despair? How can someone who believes in the Good News of the Gospel will live the life of a sour puss, as Francis put it? The Gospel is the great news. It’s good news. It’s the best news ever because we know that nothing here can derail us and so we’re invited by these scriptures today and by this very season to prepare the way of the Lord to make the crooked path straight and to believe and to live as if we believe that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. In a world of darkness, if you feel like you are in a spiritual or emotional or financial desert, the word of God says, ‘Don’t despair. Prepare your hearts.’ The Baptist says live, joyful hope at the Advent beckons us, and St. Paul assures us that God, no matter what desert you might be and that God who has begun the good work and you will indeed bring it to completion. Don’t let the darkness prevail. We know as Christians the rest of the story, we know that the desert moments in life, as hard as they may be, they will pass. We’re invited to live as people of the promise were invited to live as Advent people.”