WelCom December 2024/January 2025
Second Sunday of Advent – Luke 3:1-6
The Preaching of John the Baptist
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
3 John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
5 Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’
A reflection on Luke 3:1-6
Fr Patrick Bridgman
During this season of Advent, we recognise Jesus coming to us. We are aware of his presence with us today, his presence we look forward to at the ‘end of time’, and his presence when he was born among us as a babe in Bethlehem.
In an article published by one of the major news websites there was an investigation into the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Trying to find the article again, while preparing for this reflection, I came across many recent articles on Jesus. Even one on how AI is creating modern images of the Lord!
The article that I cannot find quoted, among others, the scripture passage from Luke’s Gospel proclaimed this Sunday. Such precise dating of John’s ministry; the historical leaders at the time, the places in which they ruled, all setting the scene and placing this passage in historical context. Yes, Jesus did exist, he was not a fairy tale; that was the article’s outcome. There were accounts from non-believing historians and philosophers who mention Jesus and mention his followers and what they were saying happened to the one they followed. There was even a telling piece of ancient graffiti, which mocked the followers of Jesus, yet in doing so the artist confirmed for all time that this Jesus lived, was crucified, and in the experience of his disciples Rose from the Dead.
We don’t need proof, as it were, to know Jesus. For we meet him in our daily lives. When we gather in his name we recognise him in each other. In the Word proclaimed and the Bread broken we recognise his Risen presence. When we listen to his words in prayer we can see him, hear him, know his loving care.
John, son of Zechariah, takes up the ancient call of Isaiah, ‘prepare a way for the Lord!’ There is our task in the first weeks of Advent. We have the witness of the Scriptures to know that Jesus will return in Glory. How are we to prepare for his return? What in our lives is able to be smoothed, straightened, filled in?
If you were to identify this era in the time in which we live who would be the leaders and countries you would mention, as St Luke did in today’s Gospel passage? How would you write such a passage to call people to preparation for the Lord’s coming? Could it be a prayerful exercise, to take up a pen, a piece of paper, and to write for our own time the call of the prophet Isaiah and Luke? This may help as we seek in Advent to ‘judge wisely the things of earth and to love the things of heaven.’