Third Sunday of Advent
There was a Jewish Rabbi who
was talking with a group of his disciples one day. And he asked them a rather interesting
question. He asked them, “How do you
know when the nighttime is ending and daylight has arrived?” His disciples thought about it for a minute
and one said, “Is it when you can look off into the distance and see an animal,
and know whether it’s a dog or a sheep?”
The rabbi said, “I’m sorry that’s wrong.” Another student said, “Well how about when
you look out and you can see a tree and you can tell whether it’s an oak or an
elm?” The rabbi again said, “That’s
wrong.” Several other people tried to
guess but each time the rabbi told them they were wrong.
Until finally one of the
disciples said to him, “Well father, then tell us. How do we know when daylight has come to
burst the darkness?” And the rabbi said,
“When you can look at the face of the person standing next to you and see that
he or she is your brother or sister, you know that darkness has ended and light
has come into the world. Because if you
cannot do that, no matter what time of day it is, it’s still nighttime.”
Now our readings today all
have to do with the theme of bringing gladness, bringing joy, bringing light
into the world of the people who are suffering, into the world of the people
who live in darkness. Isaiah identifies
himself as being sent by God to proclaim liberty to those who are trapped in
the darkness of prison, to bring healing to those who are trapped in the
darkness of disease and suffering in their life.
John the Baptist in the very
beginning comes and he says, “I’m not the Light myself, the Light will come
after me. I come to prepare His
way.” And we see John reaching out to
people who are caught in the depths of their sins. And he reaches out to allow them to know that
they’re not in a hopeless situation.
That even as sinners God loves them, and God
longs to forgive them and bring them back into His grace. And through John’s baptism he gives this
message of hope and joy and love to the people of his time.
As we talked about last
week, our mission is very much the same as Christians today. We have to prepare the way of the Lord. We have to be the initial shining of His light
into the lives of those around us. And
it all comes down to one thing. And this
is where the Jewish rabbi’s little story comes in play. Who are we as a people? When we see a stranger out there on the
street who’s life is crushed under some kind of pain
or agony or frustration, do we see a brother or sister? Or do we see a stranger? Do we say to ourselves, “Well, that’s their
trouble, I’m not going to get involved”, and simply ignore them. Getting closer to home. One of our neighbors is undergoing some
hardship. Do we simply turn our head and
not pay attention or do we exercise care?
Do we really feel for them and want to help them, want to befriend, want to be a source of light and of hope.
That’s the challenge that
the reading puts out to us. None of us
can go out to those people and solve every problem they have, of course, that’s
Jesus’ job. That’s why we need a
savior. But the pathway of the Savior
into the darkness of the pain and worries of today’s world has to be through
us, because we are the Body of Christ.
We are the localization of His life present in our world. And it is only if we care for others, if we
open our hearts to include them in our family of brother and sister, even if
they are a stranger, it is only then that we can begin to peel back the layers
of darkness and allow the light of Christ to shone forth into that person’s
life. And if we make that crack, maybe,
just maybe they will
be more open to run to Jesus and to find the fullness
of His salvation and healing.
There is a lot of darkness
out there in the world. Darkness of sin. Darkness of pain. Darkness of loss. Darkness of loss of jobs.
Darkness of this and that. The world can be a very dark, unhappy place.
But you and I are called
today to make a difference. To recognize that everyone around us is our brother and sister. To care enough to reach out
to them, to do the little bit that we can to improve their life today.
By doing
that we prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord who
can be reborn in their hearts as the Son of Justice.