"And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.'""
There is an old "Garden of Eden" story in which Adam approaches his Creator and says, "God, I really appreciate this Paradise You have given me for my home, but there are times when it gets mighty lonesome around here. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask for a companion -- someone I could talk to, someone I could share this beautiful Garden of Eden with?" "That's a reasonable request," God replied. "You were created a male person. Your new companion will be a female person -- a bright and beautiful, warm and gracious woman." "That sounds wonderful, Lord," said Adam, "when will this take place?" "Not until you've paid the price," God answered firmly. "And what will it cost?" Adam asked anxiously. "An arm and a leg," God replied. "That's a very high price," said Adam, "tell me, Lord, what can I get for a rib?"
These are the days of preparation for the coming of Christmas. And from the size of the crowds that can be observed at the shopping malls and the department stores, most people will be celebrating Christmas at a very high price. Every year the lament rings out, "Christmas has cost me and arm and a leg!" We're speaking on the purely material level, of course. On the spiritual level, the price goes up. Because Christmas comes with a costly promise, the price tag is pegged much higher than a single "rib" or an "arm" or even an "arm and a leg". Moreover, the promise is never on sale. In order to fulfill His Christmas promise God is asking full price. He wants it all. He wants all of you!
Today's Gospel Lesson begins by anchoring the birth of Christ firmly in history. Luke pronounces a roll-call that sounds like a fanfare introducing the Person who will change the whole course of the world's history: Tiberius Caesar; Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea; Herod, Tetrach of Galilee; Philip, Tetrach of Ituraea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, Tetrach of Abilene; Annas and Caiaphas, high priests -- all historical figures. And then the roll-call ends with John the Baptist, son of Zechariah, the one who "went into all the regions about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Lk. 3:3). His was the voice proclaiming the immediate Presence of Christ, the voice crying in the wilderness, saying ...
Prepare the way of the Lord ...
and promising ...
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Lk. 3:4-6).
The era in which we live often has been characterized as "hopeless": "If the bomb doesn't get us, the pollution will," and so on. As a result we, as a society, are suffering from a "failure of nerve", as someone put it. But the Spirit of Advent breaks through to soothe our frazzled nerves and to restore our confidence in what lies ahead. Because the Advent Message renews hope in God's promise of eternal fulfillment, it recharges our spiritual batteries. Our Advent hope renews our zest for life. Our Advent hope awakens us to the reality that the Coming Kingdom already is being realized in the here and now. Our Advent hope informs us that our eternal lives already have begun.
Eternal life began for each of us at the moment we entered this world. And for each of us it will continue past the moment of death. Our Advent hope tells us that the Kingdom of God is at hand! And, in this Advent spirit, our day-to-day living takes on new significance. The old sense of drudgery gives way to new and lively motivation. The old spirit of complacency yields to a new level of incentive.
The Advent Message informs us that there is a work to be done. How many people in this Age of ours have managed to achieve true serenity -- peace of mind and heart and soul -- and to sustain it? The number is so small, it appears, that when we do chance to feel at peace, we almost feel guilty about it. The tragic atmosphere is in vogue. The word is that everything is a mess, and the world is breaking up under our feet. Fear is in the air, and it troubles people, and provokes religious doubt, and poses an obstacle to the Word of God.
Amid this pandemonium, the words of John the Baptist ring loud and clear. He urges us to make straight the way of the Lord. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God," he assures us, but there is a work to be done. The Advent promise is that the Coming Kingdom will be fulfilled according to God's Plan. Advent informs us, as the Apostle Paul has written, "That He who has begun the good work in you will carry it through to completion" (Phil. 1:6). Advent informs us that we have been commissioned by God to share in the responsibility for carrying that work to completion.
The great American actor/comedian, W. C. fields, was famous for his raspy voice, his bulbous nose, and his movie roles in which he portrayed a kind of lovable con-man. One story has it that when Fields lay on his death-bed, a friend came to visit him and found him holding an open Bible. "Bill," his friend said, "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be reading the Bible," to which the dying Fields replied, "I'm looking for loopholes."
Christmas is coming, and with it comes the promise of the ultimate fulfillment of God's Kingdom of Love. But in order to sustain our Christian hope in this promise, we must pay the price. We must offer ourselves as willing workers in the building of the Kingdom of Love. "All flesh shall see the salvation of God," John the Baptist assures us, and your blessed, lively hope in that promise gives ultimate meaning to your life. But you cannot possibly sustain that hope unless you are paying the price: the gift of yourself, lovingly, to God and to all your sisters and brothers in this world. The reason for your hope is born of love. Only love can conquer the notion that life is absurd.
At times we may be half-convinced that we are little more than collections of biochemical reactions trapped in an impersonal universe in which the words "beauty" and "purpose" and "love" have no meaning. But every now and then something happens ... and the suspicion creeps into our minds that we are much more significant than mere machines ...
A few years ago, the world watched the real-life television drama of a dramatic rescue on the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., following the crash of a jet airliner into the water. Rescue launches and helicopters were everywhere. Suddenly, a bystander on the bank, Lenny Skutnik, hurled himself into the freezing water and started swimming toward a drowning girl. The TV cameras rolled as he reached the girl and pulled her to safety. It was a daring rescue in which Lenny Skutnik put his own life at risk. He was willing to pay the ultimate price, if necessary, to save that girl.
Was Lenny Skutnik not really responsible for his action? Many of today's thinkers believe we are products of external forces beyond our control. But an heroic act, a sacrificial endeavor, can explode such theories and reduce them to mere intellectual fantasies.
Most of us, deep down, know that we are persons not machines or hunks of meat. A thousand incidents like the one involving Lenny Skutnik remind us that we have, at the core of our being, something that machines and animals do not possess -- a moral dimension, a spiritual dimension. We can say "I should!" We can say "I will!" WE can say "I love!"
God wants you as a willing worker in the building of the Kingdom of Love. God wants all of you. Not just a rib or an arm-and-a-leg, but all of you. And, again, don't look for loopholes! There aren't any!
