Second Sunday of Advent
Readings – Malachi 3: 1-4; Canticle 16; Philippians 1: 3-11; Luke 3: 3-11
In the 6th c. B.C.E. the Babylonian Empire was crumbling. The leadership, the scholars, the business community, the artisans of Israel were in exile. These exilic years were when much of the Old Testament was compiled and composed. These were the years when the synagogue become the center of faithful living.
Isaiah 40 begins with God encouraging his angels, his messengers.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended. V.1-2 A voice cries, In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. V.3 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with you. V.13
This Isaiah passage instructs the angels of God to prepare for the return of the exiled to their beloved homeland.
In the Gospel according to St. Luke the author added to Isaiah’s understanding, seeing John the Baptist as:
the voice of one crying in the wilderness
prepares the way of the Lord.
St. Luke understood John the Baptist’s call for the people of God to prepare the way, to fill the valleys and to make the crooked roads straight so that God would have an easier journey approaching the people of God. St. Luke understood that the people who had returned from exile over 600 years before were now to reform, to repent, to refocus, their lives. The Church embraced this theme of Advent as the time to renew faith entering the new year.
The shift from the 6th B.C.E. to the 1st C.E. is significant. Rather than the angels of God to the road work, to rebuild the highway in the wilderness, it was now to be the people of God during Advent who are to do the road work.
Yet, is it either- or, the angels or the people of God?
Might I suggest that it is both angels and people working together in road work, in rebuilding. Perhaps there are angel-people who do the road work that enable God and the people of God to walk together.
One angel-person who comes to mind is a 3rd c. C.E. bishop of Turkey, who was present at the Council of Nicaea where the creed we recite every Sunday was composed. This 3rd c. bishop is Nicholas.
For sailors struggling to stay healthy during long sea sailing, he brought sacks of citrus, lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, from the hill country to the ports. Returning to port, the sailors were welcomed with citrus; leaving port the ships were crowded with citrus.
For young women struggling to find suitable husbands to support them, Nicholas brought sacks of gold coin to toss through open windows to land in their shoes or in their stockings hung by the chimneys with care. The gold coins freed them from poverty and dangerous choices.
Additionally, note that on the road Nicholas carried a staff, a shepherd’s crook. This wooden staff prodded, guided, protected and rescue sheep. This staff signified Nicholas as a person of service. In ancient times shepherds were not highly regarded. The sheep they cared for were owned by a wealthier class. And they spent all day and night sleeping in close proximity with them. When approaching towns and villages they were never to walk through the town, but rather to walk around due to the aroma. When all else failed, one could always find a job minding the sheep, as in the passage about the prodigal son who had depleted all his inheritance.
To summarize, the leadership of Nicholas – he was dedicated to serving others at the low end of the social scale, sailors and young women. Nicholas lived sharing mercy through gold coins tossed through windows, and sharing mercy through citrus at the docks. He prepared the way of the Lord, of making the path easier for others, road building on the ups and downs, the twists and turns of life.
Nicholas was an angel-messenger of God so that others could experience “the salvation of God”.
May the same be said of us, that we were people of mercy, serving and sharing as we walked our way home.
Amen
