Second Sunday of Advent Year C 8th December 2024
Lectionary readings: Malachi 3 v1-4; Philippians 1 v3-11; Luke 3 v1-6.
Being able to see the saving power of God.
The prophet Malachi speaking on God’s behalf said; “The messenger you desire is coming with my promise and he is on his way.” (Malachi 3 v1b). The people of Israel had been waiting for over 500 years for this prophecy to come true by the time John the Baptist appeared on the scene.
John the Baptist is quoted in Luke’s gospel as telling the people he encountered, to “Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven.” (Luke 3 v3).
Luke continues by suggesting that ‘Isaiah the prophet wrote about John when he said, “In the desert someone is shouting, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord! Make a straight path for him. Fill up every valley and level every mountain and hill. Straighten the crooked paths and smooth out the rough roads.” (Luke 3 v 4, 5, quoting Isaiah 40 v3-4)
The purpose behind Isaiah’s instructions is made plain in the next verse; “Then everyone will see the saving power of God’. (Luke 3 v6 quoting Isaiah 40 v5)
All the prophets were pointing towards the arrival of God’s chosen one, the Messiah/Christ who would enable humankind to be reconciled with their Creator/Father God. After the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, those who acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah/Christ sought to understand how best to respond to God’s gift of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Philippi says; “I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God.” (Philippians 1 v9).
The challenge to us is one of safeguarding the gospel for future generations by sharing our faith today and by demonstrating our discipleship by the way in which we choose to live our lives. In order to do this, we must first seek God’s help and then do our best to remove any barriers that prevent others from ‘seeing the saving power of God’ at work in us and in the world.
Hymn writer, Alan Hinton, speaks of the way in which prophets, throughout the ages, have enabled us to understand our relationship with God. (From Singing the Faith, No 162.)
The prophets’ voice comes down the years to teach and to inspire,
to show the nature of our God in words and deeds of fire;
not to disclose some rigid plan that God has set in stone,
but to renew the promises the saints have always known.
The prophets’ voice speaks of the past – the actions that reveal,
the way God used the people then this broken world to heal;
and then translates the things gone by in ways that we find new
so we can judge the world we know by standards ever true.
The prophets’ voice holds up a glass in which to see our day;
events which span the globe around and things we do and say.
It calls us to repent and turn from things that tear life down,
to choose a path that Jesus chose and share his work and crown.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.