Scripture: St. Luke 3:7-18
Crashing into our advent season to tear our attention away from the distractions that assail us at this time of the year…
We need to draw away from the glitter and the tinsel, the shiny trappings from under the tree that take us away from the heart of our faith.
These distractions provide us a way out of being challenged by our Gospel message. This affords us a way to avoid the uncomfortable Gospel truth.
John proclaims it is time for a change in our ways, permitting the Lord Jesus to enter into our lives. Instead of harking back to the way things are, what if we started looking for God’s presence in unexpected places and ways.
What if we prepared to hear the good news from unexpected persons, even strangers we meet and see while shopping? It’s high time we wake up to the fact God lives at the margin of our lives today, waiting, just waiting, to meet us there.
John’s Gospel was not just good news, yet there are three outstanding messages that John was seeking to share with us:
1. It was a demand that we share with one another.
2. It was a social Gospel that laid down that God will never resolve the situation of the man who has too much while his neighbor has far, far too little.
3. His message orders the man not to leave his job, but to work out his own salvation by doing that job as it should be done.
· Let the tax collector be an honest tax collector, not lining his own pocket.
· And let the soldier be a good soldier.
It is today a man’s duty to serve God where God has placed him. Nowhere is that better stated than in an old Negro spiritual:
"There’s a King and Captain high, and He’s coming by and by,
and He’ll find me hewing cotton when He comes.
You could hear His legions charging in the regions of the sky.
And He’ll find me hewing cotton when He comes.
There’s a man they thrust aside
Who was tortured ‘til He died.
And He’ll find me hewing cotton when He comes.
He was hated and rejected.
He was scorned and crucified.
And He’ll find me hewing cotton when He comes.
When He comes!”
When He comes!
He’ll be crowned by the saints and angels when He comes.
They’ll be shouting our Hosannas!
To the man, the man denied.
He was scorned and crucified.
And He’ll find me hewing cotton when He comes.
When He comes!”
When He comes!
He’ll be crowned by the saints and angels when He comes.
They’ll be shouting our Hosannas!
To the man, the man denied.
And I’ll be kneeling among my cotton when He comes."
It’s John’s conviction that no one can serve better than in their daily life and labors where the Lord has placed them.
We all feel that if we were someone else, say a great preacher like Dr. Billy Graham, we could preach the Word. Like we are all like a snowflake, there are no two just alike. And there are no two persons equipped alike to share the love of God.
John was quite sure that he himself was only the forerunner of the King of Kings who is to come.
The greatest gift any one of us can offer the Lord is just to be who we are, allowing the Lord to equip and use us to spread His good news with the gifts and graces that He has endowed upon us.
We must strive constantly to be open to God’s love and that small voice that is calling us over the clamor of the world in which we live. When He comes, our gracious King will be riding on a great white horse, a symbol in battle that He comes in peace and love, and not war.
Advent is a special time for spiritual renewal in our humble lives. God created us with free will, wherein we can accept that spiritual renewal or we can reject it.
How will you spend this advent season this year?
Let us pray.
It’s John’s conviction that no one can serve better than in their daily life and labors where the Lord has placed them.
We all feel that if we were someone else, say a great preacher like Dr. Billy Graham, we could preach the Word. Like we are all like a snowflake, there are no two just alike. And there are no two persons equipped alike to share the love of God.
John was quite sure that he himself was only the forerunner of the King of Kings who is to come.
The greatest gift any one of us can offer the Lord is just to be who we are, allowing the Lord to equip and use us to spread His good news with the gifts and graces that He has endowed upon us.
We must strive constantly to be open to God’s love and that small voice that is calling us over the clamor of the world in which we live. When He comes, our gracious King will be riding on a great white horse, a symbol in battle that He comes in peace and love, and not war.
Advent is a special time for spiritual renewal in our humble lives. God created us with free will, wherein we can accept that spiritual renewal or we can reject it.
How will you spend this advent season this year?
Let us pray.
