Sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS    Index

Third Sunday of Advent, Year C—2003 Homily

In the Gospel text set before us today we get Luke’s perspective on the ministry of John the Baptist. It is not very long and in the following two verses comes to an end with his imprisonment by Herod.

Luke simply states that John preaches a Baptism of Repentance. Nowadays when we think of repentance we tend to mean sorrow for sin. We feel remorse or sadness that we have transgressed and wish we had done better. Or it could mean confessing ours sins but with no real intention to reform our lives.

This is not the way the John the Baptist intends. The translation in my commentary says that John preached a Baptism of Conversion. This is perhaps a more accurate meaning. Conversion means a change of perspective, an altering of one’s direction or changing one’s allegiance, or a turning around.

And this kind of repentance has very direct consequences. As it says in the Gospel, it means sharing our spare tunic with the man who has none. It means giving food to those who ordinarily would go without.

In the case of the tax collectors who are told to exact no more than is their due and the soldiers being told not to intimidate or extort or to grumble about their pay, these also involve a turning round. This is not what they would do in the ordinary course of events.

Tax collectors were well known for trying to get more than was their due, that’s why they were so despised. And soldiers, who were the equivalent of the police in those days, were just as notorious for bribery and corruption. They grumbled about their pay as a heavy hint that they needed a backhander.

In those days for a tax collector or a policeman to go straight was a turning around indeed—it was quite extraordinary! The tax collector had bought the right to collect particular taxes as a sort of franchise and was thought to be entitled to screw as much as he could out of the people.

And soldiers were in a position of power, they were a strong body of men and since they were fully armed no one could disagree with them with impunity.

So John the Baptist’s message was a difficult one, it involved real change and it was no mere lip service.

We, of course, are asking the same question as the people asked in the Gospel: What about us? What must we do? I can’t answer the question for you. Each person must look into their own heart.

But if we are to speak in generalities then we have to think about the situation in which we live. Thornbury and its surroundings is, in absolute world terms, privileged territory. We are very comfortably off; we are rich. The average person who lives around here is probably in the top 10% of world earners.

What would John the Baptist say to us? He told those with two tunics to give one to the man who has none. So he might tell us to share much more than we already do. He might expect us to give away the second family car or half the equity in our house. That would be a shock!

Perhaps we are glad that we don’t live in New Testament times and are far away from any John the Baptists who would certainly make us squirm.

But what about that turning around, that alteration of our perspective, that is conversion? This doesn’t involve giving away material things but it does affect something far more precious—our attitudes.

Our attitudes and perspectives on life are very dear to us. We have acquired them from the interaction with our parents and through our experience of life. And, very importantly, we have unconsciously absorbed all sorts of influences from our culture.

We tend to think that the way we do things here in Britain is the best way or, indeed, the only sensible way things can be done. Sometimes we feel rather sorry for the French and the Italians and the Spanish. It is a pity that they haven’t got things as well organised.

It is only when we go to live abroad and become immersed in another culture that we find how strangely they regard us. The Italians, for example, while admiring many aspects of life in Britain, regard us as extremely cold fish, as sad people who are repressed and afraid to show our emotions. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they feel sorry for us but they surely wouldn’t swap with us. Certainly not our cuisine, anyhow!

It is the same with our faith and morality. What we have grown up with and become accustomed to is not necessarily what God wants. In general we have accommodated ourselves to the world around us. But what Christ wants is for us to accommodate ourselves to the heaven above us.

It is not our values but Christ’s values that are important. And conversion consists in giving up the one and taking on the other.

Advent, as we have said again and again, is about three things: preparing to celebrate the coming of Christ into the world, it is about preparing to welcome him at the end of time, and it is about preparing our hearts to welcome him in to our lives right now.

The way to do this last and more important thing is to adapt ourselves to God’s way of thinking, to adopt his values and to relinquish the values of the world around us. We tend to cling to the material world and forget the spiritual world. By inviting Christ into our lives we are putting this into reverse—forgetting the material and welcoming the spiritual.

Christ was not as demanding as John the Baptist. Christ did not despise or reject the material world and lead a life of austerity but then neither did he place any great reliance on material things.

Perhaps one of the most important attitudes Jesus had towards those around him was compassion; this is surely what moved him to perform so many healing miracles. Well, we may not be able to perform any miracles but we can still exercise a healing ministry.

We are able to reach out to others in love, especially to the unfortunate and the rejected. We can speak words of compassion and healing. We can bring a little light and warmth to other people’s lives. All these things and many more are within our grasp. By doing these things in the way Christ would do them if he were in our position will actually cause us to change our attitudes.

If we wear the shoes of Christ and go where he would go, if we hold out our hands to others as if they were his hands, if we utter the same sorts of words as he would utter then we begin to feel as he feels, then we begin to think as he thinks and we become more and more at one with him.

This is conversion. This is a turning around. This is an advent.