By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
Whoever has two shirts must give one to the man who has none, and whoever has food must share it.” v12Some tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” v13″Don’t collect more than is legal,” he told them. v14Some soldiers also asked him, “What about us? What are we to do?”
He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely. Be content with your pay.” Luke 3:7-18
And this is the third Sunday of Advent. The four Sundays that the church liturgical calendar tries to put us in the right perspective of what this Christmas season is all about. As already presented in this corner— preparation, readiness, and repentance are the indispensable ways by which we can be meaningfully prepared for the celebration of Christmas and the eventual coming of Judgment. Our gospel reading this Sunday brings us to a more human level with the presentation of John the Baptist.
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John the Baptist, the Gospel tells us, was traveling around baptizing people. This was a departure from traditional Jewish practice, and that—and the fact that he was drawing crowds of people—attracted lots of attention: people were interested, and the authorities were interested. In addition, the people were looking for someone—Jewish tradition promised the arrival of a messiah. Life under Roman rule was difficult, unless you were a Roman citizen, so the people of Israel and Judea were hoping for a messiah to rescue them, to drive out the Romans.
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The experience of John the baptizer with his people has called us to the human reality of entitlement and of favoritism. People expert in studying human behavior will agree on the observation that homo sapiens are most inclined to entitlements or favoritism than of voluntary servant-hood. Our gospel lesson this Sunday tells us of the impression of the Israelite people that they are “automatically” included in the kingdom of the King or “saved” for that matter because of their lineage connectivity with Abraham, one of the Israelites’ patriarch. But that is not so, as of our understanding of the Holy Bible.
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In line with his earlier emphasis on the birth of Jesus as fulfilling God’s promises to Abraham, the evangelist Luke focuses his account of John’s ministry on the question, Who is the seed of Abraham? John’s answer to this question could be seen in the two-fold realities:
a. No one can claim a right to the Abrahamic promises by mere natural lineage.
If God chooses to do so, he can raise up children for Abraham from dead stones.
Indeed this parallelism speaks so true to us today especially in our kid of politics. We are so used to entitlements and political patronage. This means that just because we are related to somebody who has the capability of favoring us would assure us of unending favor in terms of contract or other money-making ventures.
b. The seed of Abraham will be known by their fruit. So easy to pronounce yet hard to determine or even understand! Those who claim that they are followers of Abraham in the Old Testament would likewise claim based on their actions and performance which should be in accordance with our Lord.
Many saw in John’s ministry the possibility that he might be the Messiah (v.15). But John moved quickly to dispel such ideas. As Luke stresses by quoting Isaiah 40, John was forerunner of the Messiah. John’s call for baptism of repentance has once and for all differentiated Jesus as the Messiah based on his later pronouncements. Let us also be reminded that a forerunner or substitute is only good until the right one comes.
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We must recognize that majority of the citizenry of the Philippines are baptized Christians. However we must learn from the words of Jesus our Lord as shared in the Gospel of Luke – that – ‘that does not automatically qualify us as dwellers-to-be in God’s kingdom’. How can we be considered and given assurance that we shall be in the chosen list? Think of this:
“Whoever has two shirts must give one to the man who has none.” **
