[00:00:05] Hello! My name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible Study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, December 15, 2024, the 3rd Sunday of Advent.
[00:00:23] This week's episode is entitled: Rejoice! And in these readings, we'll ask ourselves if we're really taking the time to listen to the message of Advent.
[00:00:35] As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
Are we allowing the quiet of these long December nights to calm our hearts and quiet our minds so that we are ready for the peace of God to enter in through Jesus, our Savior?
[00:00:54] Let's begin: In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of this Advent season, for the quiet that helps us reflect on our lives, for the stillness that draws us closer to you. Help us to be open to the good news that Advent offers us so that, confident and unafraid, we can welcome the birth of your Son at Christmas. We ask this through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:01:36] Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures. Our Gospel this week is from Luke 3: 10-18.
[00:01:48] The multitude asked [John the Baptist], “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “He who has two coats, let him share them with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than is appointed you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.
[00:03:12] This 3rd Sunday of Advent - again features John the Baptist - but this time rather than focusing solely on his message of repentance (which he certainly does, but not solely), we also shift our focus to concentrate on his pivotal role in pointing to Christ. John the Baptist occupies a completely unique position among all the prophets - he has one foot in the Old Testament and one foot in the New… he is the last prophet to point to Christ's coming and the first to announce his arrival!
[00:04:03] And, just as the infant, John, leapt for joy when Mary's voice reached his mother Elizabeth's ears (as we are told in Luke 1), we, too, rejoice this week as we observe Gaudete Sunday.
[00:04:19] Gaudete is a Latin word meaning rejoice, and it comes from the Entrance Antiphon for the Mass, which is a quote from Philippians 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always” - we'll also hear that when we get to our Second Reading. The traditional liturgical color for Advent is purple, but the Church allows the use of rose (priests like it when we say rose, not pink) - allows the use of the color rose on Gaudete Sunday to remind us that Advent is nearly over and Christ's Incarnation is just around the corner. So, let's dive into this week's Gospel…
“The multitudes asked [John the Baptist], “What then shall we do?”
[00:05:09] Before I go any farther, I want to mention that the question-and-answer format in this passage is unique to Luke! And when Luke says multitudes, that indicates for us John's immense popularity at the time. The question WHAT THEN SHALL WE DO could be asked, in all honesty, by any group of people in any age - meaning it could just as easily come out of our mouths today. And the question really is… how do we most sincerely express our repentance? Again, that could just as easily come from us. In this passage, however, John engages with three different and specific groups of people that would have all been considered to be on the margins of Jewish society, which would also make them much more open to the repentance that John is preaching - that message of repentance which then brings forgiveness and acceptance. (1) The multitudes - they would have been considered ignorant and uneducated by the Jewish religious authorities… think Sanhedrin and Pharisees. (2) The Tax Collectors - Tax Collectors were seen as corrupt because they would charge citizens more than the Roman authorities (the Roman overlords) demanded, and then keep the excess for themselves, growing rich in the process. (3) Soldiers (likely Jewish militia, pressed into service to do the Roman occupiers bidding) - and soldiers would have been hated because they enforced Roman rule on their own people through threats and violence.
“And he answered them,”
[00:07:14] That means John is offering a general response to the multitude, yes, certainly. But again, his words could just as easily be addressed to us today!
[00:07:26] “He who has two coats, let him share them with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
In simple terms, practice charity! Share!
[00:07:42] When I thought the word share (when I read through this), I was reminded of a book that was popular back in the 1980s, and the book was called: “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” It was written by a man by the name of Robert Fulghum. In the very first chapter, Fulghum writes: “All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday School.” And then he lists a number of life lessons, at the top of which is: Share everything!
[00:08:24] Each item on his fairly lengthy list, Fulghum says, can be extrapolated into sophisticated adult terms and applied to any situation. And I think that brings to mind that we often make life too complicated and we forget how much wisdom can actually be found in simplicity! So, let's see what other simple advice John has to offer…
[00:08:57] “Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than is appointed you.’”
Remember, Tax Collectors were the second group that John engages with directly. And he says to them: live ethically and don't cheat. Or, as Mr. Fulghum put it in his book: Play fair!
“Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’”
Soldiers are the third, and final, group that John engages with directly. And in plain terms, John tells them to be honest, fair, peaceful, and generous. Or, again, as Mr. Fulghum puts it in his book: don't hit people, say you're sorry when you hurt somebody, and don't take things that aren't yours. Again, we tend to forget the wisdom to be found in simplicity.
[00:10:06] And it's also important to note - in all of John's responses - he's not saying that the occupations themselves are bad! Rather, it's the behavior that comes to characterize them that's bad. So, change behaviors! Repent! John is saying that to his audience at the Jordan River… but he's also saying that to us today. Remember, the scriptures are organic… they're alive, they're living, they talk to us at every age. And the Church offers us this message, in one form or another, every year on this 3rd Sunday of Advent, because it's one we need to hear - over and over again.
[00:10:57] Repent… change our behaviors… share… play fair… don't hit people… say you're sorry when you hurt somebody… and don't take things that aren't yours.
[00:11:12] I will post some photos of the Jordan River, the area where John would have preached and baptized, on my Instagram again this week so you don't have to go searching for them. Luke goes on…
[00:11:25] “The people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ.”
[00:11:34] I don't want to pass by that too quickly. It's important to point out that, at that time in Israel, there was a tremendous expectation for the coming of the Messiah (Messiah is how we say it in English, it's Christos in Greek, or Messiah in Hebrew).
[00:11:55] In the 1st century, a lot of revolutionaries were rising up and protesting Roman occupation. And that was a common occurrence… that's what led to that overwhelming expectation of the event of the Messiah… the coming of the Messiah. Revolutionaries were certainly having their place, although they were all ruthlessly put down by the Romans. But the idea of the Messiah - that person of the Messiah - he was the one who would deliver the Jewish people once and for all. Not just from the Romans, but from all of their oppressors, and restore the Jewish people… restore the kingdom to its former glory. That's a big role! We know who fills it. But at the time people were wondering… well, gosh, was that maybe John? But what is his reply?
[00:12:57] “John answered them, ‘I baptize you with water;’”
[00:13:02] Again, I talked about this before… not just a mikveh, not just a ceremonial Jewish washing, not just an act of ritual purity, but a baptism of repentance - real repentance. John goes on…
[00:13:20] “but he who is mightier than I is coming,”
[00:13:24] In other words, I am not the one! John is not the one the people have been waiting for… but he IS coming. And John says…
[00:13:35] “the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie;”
It's worth noting… that saying is found in all four Gospels - not just the three synoptics, but all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
[00:13:53] “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
[00:13:58] In other words, that baptism will be different from John's. John baptizes with water… the one coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. It will be a purifying baptism, full of the divine life of grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit. John goes on…
“His winnowing fork is in his hand,”
Now, we are not an agrarian society anymore, so that term may not have as much meaning for us. A winnowing fork is a lot like a pitchfork, and even that - if you didn't grow up in or around a farm - you may not know what a pitchfork is. Winnowing forks were used by farmers to separate grain from weeds. So, the winnowing fork he would use…
“to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Now, again, let's put this in perspective. During the harvest, large piles of material (harvested material) would have been placed in a place that was called the threshing floor.
[00:15:14] And a winnowing fork would be used to thresh the grain. What that means is pick up large portions of this harvested material and throw it up into the air. The heavier grain (the heads of grain), would fall back down onto the threshing floor, but the weeds… the chaff, the stuff that they don't want to keep… would have been blown off to the side.
[00:15:38] The grain would then be gathered and stored in a granary, but the chaff - the excess, the refuse - would be burned. To help cement these images in your minds, I will include photos of a winnowing fork and a threshing floor on my Instagram this week.
[00:16:01] This imagery, of course, is a metaphor for the final judgment, right? Jesus will come to reap the harvest of the righteous, and they will be the ones who are gathered into the kingdom of heaven, signified - in this passage - by the grain being gathered into the granary. While the wicked will be sent off to eternal punishment… and that's what John means by the burning of the chaff.
[00:16:37] Think here also of Matthew 25, where the sheep (the righteous people) are gathered into the kingdom… and the goats (those who were unkind, uncharitable, ungenerous) were sent off to eternal damnation.
[00:16:59] “So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.”
Again, good news - here - does not mean the Gospel. This is PART of the written Gospel so he couldn't possibly have meant that. Good news here refers to the good news of God's unfolding plan of salvation, which will be accomplished in Jesus Christ.
[00:17:24] Let's ask again… are we listening? Are we hearing the message of repentance so that we can prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus? Are we confident that Jesus will come to us and see us as one of the righteous to be gathered into the kingdom? And if not, what are we going to do about it? Cause we gotta do something, and it's still not too late.
[00:17:55] That takes us to our First Reading, which is from Zephaniah 3: 14-18a
[00:18:04] Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.”
[00:18:54] Zephaniah is one of the minor prophets - not minor as in unimportant - but minor as in one of the shorter books. He was a contemporary of Nahum and Habakkuk, and he preached during the reign of King Josiah, which would have been 640 to 609 BC… well before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 BC. Zephaniah lived during a time of religious decay, when the people were openly worshiping false gods rather than being faithful to the Covenant. We don't encounter it in this particular passage, but most of the book centers around what Zephaniah calls THE DAY OF THE LORD, which is another way of saying the Day of Judgment, and his book is chock full of warnings, proclamations of disaster, and violent images.
[00:19:59] The end of the book, however, which is where we come in, details the promise of God's fidelity to the people despite their infidelity. This passage is from a section describing the Restoration of Israel, and the words of judgment and reproach - that are the hallmark of Zephaniah's message - are replaced here by promises of hope. So, let's delve deeply into those promises…
[00:20:34] “Sing aloud, O daughters of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!”
[00:20:44] O DAUGHTER OF ZION, O DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM - Zephaniah is speaking to the city of Jerusalem, personified as a woman, and at the same time - of the people of the city. And he says…
“The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies.”
[00:21:06] Despite your faithlessness, God is still faithful… he is still with you… and he will deliver you from your enemies.
“The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;”
[00:21:23] God IS the King of Israel… they had a human king as well, but God was always considered to be the ultimate ruler of Israel. So, God IS the King of Israel, and he WILL dwell in Jerusalem.
[00:21:41] “you shall fear evil no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.’”
[00:21:53] In other words, there will no longer be cause for fear or trepidation or weakness, because God WILL deliver his people and restore them.
[00:22:08] “The LORD, your God, is in your midst; a warrior who gives victory;”
Twice Zephaniah has declared that the Lord IS in your midst - present tense! God IS present in the Temple in Jerusalem, God is present to the people - just as he is present to us today! He is present in the Tabernacle of every Catholic parish… he is present in his people, right? Matthew tells us: “whenever two or more are gathered in my name, so I am there in their midst.” He is present in his people, and he's also present in the Church - the Mystical Body of Christ. Through him there IS victory - victory over sin and death. Zephaniah goes on…
[00:23:10] “he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love;”
Despite your infidelity, you will be a city and a people purified by God's transforming love. We can extrapolate that to our time - despite our sinfulness, despite our unworthiness, despite our divisions and disagreements - God will purify us with his transforming love through the Church, his Mystical Body, and through the Sacraments of Grace he has entrusted to her.
[00:23:50] “he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.”
[00:23:56] God will… gather the people - then and now. God will… restore them - restore us. He will… make them glorious - he will transform us, sanctify us, and make us worthy to dwell with him in the glory of his kingdom.
[00:24:25] When we look at the promises of hope in this reading, we can see why the Church selected THIS READING for Gaudete Sunday, this 3rd Sunday of Advent. God's faithfulness is woven throughout this passage, as is the reminder that the Lord is with his people - always.
[00:24:48] And that is what ultimately gives us the greatest hope… that even in the midst of our struggles, our sin, our challenges, our doubts, our darkness - both in our personal lives and in the world - God is always with us. And it is that hope that strengthens us during this Advent season… if we open ourselves to it!
[00:25:16] Our Responsorial Psalm this week isn't actually a Psalm at all. It is a passage From Isaiah 12 and the refrain is:
“Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
[00:25:34] Remember I said last week that gladness and joy aren't necessarily the same thing? Hold that thought, because we'll delve into that more deeply in our Second Reading. Now here are the verses:
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name; make known his deeds among the nations, proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
[00:26:31] This passage is, as I said, from the book of the prophet Isaiah… it's from 1st Isaiah, to be precise, which is chapters 1- 39, and it is a short hymn of thanksgiving and praise. Isaiah, the prophet himself, was the author of First Isaiah, and in chapter 12 he warns the people of the consequences of being unfaithful to the Covenant, but also reminds them that judgment is not the end. That deliverance and salvation are the ultimate end for the people, but they must turn back to God in faithfulness. And again, note the words: GREAT IN YOUR MIDST. Isaiah, like Zephaniah in our First Reading, is assuring the people of God's faithfulness and everlasting presence with them… but that doesn't give them - or us - a free pass to act badly. There are consequences for bad behavior, but forgiveness is always available.
[00:27:45] That leads us to our Second Reading, which is - again - from Saint Paul's Letter to the Philippians 4: 4-7
[Brothers and Sisters:] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[00:28:29] Remember, I said last week that Philippians is one of the Captivity Letters written when Paul was imprisoned. I'm always astonished that Paul writes so freely about joy despite being in prison.
[00:28:47] Last week we heard from chapter 1 of Philippians, this week we have chapter 4. And I have to be completely honest… this is one of my all-time favorite passages from Saint Paul. It also begins with the words that form the basis for Gaudete Sunday. So, let's go back to the beginning…
“[Brothers and Sisters:] Rejoice in the Lord always;”
[00:29:10] Paul is NOT talking about happiness here! Happiness (or gladness) is a feeling. Joy is not based in feeling or emotion… I'm going to say that again - Joy is not based in feeling or emotion! Joy is a way of living in God's love, it is the deep and abiding knowledge that we are right with God. And, in many ways, joy is a choice. We can't make ourselves happy… emotions can't be commanded, but we can choose to live joyfully… regardless of our feelings. We can choose to pursue a right relationship with God… allowing ourselves to be open to God and to be part of the Church - the Mystical body of Christ - partaking regularly of the Sacraments and receiving a share of the divine life of grace within us, which allows us to be transformed… which allows God to transform us by his grace.
[00:30:28] That is choosing joy… that is choosing to live joyfully. And that is precisely what Paul is talking about here! And then what are his next words?
“again I will say, Rejoice.”
This is joy that transcends all emotions… it enables us to choose joy even in the midst of grief, or sadness, or disappointment. And how does it do that? Because when we are in right relationship with God, we know that he is always with us and that strengthens us to face any eventuality. Feeling good, being happy - again, those things can't be forced… they can't be commanded!
[00:31:19] Emotional reactions are most often the result of things outside of our control, right? And there are so many things that are outside of our control… people, circumstances, traffic, inflation, the economy, interest rates, a million things… all out of our control.
[00:31:40] But in the midst of everything that we can't control - there is one thing that we can always control… ourselves, right? Hold on to that thought, I'm going to circle back to it. Paul goes on…
“Let all men know your forbearance.”
What Paul means by forbearance, here, is tolerance, restraint, patience. The NAB translates it as kindness. These qualities empower us to treat other people well, regardless of how they treat us… think of the Corporal Works of Mercy: to bear wrongs patiently and to forgive offenses willingly. That is what joy brings to us and what choosing joy enables us to do!
[00:32:33] “The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything,”
THE LORD IS AT HAND - God is with us - GOD IS IN OUR MIDST (think back to the Responsorial verses from Isaiah). So, because of that, we should have no anxiety – none! Because truthfully… worry, anxiety, fear… those are all enemies of joy. A very good friend of mine always says: if you're worrying, you're not praying; and if you're praying, you're not worrying! So, what do we do? Paul tells us…
“in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
[00:33:22] IN EVERYTHING Paul says… pray, offer him supplication (your petitions), but always… ALWAYS with thanksgiving… make our requests known to God! Let him know what we're thinking… let him know what we're feeling… let him know when we're sad… let him know when we're happy… let him know when we're grieving… let him know when we need help. He's big enough, he has the bandwidth, he can handle it. Remember - if we're worrying, we're not praying; and if we're praying, we're not worrying!
[00:33:59] So, we need to pray! Make our requests known to God.
“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
[00:34:13] Now, the peace that Paul talks about - here - is so much more than just the absence of conflict or suffering. The peace that he's talking about is a gift from God that flows into our hearts through grace, from our sharing in the divine life of grace, the divine life of the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit.
[00:34:45] Now, remember, I said earlier that we can always control ourselves… And that I was going to circle back to that? Well, here goes…
When I say we can control ourselves, I mean we can practice self-discipline. That's often considered to be bad words anymore, but self-discipline, in the Church, is a practice called asceticism. Now, I'm going to rely on some greater sources than myself here because they are more eloquent than I could ever be.
[00:35:17] The first is St. Teresa of Ávila. She wrote a book called The Interior Castle, in which she assures us that Christ is the center of everything and that we can only reach that center - our own Interior Castles, where Christ dwells within us - by prayer and God's grace. She wrote: “provided we do not abandon our prayer, the Lord will turn everything we do to our profit.” Can't you hear the echo of Saint Paul there? IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND PETITION WITH THANKSGIVING MAKE YOUR REQUESTS KNOWN TO GOD. That is the type of self-control that brings us joy… that deep and abiding awareness that we are right with God who turns everything to our profit, to our good!
[00:36:13] The second source is Dr. David Fagerberg, an amazing theologian, a retired theology professor (one of my favorites from my own graduate studies), and the author of a number of books. In his 2016 book, Consecrating the World, Dr. Fagerberg writes: “What Christ is by nature, we are to become by grace.” But, we have to ask ourselves if that can be an active pursuit on our part? Can we - are we - enabled to actively pursue that grace? Fagerberg says yes, and we do so by resorting to and restoring the practice of asceticism in the Church.
[00:37:01] It's important to understand what Fagerberg - and I - both mean by asceticism. Asceticism is not self-torture, it's not punishment, it's not harsh self-denial, nor is it total avoidance of anything and everything good in this world. Asceticism is pursuing detachment from the good things of this world - precisely because they are good - so as to pursue a closer, deeper, more lasting attachment to Christ, who is the greatest good.
[00:37:43] It is that type of asceticism that brings joy - the type of joy that SURPASSES UNDERSTANDING, hopefully you heard Paul in that again! In that same book, Fagerberg writes: “There is nothing wrong with the world at which we look, but there is something wrong with how we look at the world.” Think back to what I said about detachment from the good things of this world! If we look at the world with an eye toward possession, control, or subjugation, we look at the world wrongly. But if we look at the world with admiration, gratitude, and appreciation, we see the world rightly and act accordingly.
[00:38:35] Fagerberg goes on to say: “life in the world should be lived in light of the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom resides at the deepest foundation of our hearts, and requires of us an ascetical discipline to uncover.” Hmmm… sound a bit familiar? Sound a bit like Teresa of Ávila and the search for our own Interior Castles, right? What happens if we're successful? Fagerberg says: “Asceticism forms the heart so that we can love with it.”
“Asceticism forms the heart so we can love with it.” Love God, love neighbor, love ourselves, love the world… in that order.
[00:39:28] And that is precisely what we should be doing this Advent. Repent, rejoice, pray, have no anxiety or fear… allow the quiet of these long December nights to calm our hearts and quiet our minds so that we are ready for the peace of God… ready to love God and others… ready to welcome Jesus, our Savior!
[00:40:04] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for listening and until next we meet, may God shower His blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions
The content of this show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening! I hope your Advent season is going well and may God bless you richly!
