“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.  For previous Green Room entries, click here.

This morning’s Gospel reading is Luke 3:1–6:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Once again, I find myself traveling on Sunday, leaving some old and new friends in Glen Rose, Texas. Hopefully, this will be the last time I have to travel on a weekend before Christmas, because there are only two more weekends between now and the holiday. My very patient wife, who was glad I had an opportunity to go on this adventure, nevertheless lamented that the days are running short on preparation for all of the family shopping and other activities we must plan.

This may seem somewhat ironic for Advent, which is a season of preparation. But in a very real sense, Advent is about exile, and the redemption of Israel from it. Wandering around at this time of the year might be a distraction and certainly a complication to holiday planning, but gives an insight into the meaning of this liturgical season.

Our Gospel reading today speaks directly on that point in this passage from the commissioning of John the Baptist. In fact, Luke 3 starts off by reminding readers just how desperate were the straits in which Israel had found itself. Rome had long since claimed occupation of Israel; Luke starts off by reminding everyone that Tiberius had ruled the empire for 15 years, just after Luke 2 also noted the long reign of Augustus by the time of Jesus’ birth. Where Luke only mentions Augustus and the Syrian governor Quirinius in chapter 2, he goes into much greater detail to note the situation for Israel when John hears the word of God and begins his ministry in the wilderness:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas …

This seems more than just a historical marker, as valuable as it might be in that role. Consider the people mentioned by Luke in this passage. Tiberius, Pilate, and Lysanias were obviously outsiders, but so were Herod and Philip, whose commitment to Judaism seemed less than fully committed to the Israelites of the time, and their status as Roman puppets and Herod’s opulent lifestyle made them even more suspect. One only need read the rest of the Gospels to know how the Israelites viewed the temple authorities at the time, under the thumb of the Roman occupiers.

The picture that Luke paints is a nation that is trapped in its homeland, but effectively exiled from their birthright. The search for the Messiah at that time was for a military leader who could eject the Romans and their Herodian puppets and restore the Davidic royal line to power. It’s a similar situation faced by the Israelites in Maccabees, for instance, but it also has parallels to the actual exiles of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms which we see in today’s reading from Baruch 5. Baruch writes during the Babylonian exile that Jerusalem should prepare to shake off her mourning and get ready to welcome the redemption of the Israelites:

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. …Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.

Earlier in Baruch 4, the prophet explains that the Lord didn’t want to destroy Israel, but to teach it a lesson about the need to serve Him rather than fall into idolatry:

Take courage, my people, O memorial of Israel! It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God. For you provoked him who made you, by sacrificing to demons and not to God. You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up, and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.

The lesson in the Gospel is the same. Israel had forsaken the Lord, and had fallen into idolatry, even after the Maccabean revolt ejected the Greeks. As a result, thanks to their reliance on worldly power, they had fallen victim to it yet again — only this time in occupation rather than exile. John the Baptist then recalls the words of Isaiah for the preparation of the Messiah, the Holy One of the Lord who will put all things right. Both Baruch and John the Baptist (and Isaiah obviously) urge Israel to prepare for their salvation through penance and atonement, as their time of exile and captivity and their long journey to freedom will soon come to an end. The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

For a wandering and lost people, whether in a literal sense or in an allegorical sense, straight roads and smooth ways mean that home is now near. The anticipation of arrival surges, and the sense of celebration and gratitude crescendos. Both Baruch and John the Baptist not only offer that tantalizing promise, but both also urge that Israel needs to act now in order to prepare for it.

That is the message for Advent as well. We are a pilgrim people, lost on our way, and trapped in a world that is ruled by sin, temptation, and idolatry. Our journey from our exile and captivity from those powers begins with understanding that we must seek God first and live in His grace and repent of our sins. We walked away from God, but He offers us redemption through Jesus Christ, and all we need do is resolve to put our feet on the straight road and smooth way. And that is a reason for celebration.

The front-page image is of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ein Karem, which marks the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. From my personal collection.