Triumph In Christ Despite Tragedies

Third Sunday of Advent 2024

Just imagine fifty-six years. If you are as old as I am, subtract fifty-six years from your age and reflect on what your life was like in that year. You’ll see a huge difference in your life, in the culture, in the Church, in a little over a half-century. Now think of what fifty-six years meant in the life of the people of God, Israel, back in OT times. Specifically, we are thinking of the years 696 to 640 BC. The good king Hezekiah had prayed for healing from a deadly infection during a terrible time when the army of Assyria was besieging Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah brought him the good news that he would recover from that disease. He lived another fifteen years. That was just enough time to become the father of his son, Manasseh, who succeeded Hezekiah as king. Oops.

Manasseh was by all accounts the most unfaithful king of Israel. And he was the longest-lived of the kings, fifty-five years reign. He brought in the worship of the entire pantheon of false gods from Assyria. No surprise there; he was a vassal of that terrible empire. He even brought back the gods of Phoenicia, and the accompanying sacrifice of babies and toddlers called “passing through fire.” In other words, a total jerk of a king. And his son, who ruled for less than two years, was just as bad. But this leads to one of the best kings for true worship and practice, Josiah, who is also one of the great tragic stories of Israel. Josiah religiously purified Israel after the discovery of the Mosaic law that had been secreted in the Temple. The Law confirmed that Israel had been engaging in abominations for over a half-century and led to a time of repentance and renewal of right worship.

But it really was too late. The evil was thoroughly entrenched in the popular culture, very much like our situation today in the West. The reformation was stopped after a few years when King Josiah was killed in battle. Within a couple of decades, the Babylonians became the big bullies of the Near East, and they subjected Israel, exiled the people and destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem. The prophets like Zephaniah and Ezekiel then went into exile with them and encouraged them with the message that God had not deserted them. He was still in their midst and would, in His own time, bring victory.

That would happen about five hundred years after Josiah when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Blessed Mary and told her not to fear, because the Lord was with her, and soon would literally be in her midst—in her womb. All that was needed was her affirmation in faith.

Our psalm today is unusual, because it is a canticle from Isaiah, the one that reassures us that the Lord is great in our midst. The glorious achievement we celebrate on this Sunday of rejoicing is the very Son of God taking human flesh for our salvation. We need to understand that St. Paul was writing to the church of Philippi from prison and doing so with a spirit of gladness. Why? Because, as he writes, “the Lord is at hand,” in His holy Word, His Eucharist, and whenever two or three are gathered in His name. That’s why we need have no anxiety about anything, and why we can count on having the peace of God that surpasses all analysis, all comprehension.

John the Baptist knew Jesus, knew His calling, knew His power. That’s why John felt God’s authority inside his heart to proclaim that the Messiah was in the midst of His people, and why he was able without fear to tell people how to act, how to get ready for Christ’s coming. And likewise, he is telling us the same thing, to act justly, to worship rightly, and be ready for the fire of the Holy Spirit.