The Fourth Sunday of Advent, commemorating the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle '25

St. John the Baptist had a ministry out in the wilderness, at least a day’s hike from Jerusalem. He had amassed a following of disciples who connected with his message of repentance. John gave people an avenue to return to God, an opportunity denied to them by the religious elites. Eventually John’s following grew, enough people were traveling out into the middle of nowhere to hear St. John the Baptist, that it caught the attention of the Jewish leadership in the Temple, and so the priests and Levites sent a delegation from Jerusalem to figure out what was going on out in the wilderness. In St. Luke’s account of this meeting John is not as friendly, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:7-8). It is obvious in John’s message that God is coming and when he comes great things are going to happen.

The advent progression of the gospel reading has gone like this: Jesus has come to visit his people, but his presence brings with it consequences. We see this exemplified in the first Sunday’s gospel as he rides into Jerusalem and visits the temple, judging what he sees, and turning over the tables of the money changers leading to the eventual destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70. In the Second Sunday of Advent, Jesus speaks of his second coming, how his presence will bring calamity for the wicked and vindication for the righteous. Last Sunday, Jesus declared that the Isaiah 35 prophecy fulfilled (vs. 4-6), “’Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing.” These acts of healing are the consequences of Jesus’ presence to the faithful. The pattern is established that the visitation of Jesus brings a revelation for the true state of things and his presence is a blessing to the faithful and a curse to the wicked. This is the meaning of the Isaiah chapter 40 quote St. John the Baptist gives today, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth” (vs. 3-4). St. John is telling us that the Lord will reveal the inward state of the world when he comes, and those who are proud and wicked will be brought low, and those who are humble and meek will be exalted.

During his ministry, Jesus regarded the inward state of the souls of the wicked and found them lacking. The correction he provided was certainly painful, but it was not surprising. The Old Testament is filled with God’s promise to visit his people and to make right all injustice. John the Baptist has told the nation that the time has come for God’s visitation, and for the faithful, Jesus’ presence was a joy beyond description. 

Jesus did these healing miracles to the faithful, as a vindication of their faithfulness, and as a sign to us that he will vindicate our faithfulness when he comes again. Likewise, to the wicked, Jesus condemned the leaders of the Temple because of their lack of faith… they could not recognize the Son of God standing right before them. Jesus makes the outward state match the inward state of those he visits. Those with vibrant faith will be made well, their bodies will reflect the inwardness of their souls. Those who are wicked and unjust, like the den of thieves at the Temple receive humiliation, sometimes at the hands of the Roman army. When God comes to visit his people, he sets things right. And this is a foretaste of the Kingdom which is to come in full at the end of history. During Advent, this is the very thing we are anticipating, indeed are exceedingly excited to have the kingdom come in full. When Jesus comes again, he will bring his peace and his justice to the world and those who want to be part of that world will be raised up to live with God forever because the inward states of their souls, a faithfulness to God, will be vindicated. 

God’s presence is often symbolized as light. This light is what these four Advent candles represent to us, the closer we are to Christmas, the closer God gets to us, the brighter the light becomes. Christmas marks a point in the calendar when the amount of darkness in the day begins to wane, and the amount of daylight begins to increase. In fact, today, being the Winter Solstice, is the darkest day of the year, and tomorrow will be brighter than today. These created lights, candlelight and sunlight illuminate our surroundings, making the physical world visible to us. This created light is a symbol that points to the uncreated light of God. Light of light, as we say in the creed… That when God’s light is near to our soul, it reveals to us spiritual truths. God’s light is crystal clear to the blind men Jesus encounters, who seeing Jesus in faith are made well on the outside so that the outward expression of them matches the inward state of their souls. And when God comes to us, this light shines on the inward parts of our souls illuminating who we really are. 

When this happens, God holds up to us a mirror, and we can see clearly the parts he wishes to show us, we are given the grace to see the parts that require repentance. He does not do this in the way that the devil does. The devil is all too eager to point out to us the places where we fail, and the enemy delights in our suffering, so he tries to keep us in a state of perpetual guilt and anguish. This is what the Scribes and the Pharisees did to the children of Israel. As Jesus says to them in John Chapter 8, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do” (vs. 44). 

But when God comes to us to show us who we are and where we need to repent, it is done in the purest of love. For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son. God loves us so much that he refuses to let us stay enslaved by sin. But at the same moment, he offers to us his grace to be transformed by him, to be conformed to him. All we need to do is turn toward him again and accept this gift, freely given. God’s Holy Spirit comes to us continually; his voice strengthened through our habits of prayer. We feel those prompting from him in the form of that “perhaps something isn’t quite right…” kind of feeling we get. We’ve all experienced this quiet invitation for repentance, and in our obedience to confess and repent, we are able to then grow and bear fruits worthy of repentance. In Advent, we remember the expectation Israel felt for that big moment in history when God came on Christmas, and in Advent we become acutely aware of our own expectation for that big moment in history when Jesus will come again, but it is important to remember that God comes to us daily through the Holy Spirit. When we accept this invitation to repentance, we accept the grace and virtue provided to us by God in this act. Our outward actions reflect the inward state of our souls’ newfound state of grace. Over the years of continual prayer and listening, repentance and confession, God works the miracle of a changed life for all of us. 

For those who ignore God, or like the Pharisees, for those in open rebellion against God, Our Lord’s visitation is disastrous for them. For instead of repentance and turning toward God, there is a hardening of the heart and a turning inward on one’s self. I guess since God’s presence is the cause of this reaction, this hardening of the heart is God’s doing, like what happened to Pharaoh in Moses’ day. But do not be fooled, all who encounter the presence of God must make a choice to either repent and turn more toward his light, love, and grace, or to not and to turn more inwardly toward pride, selfishness, and sin. So, the hardening of one’s heart is something always assented to by the wicked either consciously or because the action is so habitual it is a reflex. Likewise, the repentance and continual turning toward God is something that can become habitual and reflexive as well and this is why habits of prayer and fasting are so important to the spiritual life. As St. Paul writes in today’s epistle, the result of prayer is the peace of God, which passes all understanding, that peace will guard our hearts and minds, will keep us spiritually safe, through Christ Jesus. Spoiler, “Peace on Earth” is what the angels cry out on Christmas. It is this very peace we can find every day through prayer.

Now, there are only four more days until Christmas. It is likely this phrase has caused in us one of these two reactions, excitement or anxiety. Remember that when Jesus comes, great things will happen, and Christmas is a day and season to celebrate the gift Jesus is to the faithful, because of the peace, justice, and health he brings. But his presence requires action from us… so as St. John the Baptist warning, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). And as St. Paul says to all the faithful, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand” (Philippians 4:4-5).