Malachi 3:1 – 5 / For the Psalm: Canticle 4 / Luke 3:1 – 6
This is the homily
given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, December
5, 2021.
“WHAT SORT OF A HERALD?”
(Homily
text: Luke 3:1 - 6)
“…thus,
when you give to the poor, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in
the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”
(Matthew 6:2)
Our
Lord made that statement as part of His Sermon on the Mount. He was describing
the process of self-promotion and attention-garnering that some practiced in
that day and time, people He called hypoccrites. In essence, He is saying that
when one gives to the poor, there is no need for a herald to go beforehand to
announce the good deeds that are being done.
Contrast
this image of the herald who precedes an ostentatious and pompous one, the
herald whose purpose is to focus attention on the one who follows, doing good
deeds, with the sort of a herald that John the Baptist was for Jesus. (After
all, we concentrate on the Baptist’s ministry and work each year when the
Second Sunday of Advent rolls around.)
John
the Baptist sought to draw our attention to a completely different sort of
person than the hypocrites that our Lord was describing in the statement shown
above. For one thing, this Lord Jesus comes among us, born to poor parents,
born in a stable, in rude circumstances. As His earthly ministry unfolded, He
spent time with the tax collectors and the other notorious sinners of His day,
instead of hanging around with the high and the mighty. He died a common
criminal’s death on the cross, with a sign that was placed over His head,
proclaiming that He was “King of the Jews”.
And
yet, for all these markers which signify to us a humble One, One who came to
serve, not to be served, we see that this One possesses all power, majesty and
might. How can we see these markers of His true identity? In the resurrection
on Easter Sunday morning, that’s where the evidence is to be found. There, we
see that this humble One possesses all power, even over our most dire and final
enemy, which is death.
The
Lord comes to us quietly, unobtrusively, and with warmth. He comes, seeking no
herald to announce His coming, other than the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who
prepares the soil of our hearts to receive Him and to welcome Him in, that He
may fellowship with us and we with Him.
As
we receive the Lord into our hearts, into our minds, and into our lives, we,
too, are called to engage in the same sort of ministry that fell to John the
Baptist to do: We are called to herald the Lord’s coming by what we say, how we
live, and what we do.
Thanks
be to God!
AMEN.
