The Sunday Eucharist - December 5th, 2021

We had a spectacular, if somewhat lengthy, session last Sunday, thanks to my two guests – Mack and Stoive – both of whom had plenty of wisdom to share. Both men are seasoned spiritual warriors who are currently playing prominent roles in the ‘Pushback’ movement. It was a pleasure to have them with me.

Mack read to us from the little-known book of Malachi (3:1-4) - a prophecy that was given to the people of Israel after their return from exile, late in the 5th century B.C. We can assume that the lectionary has given us this reading because Malachi’s mention of ‘the messenger who prepares the way’ (3:1) seems to anticipate John the Baptist, and yet we cannot doubt that when Malachi gave this prophecy, he was speaking of one of God’s messengers from his own time, perhaps of himself.

Stoive gave us the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (1:3-11). This was a letter Paul wrote from prison. Indeed, he may have been chained to a Roman soldier as he wrote. Even so, the word ‘joy’ turns up in this letter more times than in any of Paul’s other writings. The Apostle seemed to have a great way of seeing the light shining in the darkness.

As mentioned, our Gospel reading (Luke 3:1-6) introduced us once again to John the Baptiser, and it did it in a way that demonstrates Luke’s (the Gospel writer’s) sense of humour.

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:1-2).

This long list of names means little to us now but, at the time, these emperors and priests were powerful figures who had the attention of the whole world and whose names appeared in the daily headlines. Amongst these towering figures, whom does God chose to call into action? Some unknown guy named John who was living as a hermit in the desert.

God has a history of appointing the most unlikely people to the most significant jobs. Look around today and you’ll see the same pattern. We don’t need to wait for our Presidents and Prime Ministers and Archbishops to get on board with the Divine agenda. God is raising up new recruits all the time from places we would never have anticipated!

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