Year C

Luke 3:7-18

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Joy and Repentance

The pink candle lit on the Advent wreath today symbolizes Joy. Officially today is called “Gaudete Sunday,” from the Latin “Rejoice!” and joy is definitely the theme for today. The bible’s definition of Joy is: it is a feeling of happiness that we get from knowing Jesus, abiding in God’s presence and from hope in God’s word that comes from the Holy Spirit. One day this past week, in Forward Today, a resource for prayer and meditations from the Episcopal Church, the Advent Word was Joy. The reflection went like this: I once heard that peace is joy at rest, and joy is peace on its feet. In a holiday season full of frantic energy-full of pressure to make everything merry-this is the kind of joy I can get behind: dancing joy rooted in fearless calm. Peace on its feet.

What a beautiful way to express joy….Peace on its feet. This type of Joy is explicit in all the texts today. In the Zephaniah reading, Zephaniah tells us to shout and rejoice and in Paul’s letter to the Philippians he tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always” which brings peace. The gospel text from Luke may seem like it’s devoid of joy, as John the Baptist tells us to repent but joy is there, just a bit more subtle. These texts taken together teach us about the nearness of God, now and in the future, salvation in Christ, and that the moral character of the Christian life to bring happiness and peace is one of joy and repentance, repentance and joy.

There is joy with the coming of God at Christmas and then again at the “Last Day”.  God is coming and so rejoice. Joy is realized in the lives of those who grasp and practice this truth: “the Lord is near.” The Lord is with you, in your midst, the prophet Zephaniah proclaims. You are redeemed. The Lord will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in his love. This beautiful “Song of Joy” with inspiring words from the prophet Zephaniah, conclude the book. Zephaniah spoke these words early in the reign of king Josiah-640-609BCE. Most of the book of Zephaniah is a strong condemnation of the religious infidelity and social injustice that preceded the reforms enacted by Josiah.

The text we read today comes after great prophecies of destruction and judgment. The people were experiencing profound challenges and into this reality Zephaniah speaks of restoration. The day of disaster will be replaced by a day of gladness. “Do not fear…the Lord, your God, is in your midst. God’s presence among them in these verses protects and it rejoices. It releases them from fear and shame. It makes real the promised future of peace and joy, and it invigorates them to work for the good. God has taken care of things for God’s people and this brings good news to all the people and a reason for celebration.

The prophet Isaiah today bursts with joy in his celebration song of the mighty deeds that God, who is in the midst of the people, will do. This is a joy that compels faith and trust, a joy that insists that the people wait for the gracious outpouring of God’s mercy. God will yet provide salvation for God’s people and this waiting for God and seeing God’s future promise is a source of joy and a source of crisis. The way it is will be shaken down. Paths made straight and rough places are made smooth. This is the joy that John the Baptist announces as he calls people to repentance.     

Joy is less evident in this gospel text from Luke instead there is a lot of talk about judgment and morality which certainly doesn’t feel very Christmasy or seem like good news. Yet, what if we thought about the practice of repentance as a joyful affair? The crowds, who had come to John to be baptized which included tax collectors and soldiers from the Roman army, seemed willing maybe a bit joyful to turn their hearts and behaviors around. Even after he calls them a brood of vipers and tells them to bear fruit, that is, to repent and turn back to God. Trees that don’t bear fruit will get thrown into the fire.

And when they ask what their lives should look like after they have followed his commands, he tells them to live generously and justly. The fruit worthy of repentance is to be borne after baptism. Baptism requires action guided by repentance, and the fruit of repentance reveals a steadfast trust in God and God’s work and God’s will. Those who reorient their lives toward faithfulness to God and care of neighbor will find joy and peace in the coming Messiah; the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

In Luke’s view, such spiritual fire will serve to further God’s purpose. In his book of Act’s, we find a description of baptized people who now bear the fruit John describes. They are said to be people “with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” This new Holy Spirit baptized life changes us and frees us to “rejoice in the Lord always” because the Lord is near, we have reason to rejoice. This joy, Paul tells us today, leads us to live gently, not worry about anything as we pray and give thanks to the Lord. And the peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. 

This kind of joy and prayer brings peace; a peace that is found only, as the prophet Isaiah alludes to, in those whose minds are rooted in God.  This peace rooted in God “surpasses all understanding.” A peace rooted in hope, which the prophet Zephaniah commands us to today: “The Lord, your God, is in your midst; the Lord rejoices over you with gladness and will renew you in love.” The Lord is near and is our hope. He came to us in poverty and weakness as a babe in a manger and he died for us in the wisdom of God that was folly to the world. He has baptized us in fire as John prophesied in Luke.

These days of waiting and preparing in Advent are the time to stir up the fruit, gifts given us, the holy people of God to live a life of honesty, generosity and concern for others in need. For the promise is coming, so in this interim time, we can share in the gladness, knowing that in God’s kingdom, this is the joy that lies out there ahead for us. God rejoices over us. “Sing out, rejoice and exult with all your hearts.” “Cry aloud, O Zion, ring our your joy, for the great one in your midst is our savior, the Holy One of Israel.”