Word to the Wise
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - Tuesday in the Third Week of Advent
[Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 and Matthew 21:28-32]Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
This gospel scripture may seem to be a strange one for the Advent/Christmas season! Yet, as scripture scholars have shown us, the "infancy narratives" from which we get all our favorite biblical Christmas scenes, are "mini-gospels" which contain within them all the major "themes" of Jesus' life. In today's gospel, Jesus confronts the religious leaders of his time with their rejection of John the Baptist and, by extension, their rejection of him. We will see this "theme" played out in Matthew's version of the Christmas story. The Magi come from afar to accept and worship the newborn "King of the Jews" (remember the sign on Jesus' cross?). But Herod and the religious leaders try to find a way to kill him! This rejection continues to this day. Each year there is some law suit somewhere to remove a Christmas scene from some public place in the name of constitutional principle. Thus our secular religion tries to keep our religion of faith from being proclaimed at all! We have to remember that there are some well-intentioned (and the more traditional kind) Scrooges who think, at least, that the celebration is "humbug." Or perhaps they enjoy the celebration but want it to have nothing to do with faith, unless it is faith in the economy! Sometimes this opposition can be quite vicious. On our part, we have to continue to proclaim what we know to be true and wish to everyone the blessings of this holy time. AMEN
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