Third Sunday of Advent – Cycle B
Isaiah 61:1-2A, 10-11; Thessalonians 5:16-24;
John 1:6-8, 19-28
John was not the light. He came to testify to the light. I never really understood the importance of testifying to the light. The sun rises in the sky.Everyone can see the light. Everyone can feel the warmth. Why is there a need to testify to it? I saw Jesus in the same way. I thought that a few minutes in his presence, and anyone would know who he was. His divinity could not possibly escape notice. So John’s testimony seemed to me to be
almost unnecessary.
One day I asked a priest about this. His answer opened my eyes a bit. He told me that as important as Christmas is to the church, only two of the four gospel writers even felt the need to speak about the birth of Jesus. Yet all of the gospels talk of John the Baptist testifying to the light. Obviously, I was missing something. Then this past summer, I gained a deeper respect for John and his role.
Everyone recalls what happened to Louisville this past August when the remnants of the hurricane blew through town. Most of Louisville was plunged into darkness for an extended period of time. Electricity is a funny thing. You never notice it until it’s gone. A few hours without power is a nuisance. A couple of days without power is a major inconvenience. A
week or more, and we’re talking some serious stuff. I can see it in your faces. When the power was finally restored in your area, I’ll bet there was some testimony to the light in your homes. Then I began to realize something. Christ, the light of the world, had been promised for over 1000 years. Imagine a thousand years of calling LG&E and hearing “please be patient, there is a truck in your area, we’re doing the best that we can.” So they waited for 1000 years. And when John saw Jesus – saw the heavens open up at his baptism, John could not have held back if he wanted to. The testimony had to come out.
John was the first in a very long line of testifiers to the light. He was soon followed by Peter and the apostles, Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross. Later came Stephen, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – all testifying to the light.
I did some rough calculations the other day. My grandfather was born in 1906, my father in 1932. I was born in 1963 and both of my sons were born in the early 1990’s. That’s four generations of Diemers born in the span of about 100 years. If you accept my figures as the average, there have been about 80 generations of people walking the earth and testifying to the light since the time of Christ. 80 generations finding new ways to honor and serve our Lord through prayer, through example, through writing, through art and music. 80 generations!
And now it’s our turn.
- Testify to the light in the way that you raise and teach your children.
- Testify to the light in the reverence you show at the Lord’s table.
- Testify to the light by becoming a priest.
- Testify to the light in the way you treat your neighbor.
- Testify to the light by forgiving those who trespass against us.
- Testify to the light by providing heath care to everyone who needs it.
- Testify to the light by clothing the naked, feeding the poor, visiting the sick and imprisoned.
- Testify to the light by holding all life sacred.
- Testify to the light by ending the war.
If we truly see the light, if we truly comprehend its meaning, how can we not?
How can we not?
3rd Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2008
