Second Sunday of Advent, Dec.

6, 2009
(Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:4-6,8-11; Luke 3:1-6)

The Babylonian Exile (586-538 BC) was one of the most significant events in
the history of Judaism, not because it was a good thing, but because it, more than
any other single event, tested Israel’s faith like never before. At the same time, it
allowed the first five books of the Old Testament to be fashioned into their final,
written form known as the Torah.
It was also during the Exile and slightly after that the synagogue system
developed where people in villages and towns would gather on the Sabbath to pray
the Psalms and reflect on the Torah and the Prophets, as their words were available.
Thus were the beginning stages of Israel becoming a people of the Book.
Baruch (“blessed” in Hebrew) had been the name of Jeremiah’s secretary
during his time as a prophet. The author of these few chapters which make up
Baruch was an unknown Jew, writing during the Exile or shortly after, about the
need for repentance and the eventual end to the exile which God would bring about.
Today’s passage suggests the end of that exile. The announcement is made to
Jerusalem as the survivor of its own destruction. No longer mourning, she is told to
put on the splendor of God’s glory. Jerusalem is personified as a watchman looking
out to the distant east to see the returning exiles. They left in tears at the hands of
their captors. They return in joy at the hand of God.
The prophet incorporates the language of Isaiah 40 about lofty mountains
being made low and gorges being filled in. The sheer joy of the returning exiles
with God leading them is overwhelming. Even the trees and the forests take part.
This same theme appears also in the Psalm response, no doubt written after
the Exile. Laughter and rejoicing replace the tears of their captivity. To a primarily
agricultural society, in rugged terrain which the Holy Land is, these words were
welcome.
The Gospel scene introducing John the Baptist continues the theme of
prophetic fulfillment, which Luke locates historically in the fifteenth year of the
reign of Tiberius Caesar, probably 28 or 29 AD. Pontius Pilate was the Roman
governor in Judea from 26-26 AD. Herod and Philip were both sons of Herod the
Great by different mothers. Lysanias remains mysterious. Annas was high priest
from 6 to 15 AD. Caiaphas was his son-in-law who was high priest from 18-36 AD.
 So Luke has grounded his tale of John the Baptist within the realm of both the
political and religious leadership of the time, more concerned than the other gospels
with locating his gospel in a verifiable setting. A quick look at John the Baptist’s
introduction in the other gospels confirms how different Luke is on this point.
John, son of Zechariah, like the Old Testament prophets, is a recipient of the
word of God (literally, “a word of God came to John”). This is clearly taken from
the Greek version of Jeremiah 1:1 which says “the word of God came to Jeremiah.”
Thus John’s preaching and baptizing are directed by the word of God, just as were
the words and actions of the prophets of old.
The Isaiah passage (Is.40:3-5) quoted envisions a return from Babylonian
Exile, like Baruch and like the psalmist. But Luke’s use of it here is to prepare the
way for John as the voice of the one crying in the desert. John had already been
identified as going throughout the whole region of the Jordan. Now he will prepare
the way for the salvation of God, which comes in the person of Jesus.

Fr. Lawrence L. Hummer