Homily Advent 2C: Levelling the hills and filling in the valleys of sin

Homily for 2nd Sunday of Advent Year C 2018 

Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:3-6,8; Luke 3:1-6

Introduction 

Have you ever wondered why Pontius Pilate is mentioned in the Creed?  This is the governor who oversaw the unfair trial and conviction of Jesus, the man who washed his hands off the fate of Jesus, both literally and metaphorically? 

Scripture and Theology 

The reason Pilate's name is in the Creed is the same reason that Luke begins today's gospel passage, by rattling off the civic and religious leaders of the time: 

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,  

when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,  

and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, . . . 

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, 

Luke does this to situate the story of Jesus in history; in other words, that was Jesus really born, and preached the gospel, and was crucified.  These events can be verified by checking the annals of history, when these leaders reigned. 

It would be like you writing a story today and saying: 

In the second year of Donald Trump as president, when John Bel Edwards was governor of Louisiana, LaToya Cantrell was mayor of New Orleans and Michael Yenni, President of Jefferson Parish, during the papacy of Pope Francis and Gregory Aymond as Archbishop of New Orleans. 

This information would locate and verify the period when your story happened. 

But there is another reason that Luke introduces the ministry of John the Baptist in this way.  He would like to contrast what these leaders represent with the new world order that John is speaking about.  Luke says that it was during the reign of these leaders that "the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert."  In other words, God chose to give his word to this lowly son of a priest, not the high and mighty leaders. 

And what was this Word of God that John was given?  Luke says: "John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins . . . ."  In other words, the message from God is that men and women have to repent of their sins and return to him.  They do this in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah.  That is why John is described as "A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low" as Isaiah had prophesied. 

In short, the message of John the Baptist is that there is a new sheriff coming in town, Jesus Christ, a sheriff that is going to replace the sheriffs of the day.  The people must prepare themselves for the arrival of this new sheriff by repenting of their sins and undergoing the ritual of baptism, as an external sign of their inner conversion.  And indeed many people heard the message of John, left behind their evil ways and came to be baptized.  So when Jesus the Messiah finally showed up they were ready to become his disciples.  In fact, some of the close disciples of Jesus like Andrew, were first disciples of John the Baptist. 

We read this passage about John the Baptist during Advent, because its message is relevant for our preparation for the Second Coming, which as we heard last Sunday is the focus of the first part of Advent.  We can learn some lessons from the way John had the people prepare for the First Coming of Jesus, for our own preparation for his Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time.  Not only must we repent of our sins and return to the Lord, we must do so because the old order represented by Tiberius, Pilate, Herod and others of our own day must be replaced by a new order of Jesus Christ now and at the end of time.  

Christian Life 

The image of making straight paths for the Lord, by filling in every valley and levelling every mountain, is a good image to help us also to understand what we must do for our own preparation of the Lord's second coming.  Although we don't have any real hills and valleys in this area of New Orleans, we have certainly seen them in movies, and anyway the bumps and potholes in some of our roads around here are perfect examples of hills and valleys.  Just as in the ancient times without interstates, hills and valleys were an obstacle for the traveller, just as in our days, bumps and pot holes make for a rough ride, the hills and valleys in our lives make it difficult for the Messiah to come into our lives easily.  For the hills that need levelling in our lives are those which are excessive; while the valleys in our lives that need filling are those things of which we have too little. 

The Catholic traditional list of the seven capital sins, is a perfect example of hills, things, which are normally good, but too much of anything good is bad.  They are called capital sins, because they give birth to other sins. 

1. Pride: While a good sense of who you are is a good thing, when our self-esteem exceeds who we truly are and ignores our dependence on God and others, it is Pride, a vice and a capital sin. 
2. Greed is the second capital sin, because while the desire to have things in itself is a good thing, after all we have to care for our families, an inordinate desire of riches is a vice and a capital sin. 
3. The third capital sin, is Envy, resentment at the success of others.  While there is nothing wrong with trying to be like others, it is vice and a capital sin when we are sad at and try to destroy the joy of others. 
4. Anger or Wrath is the fourth capital sin.  While righteous anger is motivated by justice, wrath is motivated by revenge, perhaps the kind of motivation for capital punishment and suchlike; it is a vice and capital sin. 
5. Lust, the fifth capital sin, is once again the inordinate desire of a good thing.  While the desire for sexual pleasure is good in its natural habitat of monogamous marriage, it is a vice and capital sin, outside marriage. 
6. Gluttony, the sixth capital sin, is the misuse of food and drink, good things in themselves.  As someone put it, gluttony is a vice because it wants food and drink "too soon, too expensively, too much, too eagerly, too daintily." 
7. Finally, Sloth or laziness is a lack of spiritual of physical effort.  Everybody needs rest and time off; but too much rest and leisure that abdicates obligations and responsibilities to ourselves and others, is a vice and a sin. 

Unfortunately, today's world order, represented by the Pilates of our time, promotes some of these vices as virtues.  We must heed John the Baptist and level these capital sins, as we prepare for the coming of the Messiah. 

As for the valleys that need filling, those things that we are not doing enough of, some of which are actually discouraged by today's world order, again we can turn to the traditional Catholic list of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 

Most of us know the seven corporal works of mercy because six of them are mentioned by Jesus in the parable of the Last Judgement in Matthew chapter 25: 

1. To feed the hungry. 
2. To give drink to the thirsty. 
3. To clothe the naked. 
4. To shelter the homeless. 
5. To visit the sick. 
6. To visit the imprisoned. 
7. To bury the dead. 

But we also have the seven spiritual works of mercy, which enjoin us to do things for the spiritual benefit others:  

1. To instruct the ignorant. 
2. To counsel the doubtful. 
3. To admonish the sinners. 
4. To bear patiently those who wrong us. 
5. To forgive offenses. 
6. To comfort the afflicted. 
7. To pray for the living and the dead. 

Are any of these perhaps some of the valleys in our lives that need to be filled, so that when the Lord returns, he will find us ready? 

Conclusion 

Like he did in the past through John the Baptist, the Lord does so today through our readings, calling us to abandon the old world order and prepare for the new one fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 

Are we ready to abandon Pilate, and instead heed message of John the Baptist?