Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Today's scriptures are hastening us on toward Christmas Day, but at the same time they remind us that we are not there yet, that there are still a couple days more of preparation to do. We know this at a practical level, in the midst of baking and buying and wrapping and welcoming relatives and so on. But for Christians, the preparation is meant to become much more intense. In today's scripture readings, we are asked to do some very deep soul searching. Do we really - I mean, REALLY - want Jesus to come? Do we know what the implications of Jesus' coming are? Are we prepared to open our lives to Jesus nevertheless?
In today's first reading (Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24), the prophet speaks of what it will be like when the Day of the Lord comes. This is no quiet manger scene with friendly animals, snow gently falling, and adults gaping in wonder at a baby. Indeed, it is almost the opposite. "Who can endure the day of his coming?" For when the Lord comes, he will set about refining us to be gold and silver. It will feel like fire, because in order to be refined, all that is not gold or silver must be burned away. All that is in us that is not God will be refined so that we can be with God, finally and completely. The end result is good - but it would be normal to have some trepidation about being burned, even if its purpose is to become like gold. Quite simply, refining, being burned, doesn't feel good.
"Feeling good' - that's what I worry about sometimes when I look at our culture and see a lot of emphasis on the idea that religion is about making people feel good. Don't get me wrong - sometimes it is!
A hug, a word of compassion, a gesture of generosity, are often feel-good things and we should be about those. But we should not let those good feelings become idols, god-for-us, or else we are in danger of losing sight of God-For-Us, Immanuel. There were times when Jesus made people feel good; there were plenty of others (Jesus getting angry in the temple; Jesus calling the Pharisees to account; Jesus rebuking his own disciples) when he did not. To have a real relationship with God, who is utterly not like us and yet became us, we've got to throw ourselves into Jesus' refining fire.
And I suspect that in the middle of that refining fire, we will learn things about ourselves that we never expected to learn, much like Zechariah learned when he protested that God could not - COULD NOT - be sending him and his wife a son. Look how old they were! And yet, in today's gospel reading (Luke 1:57-66), Zechariah learns to be humble, not only in God's sight, but in front of all the people too, which I imagine was much harder for him to swallow. But, too, he had endured several months of being unable to speak. He probably wondered if there would ever be an end to that loss of ability. Zechariah had to be willing to lose face in order to be saved by God and gain back his voice. He had to be willing to have the pride burned out of him, so that he could freely witness to others about who John and Jesus were.
In the first reading, the prophet Malachi says that God will send Elijah to the people, to prepare the way for God himself to come to us. Christians have always seen John the Baptist as God's new Elijah, asking us to making ourselves ready for God's refining power. (John and Elijah even dressed alike and ate the same things!) So now, a mere two days before Christmas, we are asked to reflect on John the Baptist as well. Where are we called to repent? Let us take time today to reflect on what parts of our lives God asks to give to him to refine, so that we, too, can be like silver and gold.
- Jana M. Bennett