Bar 5:1-9; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6
In 539 BC the streets
of Babylon were echoed with a great declaration from Cyrus, the
king of Persia. It announced freedom to Jews, allowing Jews to
return home. In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar
II
destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and took away Jews to Babylon
as captives. The exile to Babylon was a traumatic event in Jewish history, as the destruction of the political independence of the kingdom coincided with the destruction of the monarchy and of the First Temple of Jerusalem. For about 50 years Jews lived a miserable life Babylon. For them King Cyrus’ announcement was great News.
as captives. The exile to Babylon was a traumatic event in Jewish history, as the destruction of the political independence of the kingdom coincided with the destruction of the monarchy and of the First Temple of Jerusalem. For about 50 years Jews lived a miserable life Babylon. For them King Cyrus’ announcement was great News.
But this historic event was prophesied by
Prophet Baruch years ago. We heard it in today’s first reading.
“Though they led them from you on foot, with enemies for an escort, now God
brings them back to you like royal princes.” And the return of Jews
from exile is recorded by Joachim, Ezra and Nehemiah.
But today’s reading does not confine itself to
the historic event of exile and return from the exile. The
prophecy has a wider and deeper meaning. The prophecy announces the
return of the whole human race to God.
The Prophet declares that to facilitate this return
“Every mountain must be flattened and every valley filled.” These same
words are repeated by St John the Baptist. To prepare the way for the
Lord, “Every valley must be filled in, every mountain and hill be
laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads
made smooth.”
Let’s have a look at the symbolic meaning of
today’s Gospel.
It says every valley should be filled in – The
valley stands for deep chasms. Deep chasms are filled with
darkness, and they stand for separation. So the valley here stands
for the estrangement of man from God. When sin enters into the
life man he flees from the presence of God and hides in dark deep
chasms. When Adam sinned God called him, “Adam, where are you?”
Adam replied, “I am hiding from you, because I am
afraid of you.”
Again, when Cain slew his brother God called
him. He asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?
When we do something against our bothers
we are estranged from God. When we do not listen to our consciousness we
are estranged from God. When we do not obey the word of God we are
estranged from God. The deep and dark chasm between us and God widens
and intensifies. So the first thing the prophets demand from us, John the
Baptist reminds us, God wants from us is to avoid sin
and walk in the way of righteousness. Then Like Saul, we will be able
to respond, “Lord here is I.” Like Mary our mother we will be able
to declare, “Let it be done to me as you wish.”
Again the Gospel says, “Every mountain and hill be
laid low.” The hill refers to the pride of man. Pride arises from the vain
superiority feeling. We read in the Bible that – people thought they
were strong enough to challenge God. So they decided to build a huge tower that
will touch the clouds. And from the top of it they would challenge God. We
too in our vanity stand on the top of our pride and dare to challenge God.
When we are healthy, when we have a secure job, when we have relatives and
friends to support us, when we have enough money in our hand, we
feel like “Ozymandias” that we are “kings.” These mountains of
pride should be levelled and in humility we should stand before God.
Like St Paul who spent days and days waiting for the command of God, we
should humble ourselves and wait for the coming of Jesus.
The third condition the prophets announce
is that “Every winding ways should be straightened. Winding ways
stand for the crookedness in our life. We are always crooked. Crookedness has
its roots in selfishness. We look only for our comfort. In our attempt
to gain comfort, we ignore our brothers, and we
ignore other fellow creatures, we ignore everything, and try to
change everything as we wish.
Once
upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went
for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his
palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first
time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was
very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire
country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and
would cost a huge amount of money.
Then
one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, “Why do you have to
spend that unnecessary amount of money?
Why
don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?”
The
king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a “shoe” for
himself.
To make this
world a happy place to live in, we have to change ourselves and lead a simple
life.
So, dear brothers and sisters, today’s
readings remind us that to welcome Jesus into our
lives we should make ourselves humble and be free from
selfishness. That is the crib that we are preparing to welcome Jesus into
our hearts.
Satish