Catechism Links
CCC 30, 163, 301, 736, 1829, 1832, 2015, 2362: Joy
CCC 523-524, 535: John prepares the way for the Messiah
CCC 430-435: Jesus the Savior
CCC Cross Reference:
Zep 3:14 722, 2676; Zep 3:17a 2676; Zep 3:17b 2676
Is 12:3 2561
Phil 4:3-4 2632, 2636
Lk 3:10-14 535; Lk 3:11 2447; Lk 3:16 696
Back to Deacon’s Bench ‘07
Back to Servant of the Word ‘10
Back to SOW II '13
Back to SOW II '16
Back to SOW II '19
Back to SOW II '22
Back to SOW II '25
Reading 1:
Zep 3:14-18a
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you
he has turned away your enemies;
the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.
Responsorial Psalm:
Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
R. (6) Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Reading II:
Phil 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Gospel:
Lk 3:10-18
The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Zephaniah 3:14-18
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion,
Israel, shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart,
daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has repealed your sentence;
he has driven your enemies away.
The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst;
you have no more evil to fear.
When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem:
Zion, have no fear,
do not let your hands fall limp.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a victorious warrior.
He will exult with joy over you,
he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you
as on a day of festival.
Responsorial Psalm:
Isaiah 12
Second reading Philippians 4:4-7
I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.
There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Luke 3:10-18
When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptize you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
3rd Sunday of Advent -- Gaudete Sunday
From: Zephaniah 3:14-18a
Psalms of Joy in Zion
--------------------------------
[14] Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, 0 daughter of Jerusalem! [15] The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more. [16] 0n that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, 0 Zion; let not your hands grow weak. [17] The LORD, your God, is in your midst, warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing [18] as on a day of festival."
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
3:14-18a. Now the promise becomes a song of jubilation. The Lord, the Savior, sees to it that all is joy (v. 14), and there is no room for fear (v. 16). The Christian, in reading these verses, cannot but be reminded of the scene of the Annunciation: Mary, too, the humble Virgin (Lk 1:48), is invited to rejoice (Lk 1:28) and not to fear (Lk 1:20), because the Lord is with her (Lk 1:28). And indeed, with the Incarnation of the Word, the Lord did come to dwell among his people,and the salvation that was promised came to pass.
******************************************************************************************
From: Philippians 4:4-7
Exhortation to Perseverance and Joy (Continuation)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. [5] Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. [6] Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
4. What St Paul says here is particularly impressive if one bears in mind that he is writing this letter from prison. In order to have joy it does not matter if we are living in difficult conditions. "For a Christian, joy is a treasure. Only by offending God do we lose it, because sin is the fruit of selfishness, and selfishness is the root of sadness. Even then, a bit of joy survives under the debris of our soul—the knowledge that neither God nor his (Christ's) Mother forgets us. If we repent, if an act of sorrow springs from our heart, if we purify ourselves in the holy sacrament of penance, God comes out to meet and forgive us. Then there can be no sadness whatsoever" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 178).
The kind of profound joy that fills the soul with peace does not derive from the satisfaction of physical or material needs but from faithfulness to God and his commandments by embracing the Cross. "This is the difference between us and those who do not know God," St Cyprian says: "they complain in adversity; but difficulties do not draw us away from virtue or from the true faith. On the contrary, our virtue and faith are reinforced in affliction" ("De Mortalitate", 13).
In the Old Testament, God, speaking through Nehemiah, said, "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh 8:10). Joy, in fact, is a powerful ally in the struggle to achieve victory (cf. 1 Mac 3:2ff), to conquer evil with good, for it is something closely connected with grace. "The true worth of what a Christian does is determined by the active presence of God's grace in him and his deeds. In a Christian's heart, therefore, peace is inseparable from joy [...]. when the joy that is in a Christian heart is poured out on others, it gives them hope and optimism; it spurs them to be generous in their daily toil and infects the entire society. My children, only if you have in you this divine grace which is joy and peace, will you be able to do anything useful for others" (John Paul II, "Address", 10 April 1979).
5-7. "The Lord is at hand": the Apostle reminds the faithful of the nearness of our Lord; he wants to encourage them to rejoice and to be understanding towards one another. These words must surely have brought to their minds the exclamation "Marana tha" (Come, Lord), which was often in the lips at liturgical celebrations (cf. note on 1 Cor 16:21-24). In the sort of hostile environment that many of them lived in, they needed to put their hope in their Savior, Jesus Christ, who will come from heaven to judge the living and the dead (cf. Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 4:16ff; 2 Thess 1:5). St Paul does not mean to specify when the "Parousia" or second coming of Christ will take place (cf. "Introduction to St Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians" in "The Navarre Bible: Thessalonians; EB", 414-461; note on Mt 24:36). Like the first Christians, we should make sure it does not catch us unprepared.
Besides, the Lord is always near us, always caring for us in his providence (cf. Ps 119:151). There is no reason for us to feel ill at ease. He is our Father, he is near to all who call on him (cf. Ps 145:18); he listens to our prayers, ever ready to instruct us and to give us whatever we need to overcome difficulties that arise. All that he asks is that we trustingly tell him our situation, speaking to him with the simplicity of a child.
Constant dialogue with God in prayer is, as St Paul suggests, a good way to prevent anything robbing us of peace of soul, for prayer "regulates our affections", St Bernard teaches, "directs our actions, corrects our faults, guides our conduct, beautifies and orders our life; it brings with it knowledge of things divine and things human also. It determines what we ought to do and reflects on what we have done, in such a way that our heart never becomes wanton or in need of discipline" ("Book of Consideration", I, 7).
*********************************************************************************************
From: Luke 3:10-18
The Preaching of John the Baptist (Continuation)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[10] And the multitudes asked him (St. John the Baptist), "What then shall we do?" [11] And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." [12] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." [14] Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."
[15] As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, [16] John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but He who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. [17] His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear the threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."
[18] So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
12-13. With honesty and courage St. John the Baptist lays bare each person's fault. The chief sin of tax collectors lay in their using their privileged position as collaborators of the Roman authorities to acquire personal wealth at the expense of the Jewish people: Rome specified how much Israel as a whole should yield by way of taxes; the tax collectors abused their position by extorting more than was necessary. Take the case of Zacchaeus, for example, who, after his conversion, admits that he acquired wealth unjustly and, under the influence of grace, promises our Lord to make generous restitution (cf. Luke 19:1-10).
The Baptist's preaching contains a norm of natural justice which the Church also preaches. Public position should be regarded, above all, as an opportunity to serve society, not to obtain personal gain at the expense of the common good and of that justice which people holding such positions are supposed to administer. Certainly, anyone who has fallen into the temptation of unjustly appropriating what belongs to another must not only confess his sin in the Sacrament of Penance if he is to obtain pardon; he must also resolve to give back what is not his.
14. The Baptist requires of everyone--Pharisees, tax collectors, soldiers--a deep spiritual renewal in the very exercise of their job; they have to act justly and honorably. God asks all of us to sanctify ourselves in our work and in the circumstances in which we find ourselves: "Any honest and worthwhile work can be converted into a divine occupation. In God's service there are no second-class jobs; all of them are important" (St. J. Escriva, "Conversations", 55).
15-17. Using excessive imagery, John announces Christian Baptism, proclaiming that he is not the Messiah; He, who is on His way, will come with the authority of supreme Judge that belongs to God, and with the dignity of the Messiah, who has no human equal.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
Reading 1:
Zep 3:14-18a
Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
Sing joyfully, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has removed the judgment against you
he has turned away your enemies;
the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,
you have no further misfortune to fear.
On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a mighty savior;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
and renew you in his love,
he will sing joyfully because of you,
as one sings at festivals.
Responsorial Psalm:
Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6
R. (6) Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.
Reading II:
Phil 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Gospel:
Lk 3:10-18
The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,
“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”
Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Zephaniah 3:14-18
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion,
Israel, shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart,
daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has repealed your sentence;
he has driven your enemies away.
The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst;
you have no more evil to fear.
When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem:
Zion, have no fear,
do not let your hands fall limp.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a victorious warrior.
He will exult with joy over you,
he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you
as on a day of festival.
Responsorial Psalm:
Isaiah 12
Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Truly, God is my salvation,
I trust, I shall not fear.
For the Lord is my strength, my song,
he became my saviour.
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!
Declare the greatness of his name.
Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Sing a psalm to the Lord
for he has done glorious deeds;
make them known to all the earth!
People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Sing and shout for joy for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Second reading Philippians 4:4-7
I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very near.
There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Luke 3:10-18
When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptize you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’ As well as this, there were many other things he said to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
3rd Sunday of Advent -- Gaudete Sunday
From: Zephaniah 3:14-18a
Psalms of Joy in Zion
--------------------------------
[14] Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, 0 daughter of Jerusalem! [15] The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more. [16] 0n that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, 0 Zion; let not your hands grow weak. [17] The LORD, your God, is in your midst, warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing [18] as on a day of festival."
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
3:14-18a. Now the promise becomes a song of jubilation. The Lord, the Savior, sees to it that all is joy (v. 14), and there is no room for fear (v. 16). The Christian, in reading these verses, cannot but be reminded of the scene of the Annunciation: Mary, too, the humble Virgin (Lk 1:48), is invited to rejoice (Lk 1:28) and not to fear (Lk 1:20), because the Lord is with her (Lk 1:28). And indeed, with the Incarnation of the Word, the Lord did come to dwell among his people,and the salvation that was promised came to pass.
******************************************************************************************
From: Philippians 4:4-7
Exhortation to Perseverance and Joy (Continuation)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. [5] Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. [6] Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
4. What St Paul says here is particularly impressive if one bears in mind that he is writing this letter from prison. In order to have joy it does not matter if we are living in difficult conditions. "For a Christian, joy is a treasure. Only by offending God do we lose it, because sin is the fruit of selfishness, and selfishness is the root of sadness. Even then, a bit of joy survives under the debris of our soul—the knowledge that neither God nor his (Christ's) Mother forgets us. If we repent, if an act of sorrow springs from our heart, if we purify ourselves in the holy sacrament of penance, God comes out to meet and forgive us. Then there can be no sadness whatsoever" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 178).
The kind of profound joy that fills the soul with peace does not derive from the satisfaction of physical or material needs but from faithfulness to God and his commandments by embracing the Cross. "This is the difference between us and those who do not know God," St Cyprian says: "they complain in adversity; but difficulties do not draw us away from virtue or from the true faith. On the contrary, our virtue and faith are reinforced in affliction" ("De Mortalitate", 13).
In the Old Testament, God, speaking through Nehemiah, said, "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh 8:10). Joy, in fact, is a powerful ally in the struggle to achieve victory (cf. 1 Mac 3:2ff), to conquer evil with good, for it is something closely connected with grace. "The true worth of what a Christian does is determined by the active presence of God's grace in him and his deeds. In a Christian's heart, therefore, peace is inseparable from joy [...]. when the joy that is in a Christian heart is poured out on others, it gives them hope and optimism; it spurs them to be generous in their daily toil and infects the entire society. My children, only if you have in you this divine grace which is joy and peace, will you be able to do anything useful for others" (John Paul II, "Address", 10 April 1979).
5-7. "The Lord is at hand": the Apostle reminds the faithful of the nearness of our Lord; he wants to encourage them to rejoice and to be understanding towards one another. These words must surely have brought to their minds the exclamation "Marana tha" (Come, Lord), which was often in the lips at liturgical celebrations (cf. note on 1 Cor 16:21-24). In the sort of hostile environment that many of them lived in, they needed to put their hope in their Savior, Jesus Christ, who will come from heaven to judge the living and the dead (cf. Phil 3:20; 1 Thess 4:16ff; 2 Thess 1:5). St Paul does not mean to specify when the "Parousia" or second coming of Christ will take place (cf. "Introduction to St Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians" in "The Navarre Bible: Thessalonians; EB", 414-461; note on Mt 24:36). Like the first Christians, we should make sure it does not catch us unprepared.
Besides, the Lord is always near us, always caring for us in his providence (cf. Ps 119:151). There is no reason for us to feel ill at ease. He is our Father, he is near to all who call on him (cf. Ps 145:18); he listens to our prayers, ever ready to instruct us and to give us whatever we need to overcome difficulties that arise. All that he asks is that we trustingly tell him our situation, speaking to him with the simplicity of a child.
Constant dialogue with God in prayer is, as St Paul suggests, a good way to prevent anything robbing us of peace of soul, for prayer "regulates our affections", St Bernard teaches, "directs our actions, corrects our faults, guides our conduct, beautifies and orders our life; it brings with it knowledge of things divine and things human also. It determines what we ought to do and reflects on what we have done, in such a way that our heart never becomes wanton or in need of discipline" ("Book of Consideration", I, 7).
*********************************************************************************************
From: Luke 3:10-18
The Preaching of John the Baptist (Continuation)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[10] And the multitudes asked him (St. John the Baptist), "What then shall we do?" [11] And he answered them, "He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." [12] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than is appointed you." [14] Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."
[15] As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, [16] John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but He who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. [17] His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear the threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."
[18] So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
12-13. With honesty and courage St. John the Baptist lays bare each person's fault. The chief sin of tax collectors lay in their using their privileged position as collaborators of the Roman authorities to acquire personal wealth at the expense of the Jewish people: Rome specified how much Israel as a whole should yield by way of taxes; the tax collectors abused their position by extorting more than was necessary. Take the case of Zacchaeus, for example, who, after his conversion, admits that he acquired wealth unjustly and, under the influence of grace, promises our Lord to make generous restitution (cf. Luke 19:1-10).
The Baptist's preaching contains a norm of natural justice which the Church also preaches. Public position should be regarded, above all, as an opportunity to serve society, not to obtain personal gain at the expense of the common good and of that justice which people holding such positions are supposed to administer. Certainly, anyone who has fallen into the temptation of unjustly appropriating what belongs to another must not only confess his sin in the Sacrament of Penance if he is to obtain pardon; he must also resolve to give back what is not his.
14. The Baptist requires of everyone--Pharisees, tax collectors, soldiers--a deep spiritual renewal in the very exercise of their job; they have to act justly and honorably. God asks all of us to sanctify ourselves in our work and in the circumstances in which we find ourselves: "Any honest and worthwhile work can be converted into a divine occupation. In God's service there are no second-class jobs; all of them are important" (St. J. Escriva, "Conversations", 55).
15-17. Using excessive imagery, John announces Christian Baptism, proclaiming that he is not the Messiah; He, who is on His way, will come with the authority of supreme Judge that belongs to God, and with the dignity of the Messiah, who has no human equal.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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