Are you ready for Christ this Christmas?

HOW TO PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS

Lk. 3:10-18

What has the message of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel to do with the coming of Christmas?  John prepared the people of his time for the coming of the Messiah.  His audience was deeply moved.  They believed his message and felt a profound need to respond.

They asked John, “What must we do then?”  It was a very good question!  If God was going to come among them, then surely some response would be required.  A message like that can hardly be received with a stretch and a yawn.  Life cannot go on as usual.  They had to do something.  They realised that was expected of them.

The surprising part of the story is what John told them to do.  You may have thought that he would call for some dramatic demonstration of religious fervour, some radical departure from the norms of daily living.  John demanded nothing of that nature.  “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.”  We were taught this principle of sharing when we were children?  If we had two sweets, we were to share them with our brother who had none.  John simply carried that lesson over into the adult years and applied it to basic necessities - food and clothing.  His hearers must have heard echoes of their mothers’ voices telling them not to forget to share.

Then John moved on to more specific instructions.  To the tax collectors, he said, “Exact no more than your rate.”  These people were engaged in the most despised vocation in their society.  John might have told them to get out of that dirty business and pursue something that was more socially acceptable.  Instead, he told them to do their work with honesty and fairness.  Next came the soldiers.  To them, John said, “No intimidation!  No extortion! Be content with your pay!”  Since Jews did not serve in the Roman legions, these men were either temple guards, under the command of the high priest, or a militia under the command of Herod Antipas.  They were law enforcement personnel.  John’s message to them was the same as to the tax collectors.  They were to do their work with honesty and fairness.  The way we do our work is every bit as important to God as the way we worship Him. 

You and I are standing today where John’s audience stood centuries ago.  The coming of Christ was imminent for them as it is for us this Christmas.  John was preparing them for His coming and he is preparing us.  John’s message to us would be essentially the same as it was back then.  He would talk to us about our jobs, the things that we do every day.  He would tell each one of us to think of it as a sacred responsibility, and to practice it with honesty and fairness.  Any useful vocation, done earnestly and well, is an act of worship to God.  This is true because the worker is doing the kind of things that God does.

The first story in the bible pictures God in His workshop.  He is busy creating the heavens and the Earth.  He was doing what only God could do.  He called light into being.  He hurled the stars into space, and set them in their orbits.  He made the Earth and everything in it - vegetation, animals, fish and birds.  His crowning act of Creation was a man and a woman, made in His own image.  We are told He took six days to do this.  And we are told that everything He did was good.  After that, we assume that God’s work was finished.  But that is a false assumption.  He rested on the seventh day and then went right back to work, conserving and caring for what He had done.

Now we see Him doing ordinary things, the kind of work that you and I do.  He planted a garden and gave it to the man and woman for their home.  God was the original farmer.  When they got into trouble and became ashamed of their nakedness, He made garments for them from the skins of animals.  God was the original seamstress.  However ordinary it may seem, no task that benefits the human race is beneath His doing.

That says something wonderful about your work and mine.  We may be priests or plumbers, doctors or refuse collectors, artists or accountants, teachers or housewives.  Whatever the particular job we may have, as long as it serves society and is done diligently, we are engaged in God’s work.  To use Saint Paul’s great phrase, “We are God’s co-workers.” (1 Cor. 3:9)

Now what does our honest work do to you and me?  It ennobles us.  Those tax collectors who defrauded the people were becoming frauds themselves.  Those soldiers who intimidated people through bribes were not only corrupting society but also their own souls.  When John told them to do their work fairly and honestly, he was telling them to become fair and honest people.  When you and I pursue our daily duties with honour and decency, we achieve some degree of excellence within ourselves.

This is where we become people of worth.  The work that we are doing may not be anything spectacular.  Nevertheless, if it is contributing to the common good, it belongs to God’s purpose for the good of the world.  It is part of the total job that must be done.  When we do our job faithfully and well, we can regard ourselves as having importance in God's plan of work.

Lord Jesus, to approach our everyday duties with a sense of divine mission is our best opportunity for happiness.  There is no disgrace in holding an ordinary job.  The only disgrace is doing that job poorly.  We must approach our work as sharing in the work of God.  If we do so, we will know something of the joy of Christ and the peace of God Who is the original and eternal worker.

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