Second Sunday of Advent, December 5, 2021 – Baruch 5:1-9; Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6

St. Luke goes to great lengths to place the work of John the Baptizer within the setting of world history. It’s important to notice who it is who he lists in his story - Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor; Pontius Pilate, his henchman in Jerusalem; tetrarch of Galilee, Herod, and Herod’s sons; his brother, Philip, and his brother, Lysanias, tetrarchs of the region of Ituraea, Trachonitis, Galilee, and Abilene; during the high preiesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. If you look back from chapter 3, which was that, to chapter 2, this is how the same St. Luke situates the birth of Jesus. “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was the governor of Syria.” He does this same thing for the birth of Jesus and for the birth of John the Baptizer. He sets their birth within the larger framework of the people, places, and events of their time. That’s not the way we write history. But it’s the way the ancients would have shown the importance of the person they were writing about, by placing that person in their galaxy with all the other famous people of that era. But, if you pay close attention to the names, Luke is also telling us another story.

Augustus Caesar, when he defeated Antony and Cleopatra, finally brought peace to the entire Mediterranean. And, for the first time in over 200 years, there was great prosperity because seafaring was safe and goods could travel from port to port unmolested by pirates and enemy soldiers and sailors. The roads were improved so that the Roman troops could travel swiftly over them, but it benefitted also commerce of all sorts, including commerce in the place where Jesus and John were born. And so it’s an era of prosperity, but the prosperity was won at sword point, and the peace was kept by the brutal Roman armies that would suppress the very slightest hint of revolution. So, it was a two-edged sword. Also, Caesar Augustus, once he triumphed over all his enemies, declared himself to be the son of god, the savior of the world.

So, when Luke comes to tell the story of Jesus, he deliberately places Jesus in opposition to Caesar, the real Son of God. The real Savior of the world is born in a little Jewish backwater, where He and His parents are expected to obey the whims and demands of the Roman emperor.

Jesus and John the Baptist were contemporaries, so when Luke begins to tell the story of John the Baptist getting people ready for the coming of Jesus, he starts all over. He tells us who’s in power now. Now it’s Tiberius Caesar, the successor of Augustus, just as brutal a dictator. But he has made an alliance with Herod. Herod was an unfaithful Jew because he married a pagan woman, and pious Jews had no use for him. But they were perfectly happy to let him broker a kind of freedom for Israel, between themselves and Rome. And Herod placed all of his relatives in positions of power. They, in turn, were willing to deal with representatives of pure Judaism, Caiaphas and Annas, father-in-law and son-in-law who, together, controlled the temple in Jerusalem and, thereby, controlled the religious life of the people.

But who are these people? It is Annas and Caiaphas who will connive to put Jesus to death. And it is Pontius Pilate, Caesar’s henchman in Jerusalem, who will order Jesus’ execution. And so two things are true at once. This is a good time for God to use the world to bring salvation because there are many good things happening in the world, and lots of opportunities for travel, and for commerce, and for communication. But it is also a terrible time to be in the world. And Jesus will place Himself in opposition to that terror and that horror. And so will His infant church. By the time Luke writes his gospel the church is separate from Judaism, and many Jews despise this new emerging religion. But, more critically, the Roman Empire is beginning to be suspect of Christians. Paul and Peter have been executed by Nero in Rome. And so Luke writes at a time of great threat and terror. And he tells us that it is inevitable that the story of salvation, and the meaning of Christ, should not only benefit from this culture and environment, but also have to stand against this culture and environment.

That’s why I asked you, “Where do you think St. Paul was when he wrote this Letter to the Philippians.” He was in prison. And it’s interesting what he writes to the Philippians. Earlier on in the letter he said, “I have learned to be self-sufficient throughout my ministry. I have suffered in so many different ways. I’ve been arrested. I’ve been tortured. I’ve been rejected by the people I’ve preached to. I’ve been betrayed. I’ve learned not to count on other people, but I still appreciate other people. Therefore, I’m grateful to you.” [Apparently the Philippians had sent him a purse - something to help him survive while he was in prison – to pay bribes and stuff like that.] “I’m grateful that you want to share in my suffering, but I’ve learned to be self-sufficient. God as my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer that your love may increase.” Your love my increase.

So, he talks about his affection, but it’s no longer an affection that is dependent on other people loving him back. His affection is in Christ Jesus. He has learned to love selflessly, because love is the right thing to do, not because he needs to have people love him back. And he prays that the people he loves will also learn to love more and more generously. This is how the story comes down to us. “In every age of Christianity, we benefit from, and we participate actively in, the culture and the politics of our time. It is essential that we be people of the world. That is what God destined us and called us to be. But if we want to engage with the world, it is inevitable that we will sometimes find ourselves in conflict with the world. And so, what St. Paul says to us is the object, the goal, of being involved in the times in which we live is not that we should be congratulated or made to feel somehow or other important or comforted, but rather that we should learn to love other people even in their error, even in their anger and confusion, to love with the love of Christ, not with an emotional attachment. And to pray that we be given by God the grace to continue to make our love grow more and more.