The Gospel of the Day – 2015.12.06
(Sunday)
The Historical Witness?
In
the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor
of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands
of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrach of Abilene, during the pontificate
of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the
wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the
sayings of the prophet Isaiah:
A
voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare
a way for the Lord,
make
his paths straight.
Every
valley will be filled in,
every
mountain and hill be laid low,
winding
ways will be straightened
and
rough roads made smooth.
And
all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
(NJB)
Forgiveness
The understanding of history is a great
tool. The Christian tradition has always attempted to root itself in historical
realities; with greater and lesser degrees of success.
The study of our tradition gave birth to
modern historical criticism; without which, as a culture, we would have no
understanding of the uses and limitations of history whatsoever, and that took
eighteen hundred years to develop.
Our stories, our narrative about the life
and mission, the arrest and killing of Jesus are a part of the testimony of our
faith. It helps us to locate in time the singular moment when our cultural
commitment to the teachings of Jesus took place.
We remember the rule of Tiberius, heir to
Augustus, and the Herod’s, and Pontius Pilate.
We recall the role that Pilate played in
the killing of Jesus, we shout it out at every hour of every day in all parts
of the world; that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and
buried. This story is told unceasingly and without end.
It is long since time that we, as heirs to
the ministry and teaching of Jesus, forgive Pilate for the role he played in
that political murder.
John the Baptist taught us to repent, and
be forgiven, but Jesus taught us to simply forgive.
Jesus forgave those who killed him he
asked God to forgive them when he was up on the cross.
It is time we do the same.
The promise of Isaiah, which John echoed
in the wilderness cannot be received unless we do this.
God is the author of our salvation, but we
are the agents. It is incumbent on us to proceed with the healing, if the human
race is to be healed.
The
Second Sunday of Advent
