Ember Saturday after Gaudete, The Third Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 18, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 3:1-6 (NKJV)
3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.
5 ‘Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth;
6 ‘and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Devotion
Holy Scripture does not support the notion that John was one who, year after year, wandered in the wilderness and proclaimed the Word. Instead, Holy Scripture places the beginning of St. John’s ministry in a historical context: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” Secular historians place the beginning of the reign of Tiberius Caesar in September of A.D. 14; it would appear, then, that by that reckoning, St. John’s ministry began sometime in late A.D. 29.
St. Luke records concerning our Lord: “Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). While secular histories are notoriously flawed, but the key thing is that we understand that John “went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” for a relatively brief time before Jesus came to him for Baptism. John’s ministry took place at a time which coincided with events in the secular realm; Pontius Pilate, Herod, Annas, and Caiaphas are in position to fulfill their roles in history in connection with the coming of the Christ. Secular history must serve sacred history. This world comes to its end, but the Day of the saints of God endures forever.
Prayer: O God, who seest that we are afflicted because of our iniquity, mercifully grant that we may be comforted by Thy visitation, Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Gaudete: Lord, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers, and lighten the darkness of our hearts, by Thy gracious visitation; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Advent: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
