Saturday of Ember Week in Advent
Posted on December 17, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 3:10-20 (NKJV)
3:10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12 Then 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 what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”
So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
Devotion
St. John the Baptist, although born in sin, was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, as Gabriel proclaimed to Zacharias. He was to baptize with water in the Jordan River, preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all those who came to him. The multitudes, tax collectors, and soldiers all heard the Law preached to them. All this was done to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, come into the world to baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.
The Lord would baptize with the Word of God. Just as the voice proclaimed from Heaven “This is My Beloved Son,” we who have been baptized are also called His beloved children. In our Holy Baptism He has placed His name upon us, calling us a new creation. This baptism is a work of the Lord God, not of the baptizer or any other man. We are baptized with water and the Word. We are baptized into the Triune Name; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Through this Holy Baptism we are gifted with faith. Faith produces works. A living faith in us is shown by the works of compassion that we show to our fellowman. Let us therefore give out of our abundance and not take more than we need, but be content with our wages. For we have already received the greatest reward we can ever receive: life free from sin in the Kingdom of Heaven.
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
