Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle C

LUKE 3:10-18

I RECENTLY READ A BIOGRAPHY OF STEVE JOBS, THE FOUNDER OF APPLE, WHICH IS NOW THE MOST VALUABLE COMPANY IN THE WORLD. HE HAD A LOT OF FAULTS, LIKE MANY GENIUSES. HIS TEMPER WAS LEGENDARY, AND HE NEVER COMPROMISED. HE WAS HORRIBLY ECCENTRIC, AND MIGHT BE ALIVE TODAY IF HE HADN'T DECIDED TO TRY TO CURE HIS CANCER WITH DIET BEFORE HE FINALLY ALLOWED SURGERY. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, HIS IMAGINATION AND DRIVE ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY TRANSFORMED OUR WORLD. HE AND HIS PARTNER STEVE WOZNIAK INVENTED THE PERSONAL COMPUTER. LATER, JOBS RE-IMAGINED THE COMPUTER AND CAME UP WITH THE MACINTOSH, WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A “MEDIA HUB”. HE INVENTED THE IPOD, AND IN ORDER TO CONTROL THE CONTENTS HE INVENTED ITUNES, WHICH IN TURN REMADE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. THE IPAD AND THE IPHONE FOLLOWED. DURING THE TIME HE HAD BEEN FIRED FROM APPLE, HE TOOK OVER THE PIXAR COMPANY AND REVOLUTIONIZED COMPUTER ANIMATED GRAPHICS, WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED THE MOVIE INDUSTRY. WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE WOULD HAVE COME FROM HIS IMAGINATION IF HE HAD SURVIVED? EVERYTHING HE INVENTED GAVE RISE TO COUNTLESS IMITATORS. I DON'T HAVE A SINGLE APPLE PRODUCT BUT EVERY PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY I DO OWN IS AN ATTEMPT TO IMITATE SOMETHING THAT APPLE CAME UP WITH.

THERE IS A STORY I LIKE. WHEN JOBS AND HIS TEAM WERE DESIGNING THE MACINTOSH COMPUTER, HE INSISTED THAT THE INSIDE OF THE CASE BE BURNISHED AS WELL AS THE OUTSIDE. NO ONE COULD COME UP WITH A REASON FOR THIS. YOU COULDN'T LOOK AT THE INSIDE, AND EVEN IF YOU COULD, IT WOULDN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF HOW THE MACHINE WORKED. AND IT ADDED EXPENSE TO THE PRODUCTION OF THE COMPUTER. BUT JOBS INSISTED AND SO IT WAS DONE.

JOHN THE BAPTIST HAS BEEN PREACHING ABOUT THE WORLD-SHATTERING COMING OF THE MESSIAH, WHO WILL TOTALLY CHANGE THE WORLD; WHO HAS BEEN CALLING PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE AND WARNING THAT THIS WAS THE MOMENT WHEN YOU HAD TO MAKE A DECISION, IS ASKED BY PEOPLE, “WHAT SHALL WE DO?” AND HIS ANSWER IS SURPRISING. “IF YOU HAVE TWO CLOAKS, AND YOUR NEIGHBOR HAS NONE, GIVE HIM ONE OF YOURS; AND DO THE SAME WITH YOUR FOOD”. THIS WAS NO REVOLUTION! EVEN IN ANCIENT TIMES, THE JEWS WERE UNIQUE BECAUSE OF THEIR CHARITY. IN FACT, JEWISH SCHOLARS USED THE TERM “TZADIKA” WHICH CARRIES A SENSE OF OBLIGATION. SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER IN THE BOOK OF RUTH HOW RUTH AND HER MOTHER-IN-LAW WENT INTO THE FIELD OF BOAZ AFTER THE CROP HAD BEEN REAPED, AND “GLEANED” WHAT WAS LEFT. IT WAS AN OBLIGATION FOR A FARMER TO LEAVE BEHIND PART OF THE CROP, SO THAT THE POOR WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE IT THROUGH THEIR OWN LABOR – LEAVING THEM WITH FOOD AND WITH THEIR DIGNITY. EVEN THE POOR WERE TO GIVE. JOHN WASN'T SAYING ANYTHING HIS AUDIENCE HAD NOT HEARD.

WHAT DID THE TAX COLLECTORS EXPECT WHEN THEY ASKED JOHN THE SAME QUESTION? WOULD HE TELL THEM TO STOP WORKING FOR THE ROMANS? NOT AT ALL. JOHN TOLD THEM “COLLECT NO MORE THAN THE AMOUNT PRESCRIBED FOR YOU.” TAX COLLECTORS WERE PAID A PERCENTAGE OF THE MONEY THEY COLLECTED. THE ROMANS WOULD DEMAND A CERTAIN AMOUNT FROM A GIVEN DISTRICT, AND THE TAX COLLECTOR, WITH THE HELP OF A FEW SOLDIERS, WOULD GO AROUND AND TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY HAD TO GIVE. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS EASY TO TAKE A BIT MORE THAN THEY SHOULD, BUT PEOPLE HAD NO RECOURSE EXCEPT TO HOPE THE TAX COLLECTOR WAS HONEST. AND THAT WAS RARE.

AND THE SOLDIERS? WERE THEY TO STOP WORKING FOR THE ROMANS? THE SOLDIERS WOULD AUGMENT THEIR INCOMES BY BLACKMAIL OR BY THREATS. “THEY WOULD SAY, “YOU HAVE A NICE LITTLE SHOP HERE, TOO BAD IS SOMETHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO IT!” BUT JOHN SAID, “BE SATISFIED WITH YOUR WAGES.”

JOHN'S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION “WHAT SHALL WE DO” IS SIMPLY, “DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT; YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO OFF IN THE DESERT AND EAT LOCUSTS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO TO A MONASTERY. BUT WHAT YOU DO HAVE TO DO IS TAKE THE DUTIES YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN AND DO THEM AS PERFECTLY AS YOU CAN.

SAINT JOSE MARIA ESCRIVA, THE FOUNDER OF OPUS DEI, SAID THAT THE VOCATION OF THE LAITY – I'M TECHNICALLY NOT LAITY ANYMORE, BUT I USED TO BE – THE VOCATION OF THE LAITY IS TO MAKE OUR WORK HOLY, TO MAKE OURSELVES HOLY THROUGH OUR WORK, AND TO MAKE THE WORLD HOLY THROUGH OUR WORK. THAT'S IT. WORK ISN'T SOMETHING WE DO BECAUSE WE HAVE TO; IT ISN'T PUNISHMENT FOR ORIGINAL SIN; IT ISN'T SOMETHING THAT IS NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS PRAYING ALL THE TIME. IT'S OUR TOOL, OUR GIFT, OUR MEANS OF HOLINESS. AND WHEN WE DO OUR WORK AS WELL AS POSSIBLE, PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAILS, DOING IT LOVINGLY BECAUSE IN DOING IT WE PARTICIPATE IN THE KINGDOM GOD IS BRINGING ABOUT, THEN WE ARE TRULY LIVING UP TO OUR CALLING.

JOHN IS SAYING, THE WAY TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH IS NOT TO GO WAIT ON A MOUNTAINTOP OR TO GO OFF INTO THE DESERT, OR TO SELL ALL YOU HAVE AND GIVE TO THE POOR – THAT WAS A COMMAND GIVEN TO ONE PERSON, NOT ALL OF US – JOHN WAS SAYING, PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING IS WITHIN YOUR POWER, RIGHT NOW, TODAY.

STEVE JOBS MAY HAVE BEEN A LITTLE CRAZY LIKE MANY GENIUSES. BUT WHEN HE WANTED THE INSIDE OF THE CASE FOR HIS COMPUTER TO LOOK AS GOOD AS THE OUTSIDE, HE WAS DOING SOMETHING AS WELL AS HE COULD POSSIBLY IMAGINE, AND THAT WAS THE WAY HE WOULD APPROACH EVERY PRODUCT OF APPLE AND HIS OTHER COMPANY, PIXAR.

SHARING OUR GOODS WITH OUR NEIGHBOR AND DOING OUR WORK AS WELL AS WE CAN IN ORDER TO MAKE IT HOLY, IN ORDER TO MAKE US HOLY, IN ORDER TO MAKE THE WORLD HOLY – THAT'S JOHN'S MESSAGE. AND JESUS WOULD NEVER DISAGREE. AFTER ALL, IT WAS SAID ABOUT HIM, “LOOK, HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL!”