So very similar to the previous Tuesday’s Zechariah, and either Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion or Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion, today’s first reading is from Zephaniah and begins Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!

The Gospel reading though is the one that’s a real true treat for me, one that I know from way way back. The full reading is from St. Luke, from chapter 3, verses ten through eighteen. But, as it happens, on my old Datsun 510 station wagon years and years ago, my license plate was LUK-313. First time I saw it I figured it meant Luke 3:13. So of course I looked it up immediately.

I must have looked it up in a King James Version, because I remember it as “Exact no more than that which you are appointed.” Oh, but of course I remember it wrong. The quote from the King James is actually “Exact no more than that which is appointed you.” Either way, though, someone is not supposed to exact more than some specified amount. Or, as I’ve always translated it, “Take no more than what you’re supposed to take,” or, more generally, “Take no more than you need.”

And I remembered it as being St. John the Baptish preaching to the tax collectors of Lebanon. Now though I’m not so sure as to why I thought that they had to be especiallly from Lebanon. He’s baptizing in the Jordan River, which is mighty mighty long, running from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, in or between Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. Kinda south of Lebanon. Although I guess I’m looking at present day boundries, not like whatever the Romans said was what, back when they were in charge, two-thousand years ago.

But anyway, looking at the passage now, years later, (when my license plate is CB-0083,) I’m struck more by what surrounds the passage. The NAB that we use in the Catholic Church translates it itself as “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” But what I like is that it isn’t just St. John the Baptish spouting off on his own, although I like it when he does that too. No, here, the tax collectors ask for advice. So do the soldiers, and the regular folk too.

The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,

“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”

And that’s stuff I’ve been thinking about forever, and thinking about lately. Like, why do I believe what I believe? Or, more generally, just what am I doing here, on Earth or even today in this church? And then, more specifically, what should I do? What should I be doing?

And it’s comforting to remember that these are not new questions. Clearly people have been asking these questions for thousands of years.

And it’s some good answers that St. John the Baptist gives as well. Sure, it’s real simple, common-sense advice, but it’s still good advice. You maybe can’t solve all the problems, but at least don’t be the cause of some of those problems. And also: share.

Lovely music today, too, as Ellen Kliman takes a little solo part during the Kyrie that just knocks your socks off. And then she solos wonderfully during communion on the Handel, But who may abide. We go up to her like groupies after Mass and tell her how wonderful she is. Dawn mentions that she’s great on the St. Matthew’s Choir Christmas CD that we bought as well.