Advent Reading Sunday, December 6 & Catena Aurea Commentary (Luke 3:1-6)

Gospel, Lk 3:1-6

1 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 territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 and while the high-priesthood was held by Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert.
3 He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight!
5 Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, winding ways be straightened and rough roads made smooth,
6 and all humanity will see the salvation of God.

Catena Aurea:

GREG. It is plain to every reader that John not only preached the baptism of repentance, but to some also he gave it, yet his own baptism he could not give for the remission of sins. 

CHRYS. For as the sacrifice had not yet been offered up, nor had the holy Spirit descended, how could remission of sins be given? What is it then that St. Luke means by the words, for the remission of sins, seeing the Jews were ignorant, and knew not the weight of their sins? Because this was the cause of their evils, in order that they might be convinced of their sins and seek a Redeemer, John came exhorting them to repentance, that being thereby made better and sorrowful for their sins, they might be ready to receive pardon. Rightly then after saying, that he came preaching the baptism of repentance, he adds, for the remission of sins. As if he should say, The reason by which he persuaded them to repent was, as, that thereby they would the more easily obtain despair. For the hill produces no fruit.

[My commentary - this should not be taking as TEACHINGS; they are more of observations gleamed from the Catena Aurea and other research - therefore the weight given to my comments should weigh less than a feather]:

This Gospel is pretty straight-forward and the Church fathers treat it as such. This Gospel is appropriate for the Second Sunday of Advent; it describes the journey we all should be on, the expectation of Christ. Lent, also a journey, seems to be opposite in many ways. Here the Word is received IN THE DESERT. It then goes out all over the Jordan. In Lent, we see the opposite. We see the Word go from the area of the Jordan and go INTO THE DESERT.