Scripture Sunday: Third Sunday of Advent: Expectation

Zephaniah 3:14-20
3:14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. 17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing 18 as on a day of festival."
I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. 19 I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.
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Luke 3:7-18
3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
10 And the crowds asked him, "What, then, should we do?"
11 In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise."
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?"
13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."
14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."
15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people.

During Advent, the Church gives us two weeks to focus on John the Baptist. This repetition allows us to focus in on how John’s life and calling teaches us to live in Advent: preparing the way of the Lord through reflection and expectation. Reflection invites us to evaluate our lives honestly and repent of the ways we harm creation, human and nonhuman, through consumption, greed, and indifference. Expectation, on the other hand, aligns us with the hope described in Zephaniah: a world renewed by the coming of the Messiah.

John fulfills his calling by teaching the people how to live lives of repentance and justice while pointing them toward the One who is to come (Luke 3:15). His message is deeply practical: share what you have with the needy, act with integrity, and reject extortion and greed. These exhortations remain relevant as we consider how our actions, personal and communal, affect the earth and all who inhabit it. How do we prepare the way of the Lord in a world strained by environmental degradation and inequality? God does not expect us to live in the hypothetical or to sit around wondering what is the right thing for us to do, God calls us to practically act now. We don’t have to all become full time environmentalists, but make changes in the places where we already work and live.

Zephaniah paints a breathtaking picture of the Messiah’s arrival: no more disasters, famine, hurricanes, or war. The outcast and the lame are honored, and shame is replaced with praise. All evil forces and opponents are silenced. The restoration of fortunes shows the abundance of harvest and land.

Yet, like the Israelites who heard John’s message, we live in the tension between the promise and its fulfillment. The Israelites in John’s time had witnessed glimpses of God’s deliverance, such as the Maccabean revolt, but those victories were fleeting. The Romans now ruled, and true justice seemed far off. Similarly, we see glimpses of God’s kingdom through acts of love and restoration, yet disasters, injustice, and environmental crises persist. The reality in Zephaniah can feel like an idealist image that we persistently talk about and grow numb to its vision as we wait without its fulfillment. 

John himself wrestled with this tension. Though he boldly proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, he later asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Luke 7:18-23). His doubt likely stemmed from the lack of visible fulfillment of prophecies like those in Zephaniah. Where was the justice, the restoration, the end of disaster, and the king upon the throne?
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This same tension shapes our Advent expectation. We celebrate that Jesus has come as a baby, embodying love and bringing salvation, yet we still await the day when He will reign fully, bringing justice and healing to all creation. The disasters that plague the earth, wildfires, floods, famine, remind us of the groaning of creation (Romans 8:22) and our calling to be stewards of hope.

​As we wait, we can take heart in Zephaniah’s image of God: a King who rejoices over His people, renews them in love, and exults over them with loud singing. This is the God who cares deeply for His creation and all within it. In our weariness and burnout, He renews us. His love, a song we can follow, invites us to join in the work of renewal now, even as we wait for its ultimate fulfillment.

This Advent, may our preparation include both repentance for our role in creation’s brokenness and active participation in its healing. May we live lives that bear fruit worthy of repentance: sharing, protecting, and restoring as we prepare the way of the Lord. And may we hold fast to the hope that Christ will come again to bring lasting justice and peace, for all people and all creation. This is the call of John the Baptist.

Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries