Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday of Advent

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:1–9)

So John speaks the following words to the crowds that are going out to the baptismal washing—they have not gone out, but are only striving to go out. For, if they had already gone out, he would never call them “brood of vipers.” So, whatever he says to them, he also says to you, men and women, catechumens! You are arranging to come to Baptism. Take heed, lest perhaps it can be said to you, “Brood of vipers.” For, if you have any similarity to sensual vipers and invisible serpents, “brood of vipers” will also be said to you. Unless you expel wickedness and the serpent’s venom from your hearts, the words that follow will also be said to you: “Who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come?”

Great wrath threatens this age. The entire world is going to suffer God’s wrath. The wrath of God will overturn the great expanse of the heavens, and the breadth of the earth, and the choruses of the stars, and the splendor of the sun, and the nocturnal consolations of the moon. On account of men’s sins, all of these things will pass away. Once, indeed, God’s wrath fell upon the earth alone, “because all flesh had left its life upon the earth.” [Gen 6:12] But now the wrath of God is going to come both upon the heavens and upon the earth. “The heavens will pass away, but you will abide,” Scripture says to God, “and all the heavens will grow old like a garment.” See what sort of wrath it is, and how great. It will consume the entire world and punish those who deserve punishment. And this wrath will find an object on which to exercise itself. Each of us has prepared an object for wrath by what he has done. The Epistle to the Romans reads, “For, according to your hardness and your impatient heart, you pile up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and the revelation of God’s just judgment.”

Then there follows, “Who showed you how to flee from the wrath to come? Produce fruits worthy of repentance.” To you, who are coming to Baptism, Scripture says, “Produce fruits worthy of repentance.” Do you want to know which fruits are worthy of repentance? “Charity is a fruit of the Spirit; joy is a fruit of the Spirit; so are peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, continence,” and the others of this sort. If we have all of these virtues, we have produced “fruits worthy of repentance.” Again it is said to those who were coming to John’s baptism, “And do not begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for a father.’ For, I say to you, God can raise up sons for Abraham from these stones.” John, the last of the prophets, prophesies the expulsion of the first nation and the call of the Gentiles. To those who were boasting about Abraham he says, “And do not begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for a father.’ ” And again he speaks about the Gentiles, “For I say to you, that God can raise up sons for Abraham from these stones.”

Origen, Homilies on Luke 22.6–8