Deliverance

In our continuing series exploring a catechumenal process during the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons, last week Rhoda explored the lectionary readings for Advent 1 which correlate with the Scrutinies (Roman) or Rites of Healing and Deliverance (Journey to Baptismal Living). The final prayer in the Renunciation of Evil from Welcome to Christ captures well the intent of these traditional rites of exorcism, that is, to pray for deliverance from the powers of sin, evil, and satan that thwart the new life in Christ: “Lord God, you promised that the ancient evil of the serpent would be vanquished on the cross of your Son. We ask you: Crush the power of the devil. Protect your people from the evils of the world. Preserve us from sin and error, that with saints and angels we may live in the joy of your goodness and truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate, 28). The readings of the 2^nd and 3^rd Sundays in Advent focus on the ministry of John the Baptist who comes “to prepare the way of the Lord (and) make his paths straight.” The readings frame these rites of healing and deliverance that seek to uncover and remove sin and inclinations to evil in the lives of the catechumens and lead them to the day of baptismal enlightenment and entrance into the good, right, and saving rule and reign of God. In these rites the catechumens hear John’s call: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

2^nd Sunday in Advent

On this Sunday John the Baptist appears in the wilderness preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” from the Gospel reading Matthew 3:1-12. The Rites of Healing and Deliverance are that voice addressed to the catechumens and the whole assembly. On the banks of the Jordan John is baptizing the people as they confess their sins. The preacher and catechist can frame this text for the catechumen so that they see themselves in the same place as those gathered around John at the Jordan. So, they are preparing to gather around the font of regeneration and so they are called to confess their sins and cast away the works of darkness. They are preparing for the baptism of repentance, the baptism that “frees them from being enslaved to the father of lies” (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, 99). But it is of course even more than that. It is the baptism of the one whose sandals John is not worthy to stoop down and untie. It is baptism into the kingdom of God and of his Christ: baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. The catechumens are preparing to experience this baptism of the Lord. Entering into this kingdom, they are called to live faithfully as members of it, with righteousness and faithfulness permeating their lives (Isaiah 11:1-10). The God of the Word has and will continue to give them encouragement and hope to endure until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 15:4-13).

3^rd Sunday in Advent

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” Jesus announces at the end of the Gospel reading for the 3^rd Sunday in Advent. Throughout the catechumenate the elect have heard the voice of the Lord through His Word. The catechumenal journey has been, if nothing else, an immersion in the Word. On this final catechumenal Sunday prior to their baptisms on Epiphany/Baptism of Our Lord, the church calls the elect to a continual immersion in that Word. It is that Word that now proclaims to them that Elijah has come in the person of John the Baptist to prepare Christ’s way. And to prepare their way! What have the elect (and the entire assembly) come to see? A wiry reed in the desert? A prophet? Yes, but finally one who points to the Christ who brings the kingdom of God into this sin-sick, evil, and dying world. Here is the word that asks the elect what do you hear and see in this Jesus?: “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:5-6). This is the enlightenment that shines into the eyes and hearts of the elect. They truly see, they are cleansed, they hear, they are raised up and they have heard good news preached to them. Repenting of the darkness of sin and evil in their lives and praying for the light of the new life of God’s kingdom, as the Rites of Healing and Deliverance do, embody the very hearing of this gospel reading. With Isaiah (35:1-10) they can be encouraged to be strong and fear not because God is here now in Word and baptismal waters to save them. From now on they can patiently suffer and endure whatever challenges confront them in God’s kingdom (James 5:7-11).

Focus on the kingdom of God and preparing to enter into this kingdom fully through the waters of baptism is the nature of these texts on the 2^nd and 3^rd Sundays in Advent. While the prayers and rites for the Scrutinies would need to reflect these texts in their use in a catechumenate during Advent, the readings’ appropriately turn the elect away from the kingdom of evil and toward the kingdom of the Lord. The Word is preparing the way of the Lord for them. Follow me, He says!