Third Sunday of Advent

Should Christians only perform certain jobs?  In the Bible reading assigned to this week, the words of John the Baptist suggest otherwise.  In this, the third week of advent we get an insight into what we should be doing when Jesus returns.  The answer is simple: we should be about our daily business which God has called us to do.  In John’s time, the question was: ‘What should we do?’  Perhaps surprisingly, John deals with two jobs which shored up a pagan Roman empire which suppressed God’s people.  John says, in effect, if you are a tax collector, keep collecting taxes – but do it fairly.  If you are a soldier, keep soldiering – but do it justly.  So it is for us.  We are not called to desert our jobs and live in isolation.  John Wesley once famously said, ‘The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion’.  When Jesus returns, let’s be about the business that God has called us to.  Let’s bring glory to the Kingdom of God by doing our jobs to the best of our ability and with as much love, kindness, integrity and professionalism as we can muster.