Sean Cannizzo’s Homily from 12/07/25
We are in the Second Sunday of Advent. I have to admit, I had no idea what Advent was
until I had to prepare for this service. But after learning about it, I think it's important for us
to start the reflection by discussing Advent. What is it? Where did it come from? How do we
prepare?
Advent is the Latin word for "coming" and it's all about preparing for the coming of Christ
over a 4-week period before Christmas. Originally, it was to prepare for the Feast of the
Epiphany on Jan 6, which was a celebration of the revelation of Jesus to the world as a
divine being. This was until Constantine declared that the birth of Jesus was on Dec. 25,
then Advent switched focus to the coming of Christ.
Some common ways to do Advent are to put up a Christmas tree, hang lights and wreaths,
listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, and seek closeness with your family
and fellow man.
Another way to prepare might be how we prepare for any joyous occasion that marks a
major life change. Think about births, graduations, weddings, etc. What do we do? We think
about the past, we think about the future, go for long walks, reflect, etc.
In the context of Jesus, we can think about his life and what it meant. We can read
scripture, we can try to fathom his divinity, and we can pray. We can think about what he
was trying to teach us.
Another way to think about it is that Advent is an invitation to make the concept of Jesus
alive within you, and to do it in a way that is meaningful to you.
This brings us to today's readings. When I read them in preparation for today's service, I
have to be honest, I didn't know what was going on except that John the Baptist was
throwing some serious shade. Calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers",
saying sassy things like "listen, I'll pour the water over your head, but don't get it twisted,
when Christ comes, he's going to separate the wheat from the chaff, ... and guess what, the
chaff is going to burn in AN UNQUENCHABLE FIRE.... Meow! John the Baptist...so spicy!
When is your Netflix special coming out?
As someone who loves a bit of drama and gossip, I was fully invested in finding out more
about this story. I could also tell there was a lot of deep meaning here in these readings and
I wanted to do it justice.
There are a couple of themes that emerge that we can marinate on, the first is to think about
what is right and good and true, and the second is to think about the systems that we are a
part of and their role in helping or hindering us from experiencing what is right and good and
true.
So first, we have the prophecy from Isaiah, written thousands of years before Christ, he tells
us that a) a descendant of David will come and will be of divine spirit, and b) that all the
systems as we know them will be totally upended. The wolf shall live with the lamb, a baby
can play over a venomous snake's house, etc.
Then we have the Psalm, also Old Testament, that tells us how amazing it's going to be
when this guy comes. How he'll defend the needy, rescue the poor, and crush the
oppressor, and bring peace and justice.
These are both Old Testament prophecies of how the guy who comes will know what is right
and good and true and how he will totally disrupt the system. Then we move on to the New
Testament. Paul's letter to the Romans talks about Christian unity, welcoming one another
(Jew and Gentile), finding hope in Scripture, and glorifying God through Christ's example of
selfless service and acceptance.
Then, finally, we come to my favorite, the Gospel of Matthew about John the Baptist.
When John says that he will baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees, but that it probably
won't make a difference, what he is implying is that your salvation doesn't come from any
earthly externality. It's an internal relationship between you, yourself, and God. Meaning,
the physical acts that you do are meaningless if they're not guided by truth. And this truth is
something you already know intrinsically.
John is telling the Sadducees and Pharisees that they must truly repent. What does that
even mean? As we go through life, there are all these obstacles and distractions that take
us away from ourselves and what we know is right and thus our relationship with God. So
repentance is when you look deep inside, you identify those things, and you work to clear
them out of your way. You make amends where you need to and you get back in touch with
yourself and God. Repentance is active, not passive.
And why are John and subsequently Jesus so obsessed with the Sadducees and Pharisees?
And w h a t d o e s John even want t h e m to r e p e n t for? Well for s o m some historical context, the Sadducees were a wealthy, aristocratic priestly class who focused primarily on the Temple
and political power. And, importantly, they controlled the existing system of Temple
sacrifices and taxes required by the Torah and profited immensely from the associated
money-changing and sale of animals.
So..we're talking about a system where the focus becomes so much on wealth, that it's
actually affecting people's relationship with God. Which is why, a couple passages later in
the Gospel of Matthew, it says that "No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either
hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and wealth”
A couple of things about the concept of wealth here, the first is that money is just a
placeholder for goods and services and we all need to eat. It seems like the focus is not on
money per se, but more on when caring about money rises to the level of a disorder, where
it's taking us away from our relationship with God and what we know in our gut to be good.
Second, and this is where we can go a little deeper, we can think of wealth in the literal
sense, like the Sadducees filling their coffers with gold coins, but we can also think of an
unhealthy relationship with wealth as a proxy for our fears and for our ego. And it's honestly
something we can be born into and not even realize.
I mean, for example, how many of us were allowed to follow our dreams as children? I
remember being interested in psychology as a kid and I can still hear my dad's scoff when
we would talk about fields like psychology and art. Not because he didn't think they are
good or worthwhile, but because he thought they didn't pay well. He was concerned and
worried about how I was going to live and support myself and he was trying to protect me
and he didn't want me to suffer. But guess what, I suffered anyway, cuz that's just a part of
life. And guess who, after 20 years of not doing psychology, is going back to school for
psychology because that's something that feels right.
Now I'm sure you can think of similar stories of you or someone you know. And this Advent,
please take a minute to think about all the systems you are a part of. Think about what
aspects of them grate against your core, what parts are not serving you. Think about others
and what systems they were born into. I'm not saying quit your job, go off grid, and eat wild
honey and locusts... but maybe there's a little leeway to improve your relationship with
yourself. As Jesus showed us with his life and death, there are some things that are way
worse than suffering and death, and that is the death of the soul and of what is right and
good and true.
In summary, we talked about a lot. We talked about what Advent is and how we can interact
with it. We talked about how the readings herald the coming of Jesus, gave some historical
context, talked about how repentance is an active check-in with ourselves and God, and
how the systems we are a part of can foster or hurt our relationships with ourselves and
God.
The last thing I will say is this. The holidays can be joyous, but they can also be hard. If you
reflect on nothing else this Advent, think about how Jesus lived with deep compassion. And
we often talk in the church about how to treat others. But this Advent, if you've never tried it
before, try being kind and compassionate to yourself.
Sean Cannizzo
12/7/25 Homily @ Church of the Epiphany