Reflections on 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 and Luke 3:1-6
Feria II in the Fourth Week of Advent – II Classis
As we enter the final days of Advent, the Church in her ancient liturgy places before us today two scriptural readings full of quiet urgency and eschatological clarity: 1 Corinthians 4:1–5 and Luke 3:1–6. These lessons, appointed for Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent (Feria II infra Hebdomadam IV Adventus), resound with a call to humility, repentance, and faithful preparation for the coming of the Lord—not only at Bethlehem but at the end of time.
Let us meditate with the mind of the Church and the wisdom of the Fathers.
“Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor. 4:1)
Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians not with the pride of one who lords authority over others, but as a servant—ὑπηρέτας Χριστοῦ, a “minister of Christ,” and more significantly, a steward (οἰκονόμους) of the divine mysteries. Here, the Apostle touches the heart of the priestly office: not originators of the faith, not inventors of truth, but custodians of the sacred, accountable to God.
St. John Chrysostom comments:
“Paul calls himself a servant, and this not simply but with the addition of ‘of Christ,’ and a steward of the mysteries, showing that they had nothing from themselves but all from God.” (Hom. in 1 Cor. 10.1)
This sense of accountability permeates the rest of the passage. Paul does not boast in the judgment of men—“it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you.” Instead, he acknowledges the ultimate tribunal: “He that judgeth me is the Lord.”
In Advent, the Church calls her ministers and her faithful alike to a sober reflection: not how we appear before others, but how we will appear before the Divine Judge. We are stewards, not owners—custodes, non domini—and what we have received, we must guard and transmit with purity and fidelity.
The Glossa Ordinaria adds:
“Mysteries are the sacraments and the hidden truths of the faith. The steward is accountable not for inventing, but for distributing according to the Master’s will.”
Hence, as we await the coming of the Lord, this epistle reminds us: do not presume. Judge nothing before the time. Await the light that will lay bare the secrets of the heart.
“The word of God came unto John… in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:2)
Today’s Gospel roots us in history: Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, and the rest of the Roman and Jewish ruling class. But it is not to any of these that the Word of God comes. Rather, it comes to John, in the wilderness. The prophetic voice sounds not in palaces, but in desolation. Advent’s spirit is deeply ascetic, calling us to leave the noise of the city and enter the interior desert where God speaks.
St. Ambrose reflects:
“The silence of the wilderness is the proper place for the Word of God to resound; for the voice of the prophet is clearer when not mingled with the tumult of the world.” (Expos. in Lucam 2.54)
John is a voice crying: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” The Church applies these words again and again during Advent, not merely to recall the past, but to urge the present: prepare! Level the mountains of pride, fill the valleys of despair, straighten the crooked paths of sin.
St. Gregory the Great, in a homily on this text, teaches:
“Every valley shall be filled: the humble receive the word. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low: the proud must be humbled. The crooked made straight: the deceitful must turn to truth. The rough ways made plain: the fierce must be made gentle.” (Hom. in Evang. 20)
This is no mere poetic metaphor. It is the very shape of penance. In the days before the Nativity, the Church—like John—calls her children to real conversion, that their hearts may be rightly disposed to receive the Incarnate Word.
Interior Preparation for the Coming King
Both readings share a common note of hiddenness. The true Judge will reveal “the counsels of the heart” (1 Cor. 4:5), and the coming Christ will appear not in the temples of the powerful but in a cave. Advent thus confronts us with a paradox: the God who is Judge comes in silence; the King of Glory is born in obscurity.
St. Leo the Great exhorts:
“Let the faithful so prepare themselves by good works, that when the Judge comes, He may find them ready with lamps burning and hearts awake.” (Serm. 22 de Nativitate Domini)
So on this Monday of the last Advent week, the Church invites us:
- To humility—like Paul, to recognize our place as stewards, not masters.
- To repentance—like John, to cry out and clear the path within.
- To interior stillness—to seek the Word not in noise, but in the silence of the soul.
Let us keep vigil, then, not only for the Bethlehem Child, but for the Coming Judge. For “He who came in humility shall come again in majesty.” May we be found faithful stewards and prepared hearts.