INTRODUCTION:
The Liturgy of the Third Sunday of Advent is denoted as Gaudete Sunday in which the Church invites the faithful to adore “The Lord who is to come” with fulness of joy. The Introit “Gaudete in Domino semper” strikes the note, and gives its name to the day.
The Nocturn lessons from the Prophecy of Isaiah describe the Lord’s coming and the blessings that will result from his presence. The Second reading again incites us to rejoicing, and bids us prepare to meet the coming Saviour with prayers and supplication and thanksgiving, whilst the Gospel, the words of St. John Baptist, warns us that the Lamb of God is even now in our midst, though we appear not to recognize Him. We know that the spirit of the Office and Liturgy all through Advent is one of expectation and preparation for the Christmas feast as well as for the second coming of Christ, and the penitential exercises suitable to that spirit are thus on Gaudete Sunday suspended, as were, for a while in order to symbolize that joy and gladness in the Promised Redemption which should never be absent from the heart of the faithful.
So to remind ourselves that we are preparing for the very joyful occasion of the birth of Jesus, we light the rose candle in the Advent wreath, and the priest may wear rose vestments which radiate the joy that the liturgy announces. Let our hearts be filled with joy for the Lord whom we long for is no more far.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
This section of Isaiah comes from the turbulent period in the sixth century BC when the Jews were trying to re-establish themselves in their homeland after enduring a generation of exile in Babylon. However, upon their return, the former exiles find that Yahweh, who made possible their return, has not seen fit to make their task easy. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple. The returned exiles experienced opposition from local people and the project ground to a halt (Ezra 4; Nehemiah 4-5).
These new obstacles created a crisis of faith, in much the same way as the exile did. And the people raised certain questions about how faithful Yahweh really is in his promises. It is in the midst of these worries that the prophet announced this message of joy-Gaudete inviting the returnees from exile to rejoice for Yahweh is not done with them:
“The spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me”. This is the voice of the famous servant of Yahweh that dominated the chapters 42, 49-50, and 52-53 of the book of Isaiah. This mysterious figure characterized with all the Messianic qualities was never made manifest to the immediate audience of Isaiah. He became fully and unreservedly revealed in the person of Jesus.
Meanwhile, Isaiah’s emphasis on the decent of the pneuma (spirit) is a way to authenticate the divine origin of his message.
When the spirit of the Lord comes upon a person, it usually confers power (Judges 3:10; 6-34; 14:6, 19, etc.). In the book of Isaiah, the phrase occurs four times, and is associated with conferring wisdom and understanding (11:2; 40:13ff.) and bringing relief to those in need (61:1; 63:14). And it is this Spirit that anoints;
“because Yahweh has anointed me”. Though anointing with oil is used for various purposes (healing, burial, or expressing grief or joy), but most often, it is used to designate a person for a significant role. In the Old Testament, prophets were anointed (1 Kings 19:16). Priests were anointed (Exodus 40:13-15). Kings were anointed (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:3, 12-13; 2 Samuel 23:1; 1 Kings 1:39).
Many passages of the New Testament speaks of Jesus as anointed one of God (John 20:31; Acts 5:42; Hebrews 1:9, etc.). The anointed stands for the Hebrew messias and Greek Christos. Meanwhile, the New Testament, Christos (Christ) is used almost exclusively. John used it in different passages (John 1:41; 4:25).
This anointing becomes the fountain of empowerment for delivering the Word of God;
“to preach good news to the humble”. In the Old Testament, good news is always used to qualify military victory. Its use in this prophesy of Isaiah in reference to “the humble” suggests that it might involve victory over an oppressor. It certainly befits the salvation that Yahweh acvomplished in the life and history of his people. And this could be seen in two way. On the first place, it speaks about the freeing of the exiles from captivity and giving them a chance to return to their homeland. In the second place, the accent is on God’s redemption of his people from the grip of sin.
The prophet underlines that the preaching of the Word is meant to be accompanied with signs;
“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” . The normal expression would have been, “to comfort the brokenhearted,” but the prophet uses the word “binding” metaphorically to symbolize the level of suffering that characterizes the life of the receptors of the good news. Yes, binding-up goes beyond the usual comforting techniques, such as listening. Binding-up the broken heart points to heart surgery. It is meant to pull together the broken piece and to repair the breaks. This is the type of therapy the spiritual heart must undergo. Those whose hearts are broken are those who grieve, those who have lost hope. But here Gof sends the servant/messiah to repair their damages, to remove the cause of their grief and to restore their hope once again. This restoration cannot be complete unless there is total liberation;
“to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound ”.
These words are reminiscent of the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10, 13; 27:24; Jeremiah 34:8-10). Every seventh year (a sabbatical year), the Israelites were to allow land to lie fallow and to free male Hebrew slaves. It was a year of rest for land, draft animals, and humans alike (Exodus 21:1-11; Leviticus 25:20-21; Deuteronomy 15:12-18). And every fiftieth year (the year that ends seven sabbatical years—the Year of Jubilee), the Israelites were given the opportunity to redeem any land that had been sold—the idea being that the land belonged to God and was intended for use by those to whom God had originally given it. Any Israelites who had been forced into indentured service were to be released. So both the sabbatical year and the Year of Jubilee were devoted to liberty.
So this passage refers to these Jewish people who have been recently freed from the shackles of long span experience of slavery and allowed to return to Jerusalem.
“to proclaimthe year of Yahweh’s favour”. “The year of Yahweh’s favour” once again brings to mind the Year of Jubilee—a year devoted to liberty. The servant/messiah is to announce the year of the Lord’s favour—the year when those being favoured can expect to receive blessings from God. (Sermon writer). It is the year of total freedom from any form of oppression when the people are meant to experience anew the living presence of Yahweh in their midst; a year when the troubled exile returnees will fully settle down because the promises of Yahweh have been fulfilled.
SECOND READING: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Paul was fond of the Thessalonians because they had received Jesus’ Gospel enthusiastically, and their example had helped others to embrace the Faith. But he was convinced that they needed the continued moral instruction which he offered them in this letter. The selection we read today contains Paul’s practical suggestions for anyone trying to be a follower of God: “Do not stifle the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; retain what is good. Avoid any semblance of evil.” He also commands us to “rejoice always and pray without ceasing.” We are to give thanks in all circumstances because that is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. We, who believe in Jesus and have been united with him in his death and Resurrection, should be in a constant state of rejoicing, giving thanks to God for all that He has done for us in Jesus. Our joy here on earth, however, is not the fullness of joy waiting for us at Jesus’ second coming. Hence, Paul concludes his instruction with the prayer: “May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
GOSPEL: John 1:6-8;19-28
This first chapter of the Gospel of John begins with beautiful poetic words about Jesus—poetry that does not mention Jesus’ name or describe his visage, but rather uses metaphors simple enough for a child and rich enough for all of us.
In the first of these metaphors, John refers to Jesus as “the Word” (logos). To understand his meaning, we need to look back to the Old Testament, which uses the Hebrew word dabar to speak about “the word of God”—a message from God to humans, whether a command, reprimand, or announcement—sometimes spoken through the agency of a prophet, but at other times spoken directly from God to the person of concern. The logos of John is eternal—present with God the Father from the beginning—participating fully in every step of creation (v. 3). God sent this Word into the world as God’s ultimate revelation of himself.
The verse 6 from which our pericope today begins At verse 6 makes a shift of the subject from Jesus to John the Baptist. It describes the first public ministry of John as a martus (martyr or witness). John seclusion in the desert made the biblical scholars to identify him as probably belonging to the Judean Qumran wilderness community, the Essenes. This community was a group of people who had left Jerusalem a century before Jesus’ birth because of a conflict with the Temple authorities. They waited there, a few miles from Jericho, for the Messiah to come and rectify the horrible injustice they had experienced. They occupied themselves with Scripture studies and purification, continually studying, copying, and commenting on God’s word. They also went through frequent baptismal rituals to symbolize their total dedication to God’s will in living a life of spiritual purity.
The Gospel clearly revealed John the Baptist as only a witness to the Light because the diffused tendency among the disciples of John the Baptist was the claim that he is the light and the Messiah, and not simply the one testifying to the Light.
The austere life of John the Baptist and example of holiness not only pulled a lot of crowd towards him, but it equally generated a lot of confusion. Many thought he was actually the Messiah who is but yet to be revealed.
This is why the sanhedrin sent some men to verify if he is the long awaited Messiah or not. As the custodians of the religion of their fathers, they felt it their duty to check up on the identity of John.
The evangelist John presents John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, “a voice in the desert” calling for Israelites to prepare a way for the coming of Jesus. John in his Gospel takes special care to stress the fact that Jesus surpasses John the Baptist. The Baptist declares of himself: “I am baptizing only with water; but there is One among you–you don’t recognize him–and I am not worthy to untie the straps of his shoes.” One of the rabbinic saying states that a disciple might do for his master anything that a servant did, except only to untie his sandals. That was too menial a service for even a disciple to render. So John’s statement could be understood to mean: “There is one who is coming, and whose slave I am not fit to be.” Certainly John’s mission was only to “prepare the way.” Therefore, any greatness attributed to him surely came from the greatness of the One whose coming he foretold. And his humility won for him the admiration and exaltation from the One he proclaimed. He never lobbied for position even though he had all it takes to be great. He lived only to point the way to the Anointed One already announced by Isaiah in the first reading–the one who comes to set the prisoners free and to accomplish the year of the Lord’s favour.
LIFE MESSAGES:
1. WE ARE CALLED TO BE WITNESSES TO CHRIST THE LIGHT: By Baptism we become members of the family of Christ, the true Light of the world. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Hence, our mission as brothers and sisters of Christ and members of his Mystical Body, the Church, is to reflect Christ’s Light to others, just as the moon reflects the light of the sun. It is especially important during the Advent season that we reflect upon and radiate Christ’s unconditional love and forgiveness everywhere. There are too many people who live in darkness and poverty, and who lack real freedom. There are others who are deafened and blinded by the cheap attractions of the world. Also, many feel lonely, unwanted, rejected, and marginalized. All these people are waiting for us to reflect the Light of Christ into their worlds and to turn their lives into experiences of joy, wholeness, and integrity. The joy of Jesus, the joy of Christmas, can only be ours to the extent that we work with Jesus to bring joy into the lives of others. Let us remember that Christmas is not complete unless we show real generosity to those who have nothing to give us in return.
2. WE ARE THE VOICE
The readings today present three voices: the voice of Isaiah, the voice of Paul and the voice of John the Baptist. They lent their voices to God so that He could use them as the vessel to reach his people. God’s voice cannot be heard on it’s own. He needs our voices in order to speak. But we have often denied him the opportunity. We have often felt reluctant to allow him speak through us because there is a voice of the world that often dominate our life. It hardly allow the voice of God in us to speak out. How many persons are suffering injustices before our very eyes and yet we cannot speak out? Many are falsely accused, other denied their rights, others persecuted and marginalised because of origin, colour, religion etc, yet we Christians are often voiceless. Each time these injustices are not denied, let us be sure that we are intentionally suppressing the voice of God from speaking. Yes because we refuse to lend Him our voices.
Today, many messengers of the Gospel have either been overtaken by pride to the point that they have lost the voice of God. They no longer hear the voice of God well, and therefore they transmit messages that are unable to change the world.
Where are the Isaiahs of our time?
Where are the John the Baptists of our time?
Where are the Pauls of our time?
Where are the Christians who announce the Gospel and whose lifestyles do not contradict the message?
John the Baptist leads us on the school of true messengers of the Gospel. He understood that the greatest wealth one could have is God. Thus he became the father of evangelical poverty. He understood the value of detaching from the world in order to be filled with the presence of God. And through him we learn that holiness is contagious. People left the cities to meet him in the desert not because he had a powerful megaphone that echoed in the cities. No, they simply perceived his holiness and testimony of life from others.
Hence, when we are filled with the presence of God, then our life becomes a living gospel such that we hardly leave a place without making positive impact. John’s life interrogates us today:
1. How many people have we led to Christ?
2. Do people around us see the Messiah through us?
Have we sometimes claimed to be the message instead of the messenger?
4. What is that gift of God in us that is dragging us into uncontrolled pride?
3. WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS EXPECT FROM US?: The Jews asked the same question of John. His answer was: “Repent and reform your lives, and prayerfully wait for the Messiah.” This means that we have to pray from the heart and pray more often. Our Blessed Mother, in her many apparitions, has urgently reminded us of the need for more fervent and more frequent prayer. Let us remember that the Holy Mass is the most powerful of prayers. We must become a Eucharistic people, receiving the living presence of Jesus in our hearts so that we may be transformed into His image and likeness. We encounter Jesus in all the Sacraments. Regular monthly Confession makes us strong and enables us to receive more grace in the Eucharist. Let us also listen daily to God speaking to us through the Bible. Perhaps, we may want to pray the rosary daily and fast once a week all year round, not just during Advent and Lent. After all, we sin all year round, so why not fast also all year round? Let us also find some spare time to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us forgive those who have offended us and pray for those whom we have offended. Finally, let us share our love with others in selfless and humble service, “doing small things but with great love” (Mother Teresa). As we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the coming of God into our lives, we need also to remind ourselves that we have been called to be the means of bringing Jesus into other people’s lives. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
IN THE MIDST OF OUR WOUNDED LIVES AND CONDITIONS TODAY, CAN WE STILL FIND REASONS TO REJOICE? DOES THE INVITATION TO REJOICE TODAY STILL MAKE ANY MEANING?
PRAYER
May the God who made the earth and shaped it to contain creation reshape our lives and keep us ready and prepared to receive his Son who comes to us, so that his coming may bring us healing from every discomfort and reunite us perpetually with him. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
