This Sunday is called Gaudette Sunday ….. from the latin meaning rejoice. Our theme for this third week of advent is Joy. Its why the candle is pink. As are our vestments.
This theme of Joy may however, seem a bit strange. The last two weeks we’ve heard some pretty stark words from John the baptist about end times and repentance… Scary stuff. And then, out of the blue, we start talking about Joy?
Maybe it is worth providing a broader context. The Prophet before John the Baptist was Malachi. He’s the one who said that the Messiah would come in great power: Said things like … Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali”. Pretty vivid image.
John the Baptist’s own preaching continued this theme of overpowering judgment . For John too had expected this Judgement to come among them in the person of the Messiah: So, we hear John say things like .. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down, or his winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out. Like I said – scary stuff.
In our Gospel text today, John the Baptist tells the people that the Messiah is already among them. Perhaps he was still waiting to meet this Messiah who would “Come in great power and Judgement”. But that was not to be. John the Baptist, like Malachi before him, like even the disciples as they began their walk with Jesus, got it wrong.
Because there is another description of the Messiah, The one we find in our first reading today. From the prophet Isaiah. It is a description that we, who know how the story turns out, see as a more accurate portrayal of the Messiah. The Christ.
You see, the Messiah came not to wage war against the Romans but to wage war against sin and death. His Power was not in armies, but in Love. His weapons were gentleness, healing, forgiveness, mercy. He was not interested in sitting in the courts of Kings, but rather his interests were in the poor, the sick, those who are marginal in society. We discover that the Lord protects strangers, sustains orphans and widows, secures justice for the oppressed.
It is what we heard in our first reading, … and we know to be true, where Isaiah foresees a Messiah that will bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to captives and release to prisoners. This is a description of a gentle Messiah who sets people free through love: And for me, it is a description of a Messiah That brings me …… JOY
So, what can we take away from the readings today? Advent is indeed a time where we examine our life, and see what rough spots there are that can be straightened, what things that can be done to bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth. And advent is indeed a time when we listen clearly to the message of Social Justice, a time when we look beyond our faith as just a personal relationship with God, to see that we are all called to be like Jesus in his care, concern, and love for those who are disadvantaged in our society.
And I don’t know about you, but seeing that we are called to imitate our Lord In his concern for the poor, brings me Joy.
Realizing that we are beloved daughters of God, beloved sons of God, beloved children of God, brings me Joy.
Realizing that we are eternal and the best part of our existence is yet to come, brings me Joy
Realizing that God became Human in the Person of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, so that God could reveal Godself to us in a way that we could understand. And it is this that we are celebrating each Christmas, brings me great Joy.
I hope it brings you Joy, too