3rd Sunday of Advent Year B. December 17, 2023
Isaiah
61: 1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24; John 1: 6-8; 19-28
Theme: Rejoice Always for this is the Will
of God
Today is the third Sunday
of our preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the beginning
of this Advent season, we learned that preparation for Jesus’ coming entails
some work to accomplish and attitudes to observe. The scripture readings of the
first Sunday of Advent invited us to observe the attitude of a gatekeeper: to
be watchful and alert. The liturgy of the second Sunday asked us to accomplish
the work of the road builders: to prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths
straight. The way and paths of the Lord here stand for our one-on-one
relationships with God and with our brothers and sisters that sins damage and
transform into “valleys, mountains, hills, uneven grounds, and rough places”. The
Bible readings of today, the third Sunday of Advent, call us to observe an
attitude of joy: “Rejoice always… for this is the will of God.” The Advent
season is a time of great joy. Today priests wear rose-colored vestments, and the
rose candle is lit in the advent wreath to mark the character of joy of this
liturgy. All the scripture readings of today invite us to meditate on the role
of joy in our lives.
In our second reading,
Saint Paul invites and encourages us to rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5: 16).
Throughout our lives, especially in this time that we are waiting for our Lord,
we need to rejoice and be glad because, as Saint Paul says, “for this is the
will of God for [us] in Christ Jesus” (v. 18). The question is how is it
possible to rejoice always while we face trials and suffering? We find the
answer in our first reading.
Note that our first reading
passage, taken from the third Isaiah (ch. 56-66), is in the context of after
the people of Israel returned from the Babylonian exile. They had experienced suffering
in Babylon. However, this suffering was not the final word for them. Isaiah brings
them a message of joy. He proclaims that he has been anointed and sent by the
Lord “to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners, to announce a year
of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.” (vv. 1-2a, NABRE).
We see that after a long period of captivity and suffering in Babylon, God
grants his favor to his chosen people. He sets them free from Babylonian captivity.
Our Holy Mother Church
suggests to us the mediation of these readings to teach us two things. First,
the suffering that we go through today is not the final word for us. Jesus our
Lord, whose coming we are waiting for, brings us the message of joy. He comes
to set us free from the captivity of sins. He comes to renew and strengthen our
relationships with God and with our brothers and sisters. He comes to share our
pains. For this, we need to rejoice and be glad. Second, our Holy Mother Church
wants to remind us that from our baptism, we too, like Isaiah, received the
Holy Spirit, we were anointed and sent to bring his Good News to our brothers
and sisters, starting in our families, neighborhoods, and Church community. In
this Advent season, our mission is to announce to our brothers and sisters that
Christmas is not just a time of decoration and shopping, but a time in which
Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, comes to set us free from the captivity of
the devil. At Christmas, we start a “year of favor from the Lord”, which means,
we start new relationships with God and with our brothers and sisters. Therefore,
we all need to repent and receive Jesus in our lives.
We are called to “rejoice
always” even amid the suffering that we go through. In order to do that, Saint
Paul, in our second reading, exhorts us to develop some other habits: praying
without ceasing (v. 17), giving thanks in all circumstances (v. 18), not
quenching the Spirit (v. 19), not despising prophetic utterances (v. 20), and
refraining from every kind of evil (v. 22). We are called to learn and teach
other people to “rejoice always”. As part of “rejoicing always”, Paul invites
us to be entirely preserved and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Notice Paul names three things in which we need to be blameless:
spirit, soul, and body (v. 23). This means that there are sins of the spirit
(pride, heresy, rejection of God), sins of the soul (lust, avarice, wrath), and
sins of the body (fornication, gluttony, sloth) that we need to avoid.
Confession is a perfect moment to clean our hearts from all these sins and make
ourselves ready to welcome our Lord who is coming on Christmas, who will come
at the end of time, and who comes every day into our lives.
Many people around us do
not “rejoice always” because they do not recognize Jesus in their midst. The Gospel
that we heard teaches us that our baptismal mission is to point the people to
Jesus as John the Baptist did. The background of this Gospel story is this: The
people here were dealing with some signs of the end-time and the coming of the Messiah
as prophesied by many Old Testament prophets. The first sign is John’s spiritual
water-washing ritual on people in the Jordan River which gave a sense of some kind
of end-times preparation alluding to what Ezekiel prophesied about an end-times
water-washing associated with the new age that God would usher in (see Ezekiel
36: 25-32). The second sign is John’s dress (with a hair shirt and leather belt)
which reminded the people of Elijah (see 2 Kings 1: 8), a major prophet in
ancient Israel, who was thought to return at the end of times before the day of
the Lord (Malachi 4: 5-6). The people of Israel also were waiting for a prophet
like Moses whom Moses predicted that he would come someday (see Deuteronomy 18:
15-22). So, the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to John the
Baptist to ask him if he was the Messiah, Elijah, or the prophet “Moses”, the
three figures whom they expected to come at the end of the age. John told them
that he was none of them. He claims himself to rather be the “voice of one
crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” (John 1: 23).
This Gospel reading
teaches us a couple of things. First, the way the people of Israel were waiting
for the coming of the Messiah is the same, in this Advent season, we are
waiting for the coming of our Lord. Second, as John the Baptist was sent from
God to testify to the light (that is Jesus), so that all might believe through
him (vv. 6-7), we too from our baptism, have been sent. Our baptismal mission
consists of testifying to Jesus, the Light of the world, so that our brothers
and sisters might know and believe in Jesus through us. Third, John’s negative
testimony about himself and his positive testimony about Jesus shows his
humility.
Our baptismal mission
entails great humility. Nowadays, many people look for glory, to be recognized.
It should not be the case for us. Our baptismal mission in this world is not to
point the people to us or other celebrities but to Jesus. Today, famous figures
are advertised, and crowds run to stadiums and pay their money to watch them
playing sports or performing concerts. You and I are the John the Baptist of
today whose mission is to advertise about Jesus and draw the people to him. Many
people follow their idol figures on Twitter, like them on Instagram, and read/watch
and comment on their posts on Facebook and TikTok. Jesus does not have Twitter,
but we need to point the people to him so that they might follow him. Jesus
does not have Instagram, but we need to advertise about him so that people like
him. Jesus does not have Facebook and TikTok, but our mission is to call the
people to read, listen to, and comment on the Word of God. The true happiness
is not in the celebrities whom the world advertises but in the one who is
coming to live like us, Jesus. Isaiah says it in our first reading,
In this liturgy of the
Mass, may God enable us to “rejoice always” even amid our daily suffering, and
point our brothers and sisters to Jesus who is the reason for our joy. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu,
SVD
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