3rd Sunday of Advent 15 December
Readings: Zephaniah 3. 14-20; Phil. 4. 4-7; Lk. 3. 7-18
Theme: Rejoice Jerusalem!
On this third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as ‘Gaudete Sunday’, from the Latin ‘rejoice ye’, the focus of our liturgy is on the joy of the coming of the Lord. In the medieval church, Advent was a time of fasting and abstinence, and on this third Sunday there was a pause in these penitential preparations to remind ourselves of the purpose of this period of preparation. Yet, if this Sunday is a time of rejoicing it is also a time of warning. The warning is that the time of preparation which Advent represents brings with it a certain clearing out of unfruitful ways: “Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”. The symbol of the tree here is meant to represent both an individual and a collective set of realities. At the individual level it represents those parts of ourselves which are resistant to the voice of the Lord. These parts will be cut away and burnt with the chaff in that unquenchable fire of the message of the gospel. At the collective level it also represents those peoples who do not obey the king of Israel and plough their own furrows in lands ruled by other kings.
Yes, this time of rejoicing is one which also divides. It divides those parts of us and peoples who refuse to the listen to the voice of the Lord from all that is obedient to his voice. The great herald of this coming time is John the Baptist. He is the one who castigates the crowds and admonishes them to bear real fruit and not to feign a false repentance. He is speaking to the Jews who are hedging their bets about Jesus, because he knows that many of them have an instrumental relationship with their religion. They see it as a safe haven rather than as a point of departure for the long journey of faith. They will ultimately fail to go on the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, which is the central location of the gospel of Luke, because it represents the place in which the message of Jesus will be revealed in all its fullness.
So, for us as we journey towards the coming of the Lord, it is only right that we take this time to consider our own preparations for his coming. We might single out three areas in which we might look. The first is our relation to the Scriptures. Do we take time each week to get to know them better? Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of God, because the Scriptures are the humanly mediated autobiography of God revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the coming of our saviour, Jesus. Both the Old and the New Testaments speak to us of this God and as we journey through the church’s year, our weekly liturgies are meant to introduce us to the various contours of God. Neglect of the Scriptures is a sure way to ignorance about God.
The second is our relation to the sacraments. These are the sure means given to us by the church for our encounter with the grace of the Lord. If the scriptures provide us with the autobiography of God, the sacraments reveal this God to us here and know in the breaking of the bread. They allow us a time of silent encounter with the one who is always greater than any words can express, and they represent for us the union which takes place through grace in the life of faith between God and us. Whatever our theologies of the sacraments may be, we should always come to the sacraments with the joy with which the early apostles met the risen Christ.
The third area that we should review this Advent is our relationships with one another. Am I treating my fellow brothers and sisters as equally a son or a daughter of Christ? Have I hardened my heart, as did the crowds in our Gospel for today, in such a way that has resigned itself to resentment, bitterness and division? The warning provided by Jesus today in our Gospel is followed by what needs to happen in our lives if we are to truly heed this warning; namely, to share our coats, to collect no more than is prescribed, and to not extort money from others through threats or false accusations. When we do these things then we should rejoice because the one who is coming is the one for whom our preparations are for: the messiah, Jesus.
So, as we sweep our homes and put up our decorations let these activities be reminders to us of the spiritual and moral preparations that this season of Advent calls us to. With each bauble that we hang on the tree, we can think of each book of the Bible that we hope to get to know better this year. Remember the Bible is not a book, but a collection of books, literally a library, with inexhaustible riches contained within it. With each Christmas card that we write we can think of the message of love which is brought to each and every one of us in the sacraments. And with each gift that we give to each other, we can remember that we are a gift to one another in Christ and the joy we experience at the coming of the Lord into our lives this Advent should also spill over into the care and the respect that we show to one another.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirt. Amen.