Sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS    Index

Third Sunday of Advent, Year A—2004 Homily

Today is known as Gaudate Sunday, Gaudate is the Latin word for rejoice. And it takes it's name from the opening antiphon: 'Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice, the Lord is near.'

The Advent wreath is surrounded by three purple candles and one rose coloured candle. It is this one we light today because it represents Gaudete Sunday.

The readings, particularly the Gospel, express this theme of rejoicing at the imminent coming of the Lord. John's disciples ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come. 'Look around you', they are told. 'The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the Good News is proclaimed to the poor and happy are those who believe.'

These events really are a cause for rejoicing; the Lord has come and is working miracles among us. Our salvation is at hand.

It is very interesting to speculate just why John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one who was to come. Scripture scholars over the centuries have wondered why John did this. Either he knew Jesus was the Christ and couldn't understand why his own disciples were still clinging to him. So he sent them to ask Jesus this question and presumed that once they met Jesus they would see for themselves that he was the Messiah and so become followers of Jesus.

Or, alternatively, perhaps John knew that Jesus was the Christ and yet could not reconcile for himself the fact that Jesus did not adopt the same sort of lifestyle that he did. It must have been hard for a man so steeped in the ardours of a penitential life like John the Baptist to find himself proclaiming the coming of a Messiah who went to grand parties with Pharisees, allowed prostitutes to anoint his feet and was found in the company of notorious sinners.

It is interesting for us to speculate on these things. I tend towards the first explanation. I think that John understood that Jesus came to save sinners and therefore was not surprised to hear that he was found in their company. Years of prayer and fasting generally bears fruit in the shape of wisdom and insight. I think it is clear from what we know of John that he certainly possessed these qualities in full measure.

It is common for a prophet to be frustrated by the dullness of his pupils and followers. They are often so attracted by the person that they forget to hear the message.

John had spent a lifetime waiting for the Messiah; he knew in his soul that he was to come. He must have yearned for the moment he would meet him, and then one ordinary day Jesus comes through the crowds and asks for Baptism. John recognises him immediately and is thunderstruck: 'It is I who need Baptism from you.' Jesus turns the tables on him, just like he turns the tables on so many others. 'No, we must do what is fitting.'

We only realise with hindsight how fitting it was, that Jesus himself was Baptised. He entered into our lives so fully and shows us so clearly the way to go. We must be Baptised as he was Baptised, we must undergo a Passion just as he underwent a Passion, and we will rise to new life, the new life he won for us.

For now we wait. The Apostle James in today's reading tells us to wait: 'Wait patiently, brothers, for the Lord's coming.'

We praise God on this Gaudate Sunday. We thank him for all he has done for us. We rejoice that through the coming of his Son Jesus we have been saved. We do what we can to imitate his life, to follow his Gospel of love. We join together to celebrate the Eucharist, sharing the bread that is his body and the wine that is his blood. We take seriously his plea to the Father: 'May they be one, Father, even as you and I are one.'

We do all these things, yet mostly we wait. But this is not like waiting for a bus or for the postman to deliver a letter. We wait with hope in our hearts for the culmination of all things in Christ and the prayer that is on our lips is thy kingdom come!

In this Kingdom that we long for all that is wrong with the world will be put right, all that is broken in humanity will be healed. Each person will attain their fulfilment, there will be no oppression or injustice. If this is not hope for humanity then I don’t know what is.

We long for this Kingdom to come into it’s own, but this is no passive longing. We disciples of Christ do not sit around waiting for that bus to arrive. No, we work to bring it about. We do what we can now to alleviate injustice, to bring healing and reconciliation to our broken world.

There is a poem by RS Thomas entitled The Kingdom, which is one of the best descriptions I know of what kind of world the kingdom of God will be and therefore what kind of world it is that we are attempting to build.

It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king and the consumptive is
Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
At themselves and love looks at them
Back; and industry is for mending
The bent bones and the minds fractured
By life. It’s a long way off, but to get
There takes no time and admission
Is free, if you will purge yourself
Of desire, and present yourself with
Your need only and the simple offering
Of your faith, green as a leaf.