(Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent Yr. C)
Today’s readings center on joy, even the
Entrance antiphon started with the universal invitation to rejoice. Little
wonder, this third Sunday of Advent is known as the Sunday of joy (Gaudete Sunday). Rejoice is in the
imperative, which means that the joy we are invited is not dependent on human
conditions, the basis is a Person: Jesus. The
joy that we are invited to have is not a subjective joy, that is sentimental
and only manifested in form of excitement, rather it is an objective joy that is founded on realities that are
joyous in themselves. We are exalted to rejoice today as a community of
believers. It is God’s will that the
story of man inundated with suffering and lamentations after the experience of sin
be accompanied with the Good News of Joy. It is indeed, wonderful, for a
people “living in darkness and in the shadow of death” to receive the promise
and message of light and joy. Advent is
not by any means a gloomy season, even though it has a penitential dimension,
hinged on John the Baptist’s message of repentance. Advent is loaded with a
crescendo of Joy and incessant invitation to rejoice, orchestrated by the
Advent wreath, which starts with one lighted candle and ends with four candles.
Right
from the beginning of the Incarnation event, joy has been the password with
which to savor the density of this love story between God and humanity. At
the event of the Annunciation, the angel said to Mary: “Rejoice, you who enjoy
God’s favour” (Lk. 1:28), even John
the Baptist exults of joy in the womb of Elizabeth, when Mary visited
Elizabeth, already carrying Jesus in the womb, “Look, at the moment your
greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy” (Lk. 1:44), and the angels announced to
the Shepherds the birth of the Son of man as a message of great joy, “Look, I
bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people” (Lk. 2:10). But today when we take a
look at all the happenings in our society, ranging from human suffering,
marginalization, violence, the presages of war, deprivation of freedom, hunger,
forced immigration to the deadly pandemic ravaging the whole world. Indeed, in this existential context, the invitation
to rejoice appears to be a strange one, because apparently there is no
motive to be happy, there are many things that do not happen as we desire or
imagine, we are sad and despondent. But today’s invitation is a special one. It
is not a superficial joy, but an interior, spiritual and profound joy,
motivated by hope and faith in the Messiah, who comes to transform us and
change our ugly human situations.
The first reading (Zeph. 3: 14-18) comes from the Prophecy of Zephaniah. As a matter
of fact, in the whole of the three-year Sunday circle, this is the only
occasion when a passage from the prophecy of Zephaniah is read. Be that as it
may, we cannot but spend few words on this minor prophet. The prophetic
activity of Zephaniah coincided with the beginning of Josiah’s reign around c.
640-630. There is a high probability that he was in Jerusalem and his
prophecies revolve majorly on predictions of judgment. Indeed, it does appear
that the passage we read today is from the only positive part. It is made up of
an invitation psalm, addressed to Zion, inviting her to rejoice for her
salvation is near. At the heart of this
passage is the message of excited expectation for God’s intervention in human
history and that situates it well into the context of Advent.
Zephaniah reminded the elected people
their mission and tried to instill in them hope and courage: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, o
Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem” (v.14). And this joy is based on the conviction inherent in the prophecy of
Zephaniah that the Lord is near. “The king of Israel is in your midst, you
shall fear evil no more” (v.15).
So, the foundation of this joy is God’s
presence in the midst of his people. He is in the midst of His people as an
assurance of hope. For this, the prophet insisted “do not fear, o Zion; let not your hands grow weak” (v.16).
Once again, another reason for joy is according to what the prophet said
that God loves you, and because He loves you, he chose you, and he wants to
raise you up from your humiliation, he wants to renew and save you. For He
says: “He will renew you in his love”
(v.17). Likewise for each and every one of us, our profound motive for joy
should be the conviction that God loves us. His love transforms and renews.
Renew us O lord by, with and in your
Love!
In the responsorial psalm Prophet Isaiah (12) unites his voice to that of
Zephaniah: “With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation…Sing and shout for joy, O inhabitants of Zion”.
The water that the Prophet is inviting
the people to draw from God is water of joy and hope, that which quenches the
thirst of the heart and not just the thirst of the throat. Today we depart
from the usual practice of using the Psalms for the responsorial psalm; instead
we have the first song of Isaiah. The song gives thanks for the divine
salvation which was promised in the Old Testament and is now at the verge of
fulfillment with the coming of the Messiah. This makes it fitting for the
Advent season.
In the second reading (Phil. 4:4-7) St Paul followed suit on the theme of Joy, and extended the invitation to rejoice to the
Christian community. The great
commandment that was directed to the daughter of Zion is now directed to us:
“Brethren:
rejoice”. It is necessary and also interesting to know that when Paul
was writing this letter he was in prison, therefore, he was not lacking
hardship, afflictions and trials. However, he continues to invite all to
rejoice. St. Paul further said: “Have no
anxiety for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (v.6). St. Paul invites the Philippians to rejoice not because they
are immune to trials and hardship. We
are to rejoice even in the midst of trials, because the presence and the
closeness of God transform the trials to sources for and of joy and hope.
This passage can be considered a little catechism
of Christian joy, it begins with the invitation to “Rejoice”, and this joy is not to be mistaken for
bubby joy or superficial excitement. In fact, going back to the words of
the Apostle, he gives us an indication
of how to rejoice. For we may ask, rejoice,
how? He precisely says “in the Lord”. The
basis of our joy is the Lord, the Veniente,
not on exterior or material things. And again, rejoice, why? What is the reason of and for this joy? The reason is
because “the Lord is near”, as St. Paul opined. With the birth of Jesus, God
became very close to us in an unimaginable and unprecedented manner. He became
one of us, our companion on our existential journey yet he transcends us. He
does not abandon us, remember the episode of the disciples of Emmaus (cf. Lk. 24:13-32). Here, comes the
third question, rejoice, when? St.
Paul tells us “always”, not once in a while, not only when things are rosy, but
he says always, for the Lord loves us always, “You took us and the Lord as your
model, welcoming the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit in spite of great
hardship” (1Th. 1:6). Joy has to be
a state of mind of a Christian constantly and permanently, because Jesus wants
us to have “fullness of his joy” (Jn.
17:13), and “your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall
take from you” (Jn. 16:22). Jesus
tells us “ask and you shall receive, so that your joy will be complete” (Jn. 16:24). It is prayer that helps us to find light in the moments of obscurity,
serenity when the tempests of life roar. Prayer is the fount of joy, of
serenity and of peace.
In the Gospel passage (Lk. 3:10-18) we see the episode of John the Baptist’s preaching. The
first part of this passage according to some exegetes is the Baptist’s
preaching to various people, but to the crowd in general, the tax collectors,
and the soldiers. The second part is Baptist’s messianic preaching. He disclaims out rightly that he is the
Messiah. He pointed out to the coming of another, stronger than him, “He who is
mightier than I”. Different from the Baptist who administers baptism with
water, the Mighty One will baptize with Spirit and fire. Here, the self-effacing attitude of John the
Baptist gleams through, he points to the Other. This self-effacing attitude of John should be exemplary for today’s
preachers and prophets, they should learn to point men and women away from
themselves to Christ. On the other hand, we cannot say with certainty that John had Jesus in mind when he was
speaking of the Strong One. Most probably his conception of the Messiah was
more judgmental than salvific, little wonder while in prison John sent envoys
to ask Jesus, whether he is the one or they are to expect another (cf. Lk. 7:19).
In the passage of today’s Gospel, St. Luke
indicates something more concrete and more exigent in our preparation for the
Lord’s coming. After hearing and
listening to the preaching of John on repentance, different sets of people were
propelled to ask questions on what they should do. To those who were asking
John the Baptist: “What shall we do?”
(v.10) to repent, to change their
ways, he responded in a clear and distinct manner: ●To the multitude He said: “He who has two coats, let him share with him
who has none; and he who has food let him do likewise”. ●To the tax
collectors: “Collect no more than is
appointed you”. ●To Soldiers: “Rob no
one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages”. May we too cue in and ask: what shall we
do? What shall I do? God’s word always calls man to action, it is provocative.
In
all, there is no true joy without Christ, and one cannot welcome Christ if he
remains a slave to his egoistic tendencies, individualism and insensitive to
the needs of others. More than anything
else, the period of Advent propels us to put in practice the demands of the Gospel,
and to give witness of sharing, solidarity and moderation. Today, the word
of God propels us to make resolutions for a better Christian life. We are
called to rejoice, not egoistically, but together. The enemy of joy is not suffering, but egoism. We are not just
called to rejoice, but our joy must be fruitful (as seen in the gospel). As we continue to wait for His Coming may the joy of
the Lord be our strength (cf. Neh. 8:10).
Lord
Jesus, may your joy always radiate in us and may nothing on earth rob us of the
joy that comes from you, Our Mighty Saviour! Amen!!
(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)
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