Homily: Third Sunday in Advent
December 15, 2024
My dear brothers and sisters, we are celebrating the liturgy of the 3rd Sunday of Advent. This 3rd Sunday is usually called Gaudete Sunday which came from the Latin word Gaudete meaning rejoice. Every angle of the liturgy of today invites us to be joyful, to be happy, to put a little smile on our faces, the coming of Jesus is a joyful mystery and not a sorrowful event. This happiness is indeed needed for our overall spiritual, physical, internal and external wellbeing. Even though in advent we indulge in spiritual mortifications, penance to be ready for Jesus, Gaudete Sunday reminds us that the purpose of these spiritual preparations is for the most joyful event of the coming of our Savior. We started with lighting the third advent candle of joy, the color changed from purple to rose which signifies the joy that can be experienced as Christmas draws near.
All the readings of today reverberate this message of joy. In the first reading from the prophet Zephaniah, the prophet encourages his people, “sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord has taken away the judgments against you.” Zephaniah lived during one of the most difficult periods in the history of Israel, his people were so close to ruin. Corruption was rampant in Jerusalem, the king, the priest, the prophets, the judges were all corrupt, the people abandoned the faith. Even in this socio-political and religious climate, Zephaniah did not despair, he announced the victory of God’s love over sin, the radical transformation of the social, political and religious situation. He invited his people to be joyful for their God would come to save them.
Sometimes, when we see a lot of things that go on around us, we tend to find more reason to be sad than to rejoice, prophet Zephaniah has a message of hope for us all, be joyful, draw nearer to God, Jesus is coming to save us and wipe every tear. We see a similar message of joy in the second reading of today, St Paul writing to the Philippians even from his sufferings in prison and in chains calls on them and on us to rejoice always in the Lord because the Lord is near.
In the gospel reading, we see John the Baptist, this biblical charismatic figure has an abundance of message of joy for us. Every time in the gospels when the people came to tempt John to usurp the glory that belongs to Jesus because he too was a prophet and even an elder cousin to Jesus, the way he would detach himself and the humility and joy with which he would channel every glory to Jesus is always fascinating. In today’s gospel, because of his good works, people started pointing fingers to him as the Messiah, John happily responded: no!! “The one more powerful than me is coming, I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals, I baptize you with water, but He would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
In John 3:25-30, when the people complained to Him that Jesus has started baptizing and everyone was going to him, John responded, “the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice, for this reason my joy has been fulfilled, Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.” When the people asked him, what shall we do to be converted, John was like, share the joy of the Lord, those who have two coats, extend one to those who had none, tax collectors no bribe, soldiers no intimidation, no extortion by false accusation.
Brothers and sisters, learning from these biblical figures, why should we allow unnecessary bickering, worries of this life to take away the joy of God’s children from us. Anxiety accomplishes nothing. The train does not arrive a single minute earlier by our being anxious about its arrival. The anxious old farmer who set his alarm to ring at 6am and stayed awake all through to hear it ring, but by 6am he was already too weak and dozed off. He not only did not hear the alarm again, but he was even too weak to work later because of lack of night sleep. This is what extreme anxiety does to us. Let us chill out, cheer up, the joy of the Lord is our strength, Jesus is coming.
