3rd Sunday of Advent (December 11th)

3rd Sunday of Advent (December 11th)
Readings: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
Luke 1:46-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
There is joy for us as Advent goes its way, but it is not the “Ho-ho-ho” of unduly “merry gentlemen” that is on offer. The joy that God will bring us at the end of Advent comes from a sense of mission, “The Spirit of the Lord YHWH is upon me, for YHWH has anointed me to preach the gospel of joy to the lowly…to proclaim a year of God’s favour”. And the joy comes from recognising what it is that God is doing in our lives, “He has clothed me in garments of triumph, wrapped me in the robe of victory, like a bridegroom…and like a bride”. This is all God’s doing “to make justice and praise spring up, in the presence of all the nations”.

There is joy, too, in the canticle for next Sunday, which is a part of Mary’s Magnificat. The joy comes from her quiet certainty that God is what matters, and so “my spirit has exulted in God my Saviour”; it follows that “the humiliation of his slave-girl” is a matter of no importance, and yet God has “looked upon it”. Our God, whom we await during Advent, is more interested in the “hungry” than in the “affluent”, even though it may not always feel like that, and although the Church may not always behave as though it were true. For God, as the canticle twice makes clear, is a God of “mercy”.

The second reading is from almost the end of Paul’s first epistle, the earliest document of the entire New Testament. He has done all the business of the letter, and now he is telling the Thessalonians (and us) how to soldier on in this Advent world. The first command, and one that we must take seriously, is “rejoice all the time”. The second, and it will do no harm if we observe it in as we wait for God’s coming, is “pray without ceasing”. The third, and if only we could do more about it we should be altogether more sane, is “in everything be grateful”. And why? “Because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. This prompts Paul to mention the third person of the Trinity, “don’t quench the Spirit”, which he explains as, “Don’t despise prophecy”. He ends by reminding us once more of “the peace of God”, and then “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and offering the final reassurance to give us joy, “The One who calls you is faithful – he will do it”.

Joy as such is not mentioned in the gospel for next Sunday; instead, we hear the opening chapter of John’s Gospel pointing to Jesus. Notice how cleverly it achieves this aim, starting not with Jesus but with John the Baptist, and insisting that he was “sent from God…to bear witness about the light”, while at the same time roundly asserting, in case the Baptist’s disciples were disposed to contend the matter, that “he was not the light”. Then we move to a point, later in that first chapter of the gospel, where once again Jesus is beneath the surface of the text, as the religious authorities raise the question of who John is: “the Messiah?”, “Elijah?”, “the prophet?”. John’s answer, of course, is “none of the above”; he is one who points to Another, “the voice of one crying in the desert…”. The source of our joy, this Christmas, is that Other, “the one who is coming after me”, who does not baptise in water, and “of whom I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”

Next Sunday is known as “Gaudete” Sunday, because we are supposed to rejoice on that day, and relax the austerity of our Advent fast; but our real joy comes from recognising what it is that God is doing in our darkened world.