Gaudete Sunday, 2017

All Joy wills (and seeks) eternity.

And joyfully the Spirit filled cosmos yearns and watches; silent, but alert, from deepest time and

space for the glorious new dawn (a new heaven and a new earth). Now is the Advent for all of

creation. 

We, as Spirit filled, People of God, share in the grand mystery of Advent. And this Sunday (Gaudete

Sunday) we especially rejoice in sharing creation’s joy. In joy we look back to the Incarnation, when

the Lord came to dwell among us, and we look forward to the Parousia, (the second coming) when

the Lord will come again.

 Advent is like the dawn when we see dimly and imperfectly what the morning will bring.

And Isaiah tells us what this new morning will bring; glad tidings to the poor, healing to the broken-

hearted, freedom to the captive and a time of favor for all people of good will.

And so we wait in the dawn light, for the coming new day and we wait doing as St Paul suggests - Rejoice always (because we know the morning is upon us), live in gratitude (because we know what the morning bring) and pray unceasingly (because the morning deserves our praise and thanksgiving).

We cannot begin the story of Jesus, at least through the eyes of John, who’s Gospel we just heard, without referring to his prologue

“In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was life and the life was the light of the World (the Greek word used is cosmos). This light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

 John’s Gospel is very much about Advent; it is all mystery and anticipation. It is about the coming light and the stubborn darkness. It is about the coming of the truth and the refusal to accept it. It is about witnessing to he who is coming in the midst of those who deny him.

“There” the today’s Gospel passage simply begins. (The Word “there” acting like the Word “and”, linking the prologue with the narrative) linking the eternal Word of God to the emerging story of Jesus. There was a man who was sent by God.

This man, who is only a man, is sent by God to witnesses to whom he is not. He points to another, (who is the life and the light of the world). He points to someone greater than he. He points to another who is not only sent by God, but who is God.

The man, baptized with water (as a sign of repentance of sin and transformation of heart). But, the one who is to come after him, will do greater things, he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Not as a sign of repentance, but as an act of forgiveness.

The man who came to witness, was named John and he was called the Baptist.

He was a hard, austere man of the wilderness, and he cries out against the harshness and inequities of the howling wasteland of power, privilege and idolatry, as the prophets had done before him.

Let mountains (of pride and arrogance) be leveled. Valleys (of brokenness and weakness) be filled up. Let crooked pathways (of meanness and uncaring) be made straight and the narrow causeways, (of injustice and inequality) be made broad rivers of peace and prosperity running through the land.

John was the last prophet and he never claimed to be anything else. Scripture says he did not deny, but confessed that “I am not the anointed.”

In Jerusalem, power sat uneasy. The Levites and Pharisees were worried about this new voice crying out for justice and repentance, so they went to the Jordan to question the Baptist “Are you Elijah or the Prophet?” They asked.

“I am not” John answers.

 “Then who are you”

“I am a voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the path of the Lord”.

Those who question John, knew the Law, but they did not know the light. They continued to press

John on who he was, when they should have been asking about who was to come. Who are you

making the way straight for? They should have asked.

They try a new angle “Why do you baptize, if you are not the Anointed or Elijah or the Prophet?”

Yes, I baptize, but only with water as a sign of repentance, nothing more.

“But”, John adds, among you there stands one whom you do not know. And this one, who is coming after me and who I am witnessing to, is greater then I.

John is pointing to Jesus, (robed in saving love and merciful justice).

John confesses (just in case they didn’t get it)  I am not worthy to be his servant. Not even to untie his sandals.

As the dawn gives way to morning, John the Baptist (who is not the light) gives way to Jesus the Christ (who, indeed is the light of the world).

This third Sunday of Advent, the Church continues, as she always does, to point to Jesus.

She also points at the continual inequalities and injustices “make straight the path of the Lord” she cries.

But for now, at this season, the joyful Spirit points back to Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus, and

the Spirit points forward to the Son of Man, who will come again, in glory to judge the living and the

dead.

 And with the Spirit we wait in Faith and Hope; we wait joyful and patient, mindful and alert. We wait in kindness and humility. And we, like John, do not point to ourselves but to Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

 So let us end where we began, enveloped in the silent night of creation.

The stars shine bright. Shepherds sit easily with their flock.

All creation is waiting for what is to come. And in the depth of this night a voice breaks the silence. An angelic messenger proclaims “I bring to you tidings of great joy, which will be for all people. Today a Savior is born.”

“In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In him was

life and the life was the light of the World”

Come, Lord Jesus. Come!