Anticipatory Joy over the One Due to Arrive Any Moment – Gaudete Sunday: Third Sunday of Advent - B

Out of four Sundays in Advent Season, we have come to the Third Sunday of Advent! We are to celebrate the adventus (arrival) of the incarnated Christ during the week of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. So, we are almost there on our Advent journey! Sensing the nearness of the goal sure brings anticipatory joy. So, that is why the Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday, Sunday to rejoice – though the incarnated Christ is still in his mother’s womb.

But, the Gospel Reading for this Sunday (John 1:6-8, 19-28) does not seem relevant to the theme of rejoicing, as it is about John the Baptist in inquisition by those who cannot rejoice the nearness of Christ in the human flesh to dwell among us. Are these people cross-examining John the Baptist not wanting to have Christ to dwell among us together? They know that Christ is coming as this has been prophesized way back in the time of the Old Testament. Yet, they investigate John the Baptist, who recognized the nearness of Christ’s coming and therefore began calling people to prepare themselves for his arrival. So, he encouraged them to confess their sins and repent and get baptized with water. It was the way that John the Baptist was fulfilling his prophesized role as the voice crying out in the wilderness.

So, those who heard John the Baptist lined up to be baptized because they want to have Christ. On the other hand, the kind of people who put John the Baptist inquisition were different. They did not come to John the Baptist to be baptized to prepare for the coming of Christ. Rather, they wanted to investigate what he was doing and what it was for. Their inquisition on John the Baptist rather slowed down the preparatory work for the arrival of the incarnated Christ.

Remember, Advent began with a Gospel message of waking up and remaining with vigilant hope because Christ, not Santa, is coming any time. It was what we reflected and learned on the First Sunday of Advent. Then, on the Second Sunday of Advent, from John the Baptist, we have learned that we need to start working diligently to prepare ourselves to be suitable place for Christ at his arrival. And the preparation entails to make our hearts pure by cleansing and securing our hearts. No filths of sins and no emotional ups and downs (mountains and valleys).

So, we have been awaken and remaining with vigilant hope, working diligently in this preparation for Christ’s arrival. Our preparatory work is in progress, nearing its completion to welcome the incarnated Christ, while he is near us now, itching to come out of his mother’s womb.

Remember, who recognized Christ still in his mother’s womb and rejoiced?

It was John the Baptist, while he himself was still in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:41), and his mother, Elizabeth (Luke 1:42-43)! And, the soul of Christ’s mother was magnified as she sung Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

This is how Third Sunday of Advent should be. But, what’s wrong with these people who had to cross-examine John the Baptist rather than getting their preparatory work done and rejoice with the rest of people?

The problem is that those people were in darkness. They were not awakened yet. They came to John the Baptist “sleep walking”. They represent people who were not awakened on the First Sunday of Advent. Thus, they have not even started their preparations to welcome Christ. That is why they did not come to John the Baptist to be baptized but question him.

They are the same kind of people that the incarnated Christ in Jesus later calls the blind (John 9:40-41).

So, we have to make sure that we are fully awakened and our eyes are wide open to recognize Christ even he is still hidden in his mother’s womb. If our eyes are truly open spiritually, they can sense what is invisible to regular human eyes. And, by now, we can see how close his arrival is. So, we can rejoice in anticipation.

Think of how an expectant mother feels when she moves from first trimester to second and to third in her pregnancy. She and her husband get themselves busy in getting baby bed and all the other stuff for the expecting baby. And they are in anticipatory joy. That’s how we celebrate Gaudete Sunday.

So the First Reading (Isaiah 61: 1-2a, 10-11) gives a good reason why the nearness of the birth of the incarnated Christ is so joyful. It is because the one, whose arrival we look forward to and prepare for, is anointed by God the Father, thus sent by Him to bring the Good News of new hope and to heal the brokenness in us. The one whose arrival that we have been awaken to and preparing for is coming to bring new life to us!

So, with the prospect of this, aren’t our souls magnified with joy?

This sentiment is sung in the refrain of the Responsorial Psalm (Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54): My soul rejoices in my God, excerpts from Mary’s joyful canticle of Magnificat.

The Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 5:1-24) encourages us to live as if everyday is Gaudete Sunday, because the incarnated Christ, who brings the joy of the Good News (evangelii gaudium) to restore and renew life, can make his theophany at any momen, though his appearance to our human eyes are still hidden in his mother’s womb.

So, as we have been fully awakened and our eyes are wide-open, with our preparatory work near completion, we now rejoice, continue to pray, and give thanks all the time so that we will not miss the moment of his adventus in rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks.