Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

We are now most of the way through Advent. We've come to Gaudete Sunday - Gaudete means "rejoice!" and we rejoice because we're now only a few short days away from the celebration of Christmas.

As we prepare ourselves to celebrate the coming of Jesus, our Gospel reading focuses on the man who announced his coming: John the Baptist.

John is a fascinating character. Like Jesus, his birth was announced to one of his parents (in John's case, his father Zechariah) by an angel. When he had grown up, John heard the word of God and began a ministry of preaching and baptism  - he called for people to, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

But even though John baptized Jesus and saw the beginning of his ministry, John never saw the fulfillment. He was arrested for criticizing the king and then executed.

In today's reading from Matthew, we find John in prison. His ministry is over, but, in his captivity, he hears about what his cousin Jesus has been up to. It seems that John is feeling a little bit of doubt: he had previously proclaimed that Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" and even that Jesus was the Son of God; but Jesus didn't do what John had expected. Now John finds himself locked away, waiting, without anything in which to hope; so he sends people to ask Jesus, "Are you the one I was waiting for? The one for whom I was sent to prepare the way? Are you the Messiah that God has promised?"

Jesus answers by referring to some of the prophecies of the Old Testament about the coming Messiah - especially what Isaiah wrote about in our first reading: when the Messiah comes the blind will see, the deaf will here, the lame will walk, and the mute will speak.

Jesus says to John: I am fulfilling what all the prophets promised, including you, John, the last of the prophets.

Jesus came and brought healing and wholeness - but not just in a physical way. He gives us forgiveness and new life, things only he can offer.

He reassures John that, even though he won't see that fulfillment, it's already begun. Before long John is executed, but his mission and ministry prepared the way for Jesus. In the darkness of his cell, John can have hope that God's work is being done and it will be completed.

We can sometimes find ourselves in the same sort of place as John: wondering if God's promises really come true, if he is really working in our lives. That's not something to be ashamed of - it's an opportunity to grow in our hope and trust.

Our yearly celebration of Advent is a reminder that we are still waiting: waiting for the fulfillment of everything that started when Jesus first came into the world. In the darkest time of the year, we wear somber, violet vestments; but then, as we get closer and closer to Christmas, things get lighter. Priests have the option of wearing rose on the third Sunday of Advent and we light the matching candle on our wreath to remind us of our hope.

God is not done: not with the world and not with us individually. He is still working, and so we are called to cooperate in that work. As James wrote in our second reading, "make your hearts firm because the coming of the Lord is a hand."

If we do anything during this Advent season, let it be to stir up in our hearts a love for Jesus and a desire for him to come into our lives. With his presence, we will always have hope; and a promise that the best is yet to come.