Year B Advent III Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 John 1:6-8, 19-28

The angel Gabriel from heaven came, with wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame. "All hail," said he, "O lowly maiden Mary, Most highly favored lady." Gloria!

(The lyrics above are from a hymn based on Angelus Ad Virginem (Angel to the Virgin), a 13th or 14th century Latin carol, and in turn the words derive from Luke 1:26-28.)

It is Gaudete Sunday – also known as “Rose Sunday” - the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday on which we light the rose coloured candle on our Advent wreath. The day takes its common name from the Latin word Gaudete, which means "Rejoice". How strange in this solemn season to have a Sunday which stresses rejoicing – and why is the colour rose and not purple? Indeed, if we had a rose coloured altar hanging we would use it on this Sunday. In denominations that wear vestments in liturgical colours – rose is to be worn.

Today’s Bible lessons have been changed from what they once were – from lessons that reminded us of one special person, Mary the Mother of Jesus. The Gospel that once was read today, and is reflected in the hymn at the top, will be read next Sunday – but the rose colour, signifying the remembrance and celebration of Mary remains on this, the third Sunday of Advent. And Mary is a person who not only reminds us to be joyful, but to be always filled with hope, and trust, and love.

John was just such a person. Rough, unkempt, unwashed, but still the baby that leapt for joy in his mother’s womb when the pregnant Mary came to visit. John is the child of hope, the hope of Elizabeth, his mother, and Zechariah, his father. As an adult John wanders in the wilderness baptizing and spreading the Good News of the One to come, he is filled with hope and joy and trust.

He is also, as far as the Pharisees and others in authority are concerned - a nuisance.

Last week in the Gospel the Baptist called on us to repent of our sins. This week, the tables are turned on him. The Levites want information.

“Who are you?” John is asked.

“I am not the Messiah,” he says.

Are you Elijah? “I am not.”

The prophet? “No.”

Relinquishment of these identity markers is his first act of truth-telling. John knows that he must name the roles to which he is not called before he can affirm that to which he is. And so must we.

How many times during this long pandemic have we wished we had the power to simply heal all those who are affected? How many times in our lives have we wished we could perform the miracle that we know Jesus would perform if He were here, for help, for support, for healing and grace? We have deep-seated, proud desires to be the Messiah we know we are not.

And how often in our lives when we receive credit for something do we bask proudly in the praise heaped upon us – knowing that we owe everything to the One who guided and helped us through whatever we have accomplished? Once again, our deep rooted pride makes us want to take the credit, even when we know it belongs not to us, but to others and to Jesus.

How full we are with obstacles to Jesus Presence and to the grace that flows from God to us through our baptism.

John knows his role. Isaiah has foretold it:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news …

Having defined for the Levites who he is not, they ask him:

“Let us have an answer for those who sent us. [The Pharisees sent them.] What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

He is a voice, an invisible resonance piercing the air. Nothing more and nothing less than this. A person empty of self, a mere voice speaking God’s Truth to the world.

And this is exactly what God wants and needs him to be.

What about us? What does God want and need us to be? The answer is – complicated. We can say that little is required, by which we mean we need to have little to fill us – just space for Him. And that, we might say, is much. Or as T.S. Elliot put it in “Little Gidding” – what is required is: “A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything).”

How very perplexing – where do we start, how do we begin? We can start by answering the Levites.

“Who are you?” And, like John the Baptist, we answer that we are not the Messiah – but how many times have we wished otherwise? And how many times have we berated our Lord because we are not Him and cannot do what we wish Him to do for us?

“What then? Are you Elijah? And we answer, as did John the Baptist, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” No, of course not! And we think, what foolish questions these are to ask us! But are they? And then we are asked:

Who are you? …. What do you say about yourself?

We have plenty of answers. We are parents, grandparents, teachers, preachers, workers, helpers, an endless list of jobs we perform, but if they are how we define ourselves, if they are our identity markers, we have not understood our calling.

We Jesus’ followers, the ones called to be at God’s disposal, empty of worldly clutter, and filled with hope and joy and trust (faith). Most of all, we are called to be the conduit through which the Love of God flows to others, to the whole world.

But, what is love? And Paul tells us, Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Such a long list, but what it tells us is that a person who loves is a person empty of self – available to be used by God. This is exactly what God wants and needs us to be. Yes – we have worldly roles to fulfill, responsibilities to keep, but they are not our primary calling. There is a deeper calling to which we, or our sponsors for us, agreed at our Baptism.

Rejoice, Paul tells us on this joyful Gaudete Sunday, always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

Pray without ceasing? Keep always in mind Jesus Presence with you, offer every act to Him. Jesus is always at our side, in every task we perform, every work we accomplish, every chore we do. He is there even when, in a worldly sense, we fail. If we have Him in mind, if we have offered our work to Him, we have not failed in His eyes. We are called, not to please the world, not to succeed in worldly terms, but to live in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.

And always we are meant to be with filled with joy in this work of surrender, of faith (trust), of hope, of love. Joy always comes when we let Jesus use us to do His work and His will!

And, again from Paul: May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do this.

Let us pray:

O Fire Divine, go through our hearts. O Light eternal, illuminate our souls. Help us to discover You in our love, through the Spirit of Christ who abides in us. Amen.