SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2023 | ADVENT - Third Sunday of Advent (B)

Third Sunday of Advent is among us - we are getting very close to Christmas, after all, we will be decorating the Sanctuary for the occasion after the service. If the holiday cheer is not outside, let’s at least make it inside!

In our gospel reading, we are getting a slightly different view at John the Baptist and his ministry of proclamation and baptism. It’s easy to see that the religious leaders are highly suspicious of him and his ministry as his popularity was growing and thus had a lot of questions for him. The first could be interpreted as “are you someone important? Are you someone we should be worried about” - Messiah, Elijah, prophet… And John is like, no, not really, just a guy fulfilling a prophecy from Isaiah, y’know, not a big deal!

The second question is - so then, why are you baptizing? And John is like: I only baptize with water, not a big deal…but the one that is coming after me, IS a big deal and he is one of you, but you do not know him yet, he is not on your radar yet!

It seems to me John is a bit downplaying his role, perhaps knowing that he shouldn’t trifle with the religious leaders, at least not yet! The movement has barely begun and there is still some road ahead of him.

There is some repetition from our last week’s text and I think that repetition is one of the fitting themes. If the Isaiah passage from last week was written in in roughly 6th century BCE, a lot of time had passed since the words John repeated were first written, more than 2600 years! And let’s be honest, we as people are forgetful and as societies and civilizations as well, especially in the pre-digital age.

It doesn’t take long for us to lose track of how long ago something happened or what it exactly was. A favorite passage of mine from Mircea Eliade, a scholar and explorer of the oral traditions and myth, is when he discovers that a seemingly supernatural event, involving a mermaid luring a man over a cliff, is not really ancient history, but happened only about 50 years ago in a local village and you can still find and talk to one of the actors of this event. It took only 50 years for something to become a mythological event “from a long time ago”!

But even in this digital age, repeating what matters is important - it is why we have a three year church calendar, federal and local holidays, and remembrances of both happy and tragic events.

This week, it marks 11 years since Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, when a 20-year-old man shot and killed 26 people (children and staff) in about 5 minutes, a deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in the U. S. A remembrance like that can be lost in all the suffering and problems of present day, but we repeat it, so that it doesn’t become just some embellished key point in a political speech. Sandy Hook Promise website says that each day 12 children die from gun violence in the U. S and since Columbine in 1999, more than 338 000 students in the U. S. have experienced gun violence at school. State legislation and hearts and minds are changing, especially thanks to groups like Moms Demand Action, March for Our Lives, Everytown for Gun Safety, and other, more local activist groups, but it seems painfully slow and inadequate in the face of the immense human toll each and every day. Meanwhile, the gun industry rakes in approximately 9 billion dollars each year. Which is a mere pittance in the face of the estimated economic cost of gun violence each year, which is $557 billion and represents the lifetime costs associated with gun violence, including three types of costs: immediate costs starting at the scene of a shooting, such as police investigations and medical treatment; subsequent costs, such as treatment, long-term physical and mental health care, earnings lost to disability or death, and criminal justice costs; and cost estimates of quality of life lost over a victim’s life span for pain and suffering of victims and their families.

Some things are simply worth remembering over and over again and the story of John the Baptist among them - a man making way for the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Deliverer of God’s Justice, the Saviour of Creation, the Messiah Jesus Christ, whose coming was more than 2600 years in the making…much, much more. Christ came into our broken world, to show us a different way than the way of the world, which is often violent and unjust. A way leading to God’s justice, love, and peace God intended for us ever since the beginning before things got…complicated, to put it mildly. As Paul calls on us, there is much to be rejoicing about!

Today is the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday that is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced when Jesus was born, and the joy that the faithful have reached the midpoint of Advent. We may not observe a penitent fast like Christians in the past, but the theme of joy remains.

In his 2014 Gaudete Sunday homily, Pope Francis said that Gaudete Sunday is known as the "Sunday of joy", and that instead of fretting about "all they still haven't" done to prepare for Christmas, people should "think of all the good things life has given you." It is an important reminder as the frenzy of buying “last minute” gifts/purchases sets in to the beat of Christmas music.

We ought to remember both things mournful like Sandy Hook, but also joyful like the half-point of Advent in anticipation of the celebration of Jesus’ birth, merciful and loving God coming into flesh. Jesus is risen all the time and we remind ourselves of it every Sunday, but we get to celebrate Jesus’ birth only once a year. Let us rejoice that it is only one week away! Or in the words of the Gaudete introit:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.

— Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85 (84):1

Amen.

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