Homily For 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT HOMILY YEAR C

Zep 3:14-18 Phi 4:4-7 Lk 3:10-18

Ode to Joy

Waiting; Getting Ready to Shout with Joy; The Best Kind

of Rejoicing: in the Lord; Rejoice: God Is in Our Midst.

1st Reading – Zephaniah 3:14-18A

¹⁴ Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!

¹⁵ The LORD has removed the judgment against you he has turned away your enemies; the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear.

¹⁶ On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged!

¹⁷ The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you,

^18A as one sings at festivals.

Responsorial Psalm – Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.

R. (6) Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

² God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
³ With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

⁴ Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

⁵ Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
⁶ Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. Cry out with joy and gladness: for among you is the great and Holy One of Israel.

2nd Reading – Philippians 4:4-7

Brothers and sisters:
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

⁵ Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.

⁶ Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

⁷ Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia – Isaiah 61:1 (Cited In Luke 4:18)

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
¹ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Homily

Folklore tells a story of followers of a Guru who sough to learn from the Master the stages he had passed through in his quest for the divine. He said, “God first led me by the hand into the Land of Action, where I dwelt for several years. Then he returned and led me to the Land of Sorrows; there I lived until my heart was purged of every inordinate attachment. That’s when I found myself in the Land of Love, whose burning flames consumed whatever was left in me of self. This brought me to the Land of Silence, where the mysteries of life and death were ‘bared before my wondering eyes.”

“Was that the final stage of your quest?” they asked.

“No,” the Master said. “One day God said, ‘Today I shall take you to the innermost sanctuary, to the heart of God Himself.’ And I was led to the Land of Laughter.”

That story is somewhat like Dante’s Purgatory, whose only exit was passing through a wall of fire. Once the pain was burned away by love, the other side was Paradise, sheer joy.

‘Life is full of both sadness and joy. Both can be opportunities for growth, and joy can overcome sadness. An example is Beethoven, whose deafness gradually became so profound that he shared in the difficulties of many deaf people: He was unable to do such simple things as join in group conversations, he felt embarrassed and then isolated; eventually he felt it necessary to withdraw within himself. Conducting the first performance of his Ninth and last symphony, pathetically he had to be told to turn around to face the audience to acknowledge the waves of applause, because he couldn’t hear them. Yet in the midst of his deafness — a sadness unique for a musician — he composed his beautiful, lilting “Ode to Joy”.

Today has for many years been called, after its first words, “Rejoice Sunday”. Today’s liturgy is the Church’s ode to joy and, while shot through with sadness, as was last Sunday’s, it’s full of examples of the triumph of joy. Today’s Gospel is, as was last Sunday’s, part of the story of John the Baptist. At this outset of Jesus‘ ministry, John was proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. This led to the crowds asking, as we all must ask in facing Jesus, “What should we do?” (v. 10). The Baptist’s answer (v. 11), as with his answers to the succeeding questions, was an initial announcement of a new world. Beyond that, be tailored his answers to his questioners.

John’s answer to the crowds in general had to do/with charity: that they share their food and clothing. In our day, with half the population of the world going to bed hungry every night, and even starving, and the “haves” sharing clothing with the “have nots” in a major way mostly only at Christmas, his answer still applies.

There’s a relevant story about a salesman who dreamed that he had gone into the next life. There he found all former salesmen separated into two groups: the failures lodged in one place, the successes in another. He watched the failures — a thin, hungry—looking mob — while the waiters came in to serve dinner. A waiter went down one side of a table and up the other laying out great platters of delicious food, but — strangely enough — he was preceded by another waiter who affixed to each diner’s arm a long iron spoon. This spoon rendered the arm absolutely rigid, so that it couldn’t be bent at the elbow. As a result, the men couldn’t eat.

The new arrival then went to see the successes, whose dwelling place was that of a multitude of genial, well-fed, happy gentlemen. There he witnessed the same procedure he had seen in the other place. But here the long spoon rigidly fixed to the arm of each diner proved no impediment whatever. Each man dipped his spoon into the food and fed the man seated next to him! Returning to the first group, he asked one of the salesmen why they didn’t do the same thing, and got the reply, “I‘m starving, and I should feed that dirty crook next to me?”

The question from the tax collectors was the same: “What should ‘we do?” (v. 12). The system made fraud easy for them, and so John’s answer to them and to all politicians (v. 13) concerned social justice: They re to avoid dishonesty, greed, and ill- gotten riches. The third group asking the same question (v. 14) were the soldiers, or police agents — for the most part Jews who helped the extortions of the tax gatherers. John’s answer is for the strong and powerful of all time: Stop shakedowns, bullying, strong-arming, and blackmail.

Among the people, there was a mood of anticipation of the new age, and a wonderment (v. 15). They, in fact, had many reasons to think John himself the Messiah: his remarkable austerity, which struck the imagination; the suddenness of his appearance in the wilderness; and his mighty voice, which jolted them from their listlessness. And there had been no prophet for about 400 years! John, honest and direct as always, quickly denied that he was the Messiah (v. 16). His baptism was with water: It was preparatory, and only an external symbol of internal repentance. The Messiah to come was so far above him that John didn’t consider himself fit to loosen his sandal straps, a job performed only by servants. But the baptism Jesus would use would be in the Holy Spirit, and in fire f~ to John an image of a purifying force.

The last line of today’s Gospel (v. 18) reminds us that John the Baptist was preaching “the good news” — what we call the Gospel. Within another few verses, this ascetical man, this humble man, this man of courage will be arrested, to be removed from the stage of history. The one mightier than John (v. 16) was ready to appear, and the human race would focus upon him. The joy of his coming would triumph over the sadness of John’s loss.

Today’s first reading contains essentially the same message: optimism over pessimism, joy over sadness. The Book of Zephaniah was written in the age of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.), when Assyrian gods were being worshipped even in Jerusalem, which was polluted by the presence of pagan shrines everywhere, even in the Temple area. Although most of Zephaniah is gloomy, here he presented hope, to reside in the remnant of Jews that would remain faithful. The city and the people are to rejoice because the Lord is coming to renew them.

Twice he states that, despite the sad things that are happening, God is in their midst. That contributes to the mood of excitement, expectancy, and joy throughout this passage. God is in the midst of our sad events, too, and, like the people of that time, we must remove our arrogance and pride in order to receive Him.

Unfortunately, to be joyful is often seen as frivolous and to be gloomy is to be serious. Seriousness isn’t necessarily a virtue; it can be a lapse into taking oneself gravely, because that’s the easiest thing to do. It’s easy to be heavy, hard to be light. Public comedians often have ten writers, dramatists far fewer. If we see all that in perspective, then, as Zephaniah says, God will rejoice over us with gladness and renew us in His love. Let’s remember that as wesing the carols of Christmas.

The original opening words of this section of Zephaniah — “Shout for joy”—’ are the same as the word used in the opening of today’s reading from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Rejoice (v. 4). Joy is in the Jewish tradition: The Psalmist said that He who is throned in heaven laughs (Ps 2:4), and the Book of Proverbs ( 17:2) that a joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones. And joy is a word Paul uses a dozen times in his beautiful letter.

All of this despite the fact that Paul is writing from jail at Ephesus! Elsewhere he says that in that jail he contended with deprivation, maltreatment, and other barbarity at the hands of his guards. He writes with almost certain death awaiting him, to people who are new to the Christian way and are going to face dark days. What a wonderful lesson for us: to allow God to be God, to realize that He’s in charge, that even in the midst of trouble we need simply trust Him, and that perfect justice and peace will come only when Christ comes again in glory!

In this passage Paul mentions several reasons why he feels justified in calling for joy. One is the Philippians’ unselfish kindness (v. 5). The follower of Jesus should likewise have gracious gentleness, patience, and forbearance because, Paul says, the Lord is near. “Near” doesn’t mean being a short distance away, as in “outside the door” or “around the corner”, or a short time away. It means that he’s with us here and now, present in our midst, and closer to us than the person sitting next to us. He’s close by grace. That grace comes in many ways: through liturgy, through Christian community, through the special presence of his Spirit. So we rejoice!

Finally, says Paul (v. 6), our joy should override our sorrow because God answers prayers. Remember that as you tell God what you want for Christmas. In every form of prayer, we come to God, for one thing, for ourselves — for forgiveness for the past, for the things we need in the present, and for help and guidance for the future. We also come to God for others. We petition God full of thanksgiving, because there should be thanks in everything — in tears as well as laughter. The result? The experience of Christ’s unique peace that surpasses all understanding (v. 7) — and his joy.

These days, even though merchants and advertisers give the impression that joy is the equivalent of pleasure and can be bought, at their best the songs and sentiments of this season tell us that joy is found in relationships, especially with family and friends. We most often find joy in all the loving things we do for others in this or any other season: in the helpfulness we, extend to those in pain; in the thoughtfulness we give to the deprived, especially the hungry, the home-less, and the elderly; in the understanding we give to those who are bereaved; and in our overall efforts to make our lives together more loving. “Grief can take care of itself,” Mark Twain once noted, “but to get the full value of a joy, you have to have someone to divide it with.” Another (Rousseau) has said: “When a person dies, he clutches in his hand only that which he has given away in his lifetime.”

Joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit that is one of the marks of being a faithful Christian. If we truly believe that the Good News is good news, we must be a people of joy! In the words of Hilaire Belloc, many people think they’re being religious, whereas they’re really only being uncomfortable.

But our expectations and efforts often disappoint. And so the advice of today’s readings is a tremendous help: Zephaniah tells us to keep God as our light, Paul tells us to be of a generous spirit, and John the Baptist — despite his austerity — is a model of joy in spreading the Good News. As important for us as trying to bring more good into the world is our duty to recognize and be joyous over the good that’s here. For that, we .give glory and thanks to our God. The same joy of Zephaniah, Paul, and John the Baptist that Was too intense to keep to themselves is here today. It waits to be shared. To have it, recognize it, and share it is our “Ode to Joy”.