Third Sunday of Advent 2022

Matthew 11:1-9, Isaiah 35: 1-10, Canticle 15, The song of Mary

Rev. Neli Miranda

            The third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday”, which means “Sunday of joy”, and invite us to live the joy of anticipation at the approach of the Christmas celebration.

The lessons we read today call us to rejoice in the past, present and the future manifestation of God among the whole creation. In the first reading, Isaiah offers us a splendid vision of the coming of God among the suffering people of Israel who lived under the oppression of foreign rulers (Babylonians, Persians, and then Hellenes).  Isaiah announces the redemption of the people, that is, their freedom from political captivity and oppression, so they can envision themselves journeying back to Jerusalem.  Notice that God’s manifestation begins in the natural world; it is the land and plants that first awaken, respond, and announce God’s arrival; they rejoice and sing: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing” (35:1-2). Fertile lands, flowering plants, abundant harvest, and drinking water sources are signs of God’s manifestation in our midst. While human ambition produces extractivism, felling, pollution of water, and abuse of nature.

God’s visitation that begins in nature then reaches the despised and excluded by the system because of their disabilities; these are the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the dumb. Isaiah says, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy” (35,5-6). What a world Isaiah dreams of. . . a joyful world where nature rejoice and sing, and the weak and vulnerable are made whole under God’s reign!!

Some centuries later, Isaiah’s vision is fulfilled in Jesus’ mission. Today’s Gospel says that John the Baptist is in prison due to his powerful denouncement of injustice. There, in prison he hears news about Jesus’ proclamation and his deeds, and he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus does not answer “yes or no” but sends him signs of God’s manifestation. Jesus says to John’s disciples: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (11:4-5).

Today we also read Mary's song, the Magnificat, where Jesus’s mother rejoices in the visitation of God saying, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” The world she announces is a world that reverses the world ruled by the powerful who abuse and accumulate everything leaving nothing to the poor. She proclaims the God who has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted the lowly, the God who has filled the hungry with good things and has sent the rich away empty. Notice that she speaks of an order already present in the world, which has been inaugurated by Jesus, her son.  No doubt God’s manifestation turns the world upside down!

Dear sisters and brother, today we are invited to rejoice and recall the struggles and hope of God’s people who dreamed of a just, peaceful world and received God’s visitation. We are also invited to continue dreaming of a new world and calling for God’s visitation with.

The message of Advent speaks to us about a time when we can hear the joyful song of nature speaking to us of God’s glory. Advent also invites us to move forward to a world that offers justice to the excluded, where the hungry are filled, and the lowly are lifted. Are these our dreams of Advent?  What if today we bring joy into the wilderness proclaiming God’s visitation in Christmas?

            May the hope of God’s people, the dreams of the prophet Isaiah, the joy of Mary of Nazareth,  and the proclamation of Jesus be with us as we approach Christmas. Amen.