December 16, 2023 – Third Sunday of Advent

Last week, I talked about the theme of preparing for God’s peace. Within the church in general, the theme of the third candle we light in Advent is generally considered to be Joy, symbolized in the rose candle and vestments in the church today.

Joy is a difficult thing to define. It is distinct from happiness. Happiness is temporary and depends on things outside of our being – for example, achieving a goal towards which we’ve been working or experiencing something positive. Joy is much deeper, with feelings that last longer and come from within. We often relate joy with being at self peace or feeling a spiritual connection. It is much more intentional in nature and is intrinsically oriented, not relying on things outside of us.

​If you subscribe to our e-newsletter, you may have read these words attributed to David Steindl-Rast, who is an Austrian-American Catholic Benedictine monk and author, committed to interfaith dialogue. He has extensively explored the interaction between spirituality and science. He said, “It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy. If you think it’s happiness that makes you grateful, think again. It’s gratefulness that makes you happy.” I think he’s talking about joy, not happiness here.

On this third Sunday of Advent, we once again hear first from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah writes, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God” (61:10). Do you know the kind of rejoicing that Isaiah is talking about? It is that which rocks our inner being. A few nights ago, I was watching a video on instagram, and it caused me to just start laughing. And I couldn’t stop for minutes. By the time I was done laughing, I was out of breath and crying. That is the kind of joy that we are called to live in to cause our whole beings to exult in God!

Today’s responsive Psalm is replaced by Canticle 15, often called the Magnificat or the Song of Mary. Luke tells us that Mary’s “soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” and her “spirit rejoices in God” (Lk 1:46). What causes this outpouring of joy? It is simply that God has looked with favor upon her. Think about the ways that our lives would be enhanced and made more joyful, ways in which we would live differently if we simply lived with gratitude for the impact that God makes in our lives on a daily basis!

In his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul tells the followers of Jesus to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, [and] give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Th 5:16). There’s that joy again, and it’s followed by giving thanks. The church in Philippi would have heard the same message from Paul when he wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Ph 4:4). Gratitude allows us to be present to what is, aware and open to important gifts that we’ve received. We are able to rejoice in what we’ve received even when we’re faced with hard challenges. With joy, we can wait for the improvement we are promised.

When we get to the Gospel reading today, we’re startled a bit. We’ve been hearing from Mark in this year of our cycle, and we heard last week of Mark understanding of John the baptizer. Today we hear the author of the Gospel of John upsetting the traditional telling of the Jesus story. There is no birth… very different from the birth of Jesus we’d hear in a pageant! What we have today is the Advent pageant – not of John the Baptist (Matthew), not of John the baptizer (Mark), not of John the son of Zechariah (Luke)… but just plain John. He tells us who he is not. So what joy is there in this?

The words of John in today’s Gospel reading are intended not only for his original audience but also for us: “Among you stands one whom you do not know” (Jn 1:26). We live in joy because God’s coming is not merely a future event we hope for or expectantly await. The Holy One is already among us. 

Christ is among us, but we may fail to recognize him at times. Can we open the eyes of our hearts and find joy in the one who is present with us even now as a companion on our life’s journey? As we allow ourselves to be transformed by that awareness and as we find joy in the divine presence with us now, we can also take up our share in proclaiming good news to others.

Today, we see no shepherds. We hear no heavenly hosts singing in the fields. There is no young family on a holy trek to Bethlehem. There are no villainous innkeepers, no magi, no manger, and no donkeys or cows. There is little in the text to remind us of the joy that is to come. Rather, we are reminded that the first witness to Jesus arrived on the earth before Jesus did. He didn’t arrive to get everything decorated and get everyone ready for Christmas. He came to “prepare the way of the Lord” (Is 40:3). He came to bear witness to the coming Light of God. He came so that we might be encouraged to wait with joy and hope for the peace that would surpass all understanding.