I'm pretending this isn't over a week late... or pretending that some deeper significance about waiting can be drawn out of a very belated reflection...
The readings for the Third Sunday of Advent can be found here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121111.cfm. This third Sunday is called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word meaning "rejoice." In the midst of this penitential season of Advent we take this day to rejoice that our hope is near - it is almost Christmas, but also as we await the second coming of our Lord we rejoice that He is ever present with us in the Eucharist.
The first reading for this Sunday is another thrilling reading from Isaiah. It is also one of the easiest Old Testament prophecies for which to pinpoint a fulfillment in the New Testament: in Luke 4:16-30 Jesus reads this passage from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth and tells us point blank, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21 RSV). This passage proclaims a Jubilee year - the time legislated in Leviticus 25 to be celebrated ever fiftieth year to remind the Israelites of the freedom granted them in the Exodus and to prevent them from being reduced to the kind of slavery they experienced in Egypt. The failure to observe the Jubilee year was one of the reasons the kingdom of Judah suffered the Exile (cf. Jer 34:8-22), and so this prophecy from Isaiah about the coming messiah (anointed one) who would proclaim the Jubilee year (year of the Lord's favor) offered much-needed hope. Jesus initiates the ultimate Jubilee, freeing us from the bondage of sin and death.
In the second reading St. Paul talks gives the Thessalonians - and us - some much-needed advice for waiting. The Thessalonians excelled in the virtues of faith and love (cf. 2 Thess 1:4), but they needed some counseling in the area of hope. In this passage St. Paul tells them how they are to conduct themselves in waiting and hoping for the return of Christ. As we rejoice in the presence of Christ with us, prepare to celebrate his birth, and continue to wait and hope for his second coming, this counsel guides our behavior as well. We are living in the messianic jubilee, but that is an exhortation to vigilance rather than a free pass to do what we will. We too must continue to pray, give thanks, discern the good, and avoid evil. All of this is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
The gospel sounds like an echo of the previous week's gospel as we hear John's account of the ministry of John the Baptist. This passage gives a beautiful picture of the Baptist's humility as he is questioned concerning his identity but shifts the focus from himself to "the one who is coming after me" (John 1:27). However, one of his answers can be a little confusing. The priests and Levites ask John if he is Elijah because the last prophecy they received was a promise from the Lord that he would send Elijah before the coming of the messiah (Malachi 4:5). So when John the Baptist appears at the Jordan River - the last place where Elijah was seen before being taken up to heaven - dressed in the same type of clothing as Elijah, eating the same type of food as Elijah, proclaiming the same type of message of repentance as Elijah - the Jews have good reason for thinking that Malachi's prophecy may be fulfilled, and the arrival of the messiah may be imminent. Jesus himself says that John was Elijah (Matt 11:14, 17:12-13). Why then does John deny that he is Elijah when he is asked? A clue may be found in Luke's gospel. The archangel Gabriel tells Zechariah that his son John will "go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). Clearly John is being associated with Elijah in fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy, but he is also clearly not Elijah in a literal sense. John may be responding to an assumption of his questioners that Elijah himself will literally return, therefore he answers that he is not Elijah.
This third Sunday of Advent is also an opportunity to remember an important liturgical fact: real men wear rose :)
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