ADVENT III
This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. The season of Watchful Waiting.
Advent is the 4 Sundays before Christmas—except this year. Because Christmas falls on Monday this year, the 4th Sunday is Christmas Eve.
Let’s look at today’s readings.
Isaiah’s passage describes ‘the Lord’s anointed’ in astonishing fashion. Listen:
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteous, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.”
If we didn’t know those words were written in the 6th Century, B.C., we could imagine they were the words of Jesus.
But Jesus certainly knew those words and drew inspiration from them.
Today’s Psalm could also be heard as the arrival of the Messiah. Listen, again:
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,* then were we like people who dream.* Then was our mouth filled with laughter,* and our tongue with shouts of joy.* Then they said among the nations,* ‘The Lord has done great things for them.”
But then we get to the Gospel and John the Baptist when priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
The Jewish authorities are already suspicious of John since he is making such a name for himself. They question his right to be baptizing people in God’s name. Their distrust of him with ultimately lead to his death.
John tells them firmly that “I am not the Messiah!”
They ask him if he is Elijah or a prophet and he says ‘no’.
When they demand to know who he is and he says: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
(Those words are a quote from Isaiah!)
Then he tells them one who they do not know is coming after him and that he is unworthy to untie the thong of his sandal.
John, like us, is waiting and watching for Jesus—testifying to the light that was coming.
The folks who publish Forward Day by Day—always available at Trinity--have been sending me Advent words. There’s always a paragraph about the words, but I want to just share the words with you to given you something to ponder this week as we await Jesus.
“Watch”…”Awake”…”Glory”…”Herald”…Valley…Patience.
Listen and ponder. {repeat words}
Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.
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