Now it is time to awake out of sleep, for the night is far spent and the day is at hand. Lord we pray, guide our feet into the way of peace, that we may shine your light into the world. Amen.
Today is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete: Rejoice!
In the middle of Advent, this is a day when we take a break from the general penitential spirit of this season, and we rejoice in anticipation for the coming of the Lord. Today, the readings deal with rejoicing in the Lord and the mission of John the Baptist. This rejoicing, we’ve heard it in Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. This comes with the assurance that the Lord is near, and by following his way, his peace will guard our hearts and minds.
So what is the way of the Lord? Enter John, the man who came as a witness to the light, the light of life that shines in the darkness and that the darkness has not overcome.
I remember discussing with children about the prophets in general, and John the Baptist in particular. And they had questions, such as: Why does John suddenly appear in the wilderness? Where did he come from? And if he just appeared like this, how did he learn to speak English? I love that it is assumed that John spoke English. Because growing up, I thought he only spoke French. Now I know he spoke both languages! These questions are very valid, because if we focus only on John appearing and baptising in Bethany, we can easily forget where he came from and how important his parents were, and not just for Christianity. Luke tells us that John came from Judea. As we know, his mother was Elizabeth, and his father was a priest named Zechariah. But what is not so well known is that the name Zechariah means God remembered. And Zechariah appears not only in the Bible, but also in Qu’ran as Zakariyya. He is venerated both in Christianity and Islam.
Luke tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both very old and had never been able to conceive a child. But one day, when Zechariah went to the temple of the Lord to burn incense, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and gave him a promise from God: his wife would soon bear a son, he would have to be called John; he would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and many would rejoice because of his birth, for he would be great in the sight of the Lord.’ God was doing an amazing thing, rejoice! But Zechariah doubted God’s promise, and his voice was taken from him. When his duty was finished, he went home, and his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. ‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said. ‘He has taken away my disgrace among the people.’ Rejoice!
Elizabeth had a son, and all around her shared her joy. But when the time came to circumcise the child, everyone expected him to be named after his father Zechariah, or at least a family relative. Elizabeth was adamant. ‘No!’ she said, ‘He is to be called John.’ Zechariah asked to be given a tablet and wrote: ‘His name is John’. And God gave Zechariah’s voice back. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he prophesied and proclaimed one of the most beautiful canticles we have and that we now say every day at morning prayer, the Benedictus.
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, born of the house of David…
And Zechariah prophesies about his son:
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of all their sins.
The canticle ends with these words:
In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
A new dawn, a new covenant. Rejoice!
And before this new order of things can be celebrated, the old order of things must go, hence the strong words from John. There’s nothing like being called a ‘brood of vipers’! Really gives you a wake-up call, doesn’t it! The people of Israel had a wake-up call and flocked to the Jordan to be baptised by John and make good with God. The Pharisees and the Sadducees got a wake-up call and realised something immensely more important than them was coming to the world.
Zechariah had a wake-up call, it took him to be struck mute to understand the good news of God, but what a testimony of faith in the end. Paul had a wake-up call on the road to Damascus, and it took him to be struck blind to understand the good news of the Resurrection. We now have our wake-up call as we listen to John’s exhortation: ‘be a tree, he says, bear fruit of integrity by sharing, by caring for people in our charge, by acting with equity and justice. And be fruit, he tells us, be part of a fertile tree. Bind yourself to God.’
And so we bind ourselves to the One who does more than water the tree, the One who is the life of the tree itself, the One who is coming. But this exhortation from John, isn’t that what was claimed for us in our own baptism? That which unites the church in a call to integrity, self-reflection, mutual confession, and openness to the One who puts in us our Advent hope. Rejoice!
The song of Zechariah is a major one for Advent and its call is for us too. Like John, we are called to go before the Lord to prepare his way, to share our faith with the ones around us. Who will we invite to come to a Christmas service this year? When we think of all our friends and neighbours, what fantastic opportunities we have to welcome them to see our side of Christmas, the one where we celebrate the dawn from on high that breaks upon us to shine on the darkness of this world and fill our hearts with hope!
Let us pray.
Lord our heavenly Father, On this Gaudete Sunday, We rejoice at the good news of the coming of Your Son Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Give us joy and courage To share the good news with others And to be lights that will shine on those who dwell in darkness To fill their hearts with hope And, far from the tinsel and the noise, To bring them your peace which passes all understanding.
Amen
M L-R