Third Sunday of Advent by Edward Kelly, CSSP

Zep 3:14-18; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18

According to Scripture, Advent is definitely not a gloomy time. According to Scripture, Advent, and indeed the entire Christian life, is a joyful time. If there is any single theme that comes through in this whole liturgical celebration for today, it is certainly that of joy. Isn’t it strange that in the light of such clear scriptural exhortation to joy, we Christians have been so little a joyful people in our religion, and so much a people riddled with fear and guilt and anxiety, so much a people always trepidatious and afraid – afraid of the world, afraid of the flesh, afraid of the devil, afraid of a vindictive God just waiting to pounce on us for our every fault and failing. The prophet Zephaniah proclaims this joy so beautifully:

• Shout for joy, O daughter Zion!
  sing joyfully, O Israel!
  Be glad and exult with all your heart,

Why? Because:

• God has removed the judgment against you.

That is, everything in God’s judgment, now and in the final judgment – everything from God’s side is for us, not against us; everything is love and acceptance, not anger and condemnation. That is why the prophet says, God will rejoice over you with gladness,
God will sing joyfully because of you. And Paul tells us the same thing:

• Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! . . . [Dismiss] all anxiety. . . . Then God’s own peace will stand guard over your hearts and minds.

And notwithstanding the dire words of John the Baptist about burning in unquenchable fire – these are the judgmental words of John who, though he introduced Jesus, did not fully understand him – notwithstanding this, he preached the good news, and the good news of the entire gospel is that Jesus is a savior, not a judge; that is, he saves and frees, he does not condemn and confine to punishment. And this is certainly good news, and this good news is joyful news.

Why, then, this deep-down, all-abiding Christian joy? Simply, because of the kind of God we have, the kind of God Jesus revealed to us right from the very beginning at Christmas. He will be called Immanuel – that is, God with us, God for us, God on our side. This is the ultimate reason for our constant Christian joy – the kind of God we have. A God in whom we can believe and trust as being absolutely and entirely and only good – and we believe in this kind of God even in the midst of seemingly insuperable trials and suffering. A God who is kind and merciful and understanding and considerate and constantly loving and caring. This is the beautiful, wonderful kind of God who came to us at the first Christmas, and continues to come to us, and will come to us even at the very end. And it is because we know that it is this kind of God we have, we are at ease, at peace, and therefore able to be full of joy in all of life, without any gloom or fear or guilt or anxiety, notwithstanding even our faults and failures and weakness and blindness, notwithstanding even our sins.

This is the joy we should already be feeling and celebrating here today, in anticipation, “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ” – truly a God of real joy.