Gaudete Sunday - 3rd Sunday of Advent

Deep in the dungeon, disillusioned by the tragic turn of his life, John the Baptist ponders God’s strange providence. John is convinced that he received his message from God and he’s sure that he got it right: Prepare the Way of the Lord ... Prepare the way for the Messiah. But when the Messiah came, He did not act the way John had presumed and predicted. Was the message or the messenger wrong? John needs to know. He deserves to know.

---

Entrance Antiphon: Phil 4:4-5 — “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.”

First Reading: Is 35:1-6a, 10 — “God Himself will come to save us.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10 — “Lord, come and save us.”

Second Reading: Jas 5:7-10 — “Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Alleluia: Is 61:1 (Lk 4:18) — Alleluia, alleluia. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Mt 11:2-11 — “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?”

Communion Antiphon: Is 35:4 — “Say to the faint of heart: Be strong and do not fear. Behold, our God will come, and He will save us.”

---

In Nikos Kazantzakis’ intriguing book The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus and John are in the hollow of a rock arguing all night long about what to do with the world. The Baptist’s face is hard and decisive … from time to time his arms go up and down as though he were chopping wood. Maybe he is showing Jesus how to lay the axe to the root of the tree of evil.

By contrast, the face of Jesus is calm and hesitant … His eyes are full of compassion. He asks John: “Isn’t love enough?” John answers angrily: “No! The tree is rotten. God called me and gave me the axe, which I placed at the roots of the tree. I did my duty … now you do yours. Take the axe and strike!”

Jesus sighs: “If I were fire I would burn … if I were a woodcutter I would strike. But I am a heart – so I love.”

Perhaps we can understand the frustration of John the Baptist. We have often done our duty only to see it undone by our successor. We have often seen our carefully planned projects botched someone who has a different idea. Why can’t other people – and God – live up to our expectations? Along with John the Baptist, sometimes perhaps we anxiously ask: “Are we stuck with you or shall we wait for someone more like who and what we wanted?”

This story of John’s disillusionment is ours, too. It is the story of everyone who looks for a Lord who does not come or who comes in a way we didn’t expect. But disillusionment is not a bad thing. It is, literally, the loss of illusion about our God, the loss of illusion about the world, the loss of illusion about our self. And although often painful, it is never a bad thing to lose the lies that we have mistaken for the truth.

Disillusioned, we discover that God does not conform to our expectations ... ever. We glimpse our own relative place in the grand cosmic scene. We review our divine job description and are shocked that God has a different self-description.

Did God fail to come when I rubbed the lantern? Then maybe God is not a genie. Did God fail to punish my enemies? Then maybe God is not a cop. Does God not make everything run smoothly? Then maybe God is not a mechanic.

Over and over again, our disappointments draw each one of us deeper into the mystery of God’s being and God’s doing. When Dorothy brings the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West to the Wizard, his response is disappointing and doesn't meet expectations. Then we hear … “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” Every time God refuses to meet our expectations, another of our idols is exposed … another curtain is drawn so we can see the puppet we have propped up in God’s place. When in fact, maybe we should. Disillusioned, we realize our human error and we are graced with divine truth.

Blessed are those who do not let the minimal Messiah they want overshadow the majestic Messiah that the world needs. Blessed are they who name the things that God is doing instead of the things God is not doing. Blessed are they who are not afraid to change their plans, to adjust their hopes, to bend their will to God’s will. Blessed are they who trade their private illusions for God’s saving truth.