“Gaudete“! Rejoice! The third Sunday of Advent is named ‘Gaudete’ which means rejoice. After two weeks of preparation to the celebrations of the birth of Jesus in contemplation and prayer we rejoice because the feast of the nativity of Christ is near. We rejoice in the Lord always because the message of Jesus brings happiness, joy and blessing.
In the gospel of the third Sunday of Advent we read about the personal particularities of John the Baptist and about the deeds of Jesus. John the Baptist as precursor Jesus and Jesus as Messiah are important personalities of revelation history. John the Baptist is considered as the last prophet of the Old Testament and as crossing from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises of God, the beginning of the New Testament, the new covenant and the new law.
Jesus and John the Baptist were relatives and contemporary. The parents of John and the mother of Jesus, the holy Mary, knew each other rather well. The evangelist reports about the visit of Mary to Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. There is similarity, surprise and extra ordinary joy in the birth of John and of Jesus.
The ministry of Jesus and the ministry of John had also similarity. Both of them began to preach during the same period. Both had desciples. Both proclaimed the good news of the Lord, both of them had similar lifestyle. Both John the Baptist and Jesus wanted to lead people to God, deepen the people in their humanity, acknowledge the people and experience them as children of God.
Jesus received baptism from John and John recognised Jesus as the one who is mightier than himself. John the Baptist experienced every particularity ragarding the baptism of Jesus and the revelation in relation to it. Besides, John the Baptist sends his desciples to Jesus as John was in jail and asked whether Jesus is the promised Messiah. John the Baptist wanted to hear from Jesus himself wether the expectations of the people of Israel are fulfilled in Jesus.
John the Baptist had confronted the same question from the people of Israel. As John preached and baptised, people doubted whether John the Baptist would be the Messiah. But John the Baptist knew his role and mission and said to the people that he is not the Messiah, but he is the one who baptised with water and who prepares the way for the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit.
One could understand this question of John the Baptist as an indirect request to his desciples to follow Jesus. Through this question of John the Baptist the evangelist aims at the recognition of Jesus as Messiah, the one who has to come, by the desciples of John the Baptist. Through this question John the Baptist affirms for his desciples and others that in Jesus the hope of the humanity is fulfilled. The humanity had expected a redeemer, a saviour and a Messiah who would bring joy, hope and freedom and save them from misery. He will provide comfort and redemption from all the difficult life-situations.
Jesus does not give a direct answer to the question of John the Baptist. Jesus tells them to report what is happening. From the events that happens through Jesus and experience with Jesus, hearing his words and seeing his deeds, one could imagine, who Jesus could be. On the part of Jesus, he affirms the importance of John the Baptist designating him as the greatest man on earth ever born.
From the meeting of Jesus and the desciples of John the Baptist and from the words of Jesus the Messiahship of Jesus is evident. The same could be affirmed through our personal experience with him.
On Christmas we expect the fulfilment of this hope in Jesus Christ our Lord and celebrate this experience. Every year we experience on Christmas a new and renewed fulfilment of the promises of the Lord in the arrival of Jesus. In the annunciation through the angel we experience this joy every year very close.
On advent we expect the coming of the Lord. The astrologers were led to Jesus through the star on the sky. The reading and hearing of the words and deeds of Jesus and our experience with him will lead us to Jesus. Every preparation to Christmas during the advent season could help us to experience Jesus as our redeemer and as our saviour. Jesus is our hope. We expect him. On the third Advent Sunday with the invitation to rejoice in the Lord and wait for the coming of the Lord I wish you hearty, mindful, pleasing, hopefull days till Christmas 2022.