The readings for Third Sunday of Advent may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121122.cfm
This Sunday, we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudette Sunday, translated from the Latin as Rejoice Sunday.
We rejoice as we light the rose-colored candle of our Advent wreath.
We rejoice as we wear rose-colored vestments at this midpoint of Advent.
And we focus, if only briefly, on the light coming into the world through the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
And let’s be honest, with Christmas comes many expectations.
Of the people we might see, the gifts we might give and receive or the places we might go.
But not all expectations are created equal.
Sometimes they are of rejoicing and celebration.
Sometimes they are expectations of dread or anxiety or worry or fear.
And sometimes, these expectations can imprison us, just like John the Baptist was imprisoned in today’s gospel.
The thing that can be dangerous about expectations is how they can shape our attitudes, our beliefs, and the way we relate to people.
They can even shape our image of who God is, where God can show up, and how God should act.
If God doesn’t meet our expectations we can be quick to question God, rather than ourselves.
Oftentimes, we trust what we think God should be doing more than we trust what God is actually doing.
In this way, we are like John the Baptist.
He was a man of expectations.
Last week’s gospel showed John to be a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
John expected a new kingdom with a new, powerful leader.
These expectations gave him the confidence to turn his back on the religious establishment, to go to the desert, and to seek God in the wild and untamed places of life.
Today’s gospel speaks to a very different picture of John.
Today he is a prisoner questioning his expectation, “Are you the one, or are we to wait for another?”
How did he go from being a prophet in the wilderness with answers to a prisoner in a cell with questions?
Now, Herod put John in jail for criticizing him for taking his own brother’s wife.
But it was John’s own expectations of who the Messiah is and how the Messiah would act that imprisoned him his thoughts.
Like us, his vision of the kingdom was too small, his expectation of the Messiah too narrow and he is a saint!
That’s the danger of holding our expectations too tightly.
Our expectations can blind us to what is coming.
We can imprison ourselves as we confine God’s work and life to our expectations.
We want God to make our lives easy. Instead He calls us to live more deeply.
We want God to eliminate our suffering. Instead, He stands with us in our pain.
We want Him to make us strong. Instead, He calls us to discover His strength in our weakness.
We want God to make our enemies pay. Instead He commands us to love them.
We want to be served. God tells us to serve.
And each time God dismisses our expectations - He is helping to break down our own prison walls.
And when that happens, we must decide.
Will we escape the prison of our expectations or stay where we are and rebuild the walls?
It would be so much easier if Jesus would just come, do, and be as we expect.
But he won’t.
He won’t leave us in our cells.
He loves us too much.
The Season of Advent is the season of breaking out of jail.
It is the season of escaping the jail of our expectations of God.
Christmas is in two weeks.
Rejoice! There is still time to prepare the way for Jesus.
As you finish your shopping, cookie baking, meal planning and preparing for holiday celebrations;
be sure to prepare properly by making a good, sacramental confession.
Submit to the greatness of God and His love.
Receive the gift of absolution and His mercy.
The door of our cell may be locked - but its only locked from the inside.
Jesus is coming and mercy awaits.
And that is absolutely a reason for all of us to Rejoice this Sunday!
