Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Dec. 11, 2016
ca. 1850 — An illustration from a mid-19th century copy of Grand Catechisme des Familles (Christian Doctrine for Families). — Image by © Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis
When the Messiah comes, when the Kingdom draws near, those days of glory will be filled with righteousness and justice, joy and abundance, and healing and good news for the poor. This is the message that we hear today, the third Sunday of Advent. This Sunday, historically called Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday, shifts focus from quiet expectation toward anticipatory joy, a change in tone that many like to mark by wearing something pink to church on this day. Our first reading offers Isaiah’s vision of the return from exile, a homeward journey when the desert itself shall rejoice and blossom with joy and singing as the weak become strong.
This is the third time this year that we hear part of Psalm 146, “Praise the Lord, O My Soul.” This resounding hymn of praise fits well on the Third Sunday of Advent with its beautiful poetry of praise for our Creator, the God eternal who made heaven, earth, the seas and all that is in them. Its words of promise seem to foreshadow the Song of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as Jesus’ own promise to feed the hungry, give sight to the blind, set prisoners free and bring good news to the poor.
Canticle 15 (Luke 1:46-55, The Song of Mary – Magnificat)
Tradition has come to show us Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a sweet, submissive figure. But this image is a far cry from the brave Palestinian teen-ager that we see in Luke’s Gospel when she first feels the baby Jesus moving within her. Thanking God for this gift, she shouts a song of God’s righteousness and justice, a theme that unites the message of Torah and the message of Jesus: God has “scattered the proud … brought down the powerful … lifted up the lowly … filled the hungry with good things … and sent the rich away empty.”
Second Reading: James 5:7-10
Doesn’t “Be patient, therefore,” seem a strange way to begin a reading? It almost compels us to page back and see what led up to it. Indeed, the preceding verses show us James (who traditionally is understood as the brother of Jesus) sounding very much like Jesus’ mother, Mary, and like Jesus himself. In those verses James, in words much like Mary’s Magnificat and Jesus’ first sermon, warns that the selfish rich will weep and wail in misery because they laid up treasure by defrauding the workers who tilled their fields. Then, in the short verses that we hear today, James urges a different way: Love and be generous with each other, while we wait for the Lord’s coming.
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
As we move through Matthew’s Gospel in this new Lectionary year, we will hear frequent reminders that Jesus is Messiah, the lord and savior that the prophets foretold. Today we hear a conversation between Jesus and messengers from John the Baptist in prison, asking outright whether Jesus is the Messiah or if they must wait for another. Then Jesus sets out his priorities, which echo Isaiah’s prophecies and his mother’s song: “… the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”