Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2022
Isaiah 35:1-6 James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11
We are nearly half way through the season in preparation for
Christ. We are on the third Sunday of the Season of Advent. This is called the
“Gaudete Sunday” – the Sunday of Joy.
We are a people of expectations. When we go to bed at night
we expect the sun to rise in the morning. Precisely, for this reason we set the
alarm clock and go to bed. We expect others to stop at the stop sign. We expect
it will take about an hour and a half to drive to our city Church. We expect
the church to be open on Sundays, the lights on, and Eucharist to be
celebrated. We have expectations for what is appropriate behavior for ourselves
and others. Our days are full of expectations. They offer some predictability
and order to our world and lives.
There are other expectations, however. They affect us more
profoundly than the day to day expectations. Sometimes they are expectations of
hope and other times they are expectations of dread. Either way they have the
power to imprison us.
John the Baptist is a man of expectations. On last Sunday we
heard a ringtone from the John the Baptist – ‘Repent’. He was a voice crying out in the wilderness of
Judea, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” He expects a new
kingdom and a new ruler. He expects wrath, fire, axes. He expects one who is
more powerful. John’s expectations have given him the confidence and ability to
turn his back on the religious establishment, to go the desert, and to seek God
in the wild and untamed places of life.
Today John the Baptist wants more data. Today’s gospel
offers a very different picture of John. Today he is a prisoner with a
question, “Are you the one, or are we to wait for another?” So what happened?
How did John get from the vast wilderness expanse to the confines of four
walls? How did he go from being a prophet with all the answers to a prisoner
with questions?
Some of my wild imaginations go this way. Herod may have put
John in jail but John’s own expectations have imprisoned him. It is the
interior prison of disappointment and disillusion. He is confined by his own
unmet expectations. Whether John really wanted to know for his own sake or
whether it was really for the benefit of his disciples is not clear. It is also possible that John too was
expecting a messiah who was more aggressive than Jesus was.
Advent is a time of waiting. John the Baptist has been
patiently waiting for the Messiah and sends messengers to ask Jesus if He is
the One he has been waiting for. Jesus replies that the people should look at
the signs of healing, raising from the dead and the bringing of the Good News.
Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophets!
Let me ask today - Do I see the signs of God's presence in
the world today? Am I ‘seeing’ as Jesus told his disciples? This Advent may my
eyes be open to the signs of God's presence in the world today. Or Am I lost in
my own prison of expectations?
Happy Sunday
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