Third Sunday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
Isaiah 35
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. 8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Psalm 146:5-10
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.
Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
James 5:7-10
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” 7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
The Ray of Joy
by Francis Pang
Francis Pang is an assistant professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College where he also serves as the Director of IT. Originally from Hong Kong, he spent more than half of his adult life in Ontario including the past 15 years in Hamilton. Francis and his wife Irene and their two kids belong to a small and lively Anglican church community in Waterdown, where they are heavily involved in their climate justice projects and disability ministries.
Ah! The third week of Advent. The week of Joy! We light the rose candle on Sunday, signifying the joyous anticipation of the Lord’s coming. The rose candle is sometimes called the Shepherds’ Candle to remind us that the good news of great joy was first announced to common people. Common people! Not the rich, not the elite, not the royal, not the fittest and greatest among us, but people that don’t usually draw attention, people that are invisible to most, people that are often looked down on or marginalized by society, the little guys, the hired hands, the non-unionized workers, the individual small links in a long chain.
How is the coming of the Lord a joyful occasion for those who are at the bottom of the food chain? It brings joy because the Day of the Lord ushers in the reversal of their fortune. We hear over and over again in the passages today that when the Lord comes,
He will turn the desert into a pool, dry land to bubbling springs (Isaiah 35:7),
He will uphold the cause of the oppressed (Ps 146:7),
He will give food to the hungry (Luke 1:53),
He will sustain the fatherless and the widow (Ps 146:9),
He will raise up those who are marginalized by society due to their physical impairments (Isaiah 35:5–6a; Ps 146:8a; Matt 11:4–5).
This is indeed good news of great joy today to those
who mark time by drought in many corners of the world,
who suffer under authoritarian regimes,
who work multiple jobs and still cannot afford nutritious food in the richest countries,
who are falling through social safety nets,
who are considered by many as unproductive and unwanted due to their impaired bodies.
This is often called the eschatological reversal! The last will be first! This is what generations of Israelites were longing for—the joyous moment when God brings justice and peace to those who are humble and oppressed. This is what the psalmists and the prophets preached (Isaiah 35:1–10; Psalms 146:5–10). This is what Mary sang in the Magnificat (Luke 1:6b–55). This is what was witnessed in the first coming of Jesus. This is what Jesus asked the disciples of John the Baptist to report back: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matt 11:5)
We know the rest of the story, don’t we? Indeed, the dead have risen. Jesus was not only raised from the dead, but He also ascended to heaven! Today, Jesus is no longer in the world, healing the sick, raising the dead, and proclaiming the good news to the poor. Yes, he promised to come back, but this is where the mystery lies, isn’t it? This is the mother of all mysteries. The early church attested to two eschatological convictions: on the one hand, they were certain that Jesus would come again to judge the living and the dead; on the other hand, no one knew, not even the Son, about the timing of his coming. In essence, the early church’s confession was that they knew the Lord would come back but didn’t know when. Known and unknown, certainty and uncertainty, clarity and mystery!
We live in a time almost two millennia from the first coming. Look around the world! The news is full of depressing stories of famines, discriminations, humanitarian crises, wars, conflicts, oppressions, and injustices. And when we stare at our phones, hatred and bigotry stare back at us! How can we be joyful today? After two thousand years of waiting, two thousand years of sitting on the eschatological mystery, how can we be joyful?
I don’t have the right answer. I don’t think anybody has the right answer.
But I think there is something we know. Something that is not a mystery. Something Jesus already told us. We know what Immanuel looks like. We witness on page after page in the gospel story how Jesus brought forth the eschatological reversal on earth. Let’s read it again: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matt 11:5)
If the word “Christian” means Christ’s representative on earth, we need to ask ourselves how we are going to bring forth the same eschatological reversal in our communities. We need to ask ourselves: Who are those whose fortunes need to be reversed? Whose eyes need to be opened today? Who needs to leave the couch or the armchair, stop hiding behind an avatar, and have real face-to-face human interaction? Who needs to be accepted and reintegrated back into society? Who needs to get a smack on the head? Who needs to be empowered and enlivened? And who needs to hear the true message of the good news of great joy?
Jesus told his followers that whatever we do to take care of “the least of the brothers and sisters of mine” (Matt 25:40), we did it for him. This is a call to take part in the in-breaking of the eschatological kingdom. Each one of us is called to be a link in a chain that brings forth the Great Reversal. We may not be the great light that the shepherds saw on the first Christmas night, but we can be small sparkles adding up to a ray of joy. Let’s be reminded once again this Advent season that we are called to be agents of joy.
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