Advent III

The Third Sunday of Advent

_{Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11; Psalm [Luke 1:46-50, 53-54]; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28}

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,because the LORD has anointed me.

The prophet is not anointed with oil as monarchs, priests and prophets but with the spirit of God; with a fire and a passion for God. Marked in this way, the prophet is sent among the exiled people of Israel. It is to them the prophet is to bring glad tidings, to heal, to proclaim liberty and release, to announce a year of jubilee, a time of forgiveness from debt, of freedom from slavery.

This is the passage Jesus reads in the synagogue when he returns to his hometown of Nazareth. The people welcome him until…until Jesus announces that he himself embodies this passage. An announcement, which is not heard as glad tidings but provokes bitterness, jealousy and anger.

Why did his family, friends and neighbors reject him? What were they expecting from Jesus? The Lukan passage concludes with the saddest of phrases; Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

What was it like for Jesus to walk through that crowd of angry, bitter people? People he knew. Neighbors among whom he grew up. Played with as children in Nazareth’s streets. Families whose furniture he and Joseph repaired. People whom he prayed with on Shabbat in this very synagogue.

Why did they reject him?

See, only those who acknowledge they are poor, oppressed, and imprisoned can receive Jesus.

Jesus, the Christ, the anointed of God leaves Nazareth to not only bring glad tidings, to heal, to proclaim liberty and release, but moreover, to become poor. He has no place to lay his head. Jesus heart breaks as he understands that the people are like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus experiences the people’s oppression by shouldering their yokes with them. Like many of us, Jesus is rejected, ignored. Imprisoned by people’s judgment; he is killed.

To bring glad tidings, to heal, to proclaim liberty and release, Jesus must experience the life of those to whom he has been sent. Jesus has been sent to us.

Do you not sense in our world a lack of leadership and direction? How many of us are brokenhearted? How many of us feel an ache in our hearts? An overall sadness that permeates us? A sadness that we are unable to name. How many of us are oppressed by economic burdens, health issues, grief…a fear of being alone?

The high expectations of the holiday season that our culture offers us strive to mask our pain and brokenness. How often do I hear people voice with a mixture of cynicism, sadness and disappointment, what a wonderful Christmas this is going to be? People make this remark particularly after they have talked about their family situation. Disappointment marks the holidays because we realize our lives do not live up to the perfect expectations the culture demands of us.

In a dissonant counterpoint, Jesus acknowledges and enters into our brokenness and pain. The only way he can truly bring glad tidings, is to be one with us. As we pray in the Eucharistic Prayer, he shared our human nature in all things but sin. In all things.

In our very lonely culture, I believe there are two things that all of us really desire. We all want someone with tender care and no judgement to listen to our story. Someone who is not intent on fixing the situation or us but simply present to listen. Secondly, we all want that someone to walk with us in life so we are not alone.

That is the holy feast of Christmas. God, in Jesus, comes not only to listen to us but also to participate in our stories and walk with us so we are not alone.

Whose stories do you listen to and with whom do you walk?

Do we understand that is the finest of gifts we can offer each other in Christ; the offering of ourselves? We in turn participating in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is what it means to bring glad tidings, to heal, to proclaim liberty and release. It is the living out of our Baptism in which we were anointed with the spirit of God.