Advent 3 2019(A) - Joy

Advent 3 2019

Gaudate Sunday

Isaiah 35:1-6a;10
Psalm 146
James 5:7-10
Luke 4:18

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.”

Dear brothers and sisters, Isaiah wrote these words to a people in exile. Their temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed, they were a defeated people deported to a foreign land. And Isaiah prophesied these words of new blossoms and joy sprouting up in the wilderness.

And, here we are, gathered around the altar of Our Lord on the third Sunday of Advent. The third Sunday is known as Gaudate Sunday (Rejoice Sunday). So, today I want to reflect on the Christian understanding of joy?

What is joy?

Firstly, joy is often conflated with happiness. But happiness is a feeling that comes and goes based on our particular circumstances. Joy is closer to a deep sense of peace rather than a short-lived happiness. Joy comes from a deep understanding of true identity, which grounds us in good times and in bad. Joy is grounded in truth.

To state it simply, joy, comes from the truth of knowing that God is with us. One of the central mysteries of our faith is the incarnation; that God became flesh; that the eternal entered time; that the perfect came into our imperfection; that the just came into the injustice of the world. God is with us. In the midst of our pain, our hurt, our fear, our loneliness, our sin, our suffering...God is with us. His still calm voice gently calls us deeper into him; into his loving, gentle embrace. This is a staggering allegation, and that we know it to be true it should cause our hearts to leap with joy because of the nearness of God. God is with us; God is in us and we are called more deeply into the freedom of the divine life.

God who gently and humbly came in the form of an infant; not a coercive strongman.

This is why the prophet Isaiah can write about “strengthen the weak hands...say to those who are fearful of heart, be strong, do not fear.”

It is why the psalmist shouts with joy that God delivers justice to the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets the prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, upholds the widow and the orphan.

Joy springs from understanding our true identity and being set free for all that binds us.

We can know this truth in our heads, but do know it in our souls?

I am not interested in naiveté, and I understand that a more difficult aspect of Christian joy to consider is that after 2000 years we live in a post-Christian, slipping toward an anti-Christian society. We are quite understandably repulsed by the actions of some in the church and we are disoriented in how to understand the faith, hope and love that sustains our souls and many are lured into the notion that human reason and empirical investigation will get us the truth, and the problems and mysteries of life will be solved.

How do we evaluate this? How are we doing? Are we as a society more joyful than we were 40 years ago? 100 years ago? 1500 years ago? Are we more cynical than previous generations? More stressed? More anxious? More angry? More addicted?

I am very grateful that modern science has improved our quality of life in many realms. Hip replacements, knee replacements, and complicated heart surgery is routine in today’s hospitals. Many sources of social inequalities have waned. Gratitude for science and technological advances is good. Materially, those of us who live in Canada are better off than most of humanity throughout most of human history. This is good.

But, are we more joyful? We are more materially rich than ever, but are we more joyful?

Isaiah’s images of dry land are an important key to a Christian understanding of joy and a Christian journey into the heart of the gospel because our journey starts with confronting the wilderness of our own inner life. We need to confront the barren-ness of our own lives. The pain of broken relationships, lost dreams, past hurts, crippling injustices and past sins. Where is the barren-ness in our own lives and how do we bring new life to it?

I chuckle from time-to-time when I think of a navy buddy of mine who when I told him I was leaving the navy to go to seminary he said, “Rob, if there is a God, and if He chose you, there’s hope for all of us!” His statement could not be more true; there is hope for all of us. I have spoken with people who spent time in prison, police officers and paramedics who dealt with too much trauma, wealthy people crippled in pain and addictions, broken families, stressed out children and homelessness in our wealthy cities. The list of our needs goes on and on…there is so much barrenness in our lives. And we sometimes struggle to see how to turn things around. This is why the gospel has always been balm for the soul; the outsider, the lonely and the lost. We rejoice that we are not write-offs but beloved children of God; forgiven, redeemed, renewed.

And what about beyond ourselves…where is the barrenness in our parish life? We are in the very early stages of a very difficult period of uniting four parishes into one parish. Where is the barrenness in our own parish and how to we bring new life to it? How to be joy to a world in need of joy?

It all starts in our own inner lives. We cannot share anything we don’t possess.

Here we confront the words of Jesus from the gospel today: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” And Jesus confirms that John the Baptist was indeed the one sent to prepare the way for the One who meets us in our own wilderness and renews our souls.

In a few minutes I will pour a drop of water in the chalice and say, “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself and shared in our humanity.”

On Thursday we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Blessed Mother appeared to a poor, marginalized indigenous man in Mexico and spoke words of his true identity as a beloved child of God into his life. Will we allow these same words to pour over our own souls?

Likewise, we will all say before approaching the altar, “Lord, I am not worthy to enter under your roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

God has spoken that word; our souls have been healed. New life is growing in the wilderness; our sense of unworthiness is overshadowed by the healing presence of Jesus in our lives who calls us into himself, into the barren places in our lives to bring new life.

As Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“Rejoice in the Lord always, I say it again, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, by in everything by prayer and surrender, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let us humbly, prayerfully invite our gracious Lord Jesus into the wilderness of our lives. From there we will have front-row seats of the blossoming of new life within and watch this joy spread.

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.”