FROM DENIAL TO DECLARATION
3rd Sunday of Advent-Year B
GAUDETE SUNDAY
December 14, 2014
FROM DENIAL TO DECLARATION
The Gospel passage of today reminds me of the unfortunate,
dysfunctional politics that is in force in my country since time immemorial.
Every big fish in government accused of so many things have one common response
– deny, deflect, desist, and defame others!
This is a far cry from today’s humble approach shown by the
focus of today’s gospel reading – St. John the Baptist. He could as well have
been someone being interviewed by any of the warring giant networks’ team of
overzealous reporters out to be make a scoop.
“Who are you?” … “What are you then?” … “Are you Elijah?” … “Are you the
prophet?” “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?” “What
do you have to say about yourself?”
Hmmm! … the questions sound familiar. They all sound like
people who ask not to find out the truth, but to insist on their own brand of
preconceived truth. The pressure must have been too much for one who was “sent
from God,” and who “came for testimony, to testify to the light.”
Well, to be honest, John the Baptist, to me, passed with
flying colors. He stood the test and held his ground. But for him to do so, he
had to dispel some possible misconceptions from overzealous followers and
uncritical hearers. He started out with denials: “I am not the Christ.” “I am
not Elijah.” “I am not the Prophet.”
He might have stood his ground alright, but John knew his
place! He knew the full truth about who he was, and what he was sent for. And,
quite unlike our facebook statuses, and social media profiles, John knew his
humble profile and held on to his lowly stature: “I am the voice of one crying
out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord.”
A dirty politician, John definitely was not! A scheming and
denying king, he was neither. For his denials, he was really leading his
hearers to a monumental declaration: “I baptize with water; but there is one
who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
And this, my friends, is the reason why today, we need to
rejoice. Gaudete! Rejoice in the Lord always!
And who should say that we should not rejoice? Take it from
Isaiah, who knows his onions … “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is
the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped
me in a mantle of justice.”
Rejoice not, because you got your bonus. Rejoice not, because you have your new iPhone
6 (plus!). Rejoice not, because you have this or that. Be happy for them. Thank
God for them. Be grateful for everything, but rejoice for something else, for
some higher reason, for some more valuable gift.
Isaiah, again, shows us the way … Rejoice for he has
announced “a year of favor from the Lord, and a vindication by our God!”
This, my friends, is good news! All others – bonus, gifts,
gadgets and all – are nothing but add-ons and value added gifts. They don’t
constitute the best and the highest of what we await – a new heaven and a new
earth! For “the Lord God [will] make justice and praise spring up before all
the nations!”
Come, Lord, come! Emmanuel be with us!
Comments