Rejoicing & Waiting: Side-by-Side
The Third Sunday of Advent- Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18
Our Advent devotional and preacher’s guide are now available! Read more here (Devotional is discounted as we are part way through the season).
This week’s Lectionary texts can be found here.
This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally called "Gaudete Sunday." Gaudete means "Rejoice." In the midst of waiting, and even suffering, we also rejoice. We look back on what God has done for us, and we celebrate that.
This may seem strange to us: celebrating while we wait. However, the Bible is full of stories which both recognize that God has already arrived; and, even as He is here, He is still (in another sense) not yet here.
The prophet Zephaniah wrote during the reign of Josiah (Judah’s last good king). Throughout the book, judgement is pronounced because Israel is mixing their worship of YHWH with the worship of other gods (this is called syncretism) and they have little concern for social justice.
Here (Zephaniah 3:14-20), the prophet proclaims joy and relief. But it is not joy and relief alone. If that were the case, Israel might think that God was not in fact going to make things right. No, the good news is that joy exists right alongside of justice. Just as God will judge Israel’s oppressors, God will also judge Israel herself. Because God is good, this is ultimately good news, even though it is also, in the short term, bad news.
Justice and righteousness come from the heart of God: the God who is fully loving, fully generous, who knows what is right for us and for the world. We can trust him to judge us and to judge the world. Therefore, we can embrace judgement as both stinging and joyful. Judgement is coming and the false things will be revealed. But what will be left is God’s healing love.
In our Philippians reading (Philippians 4:4-7), Paul exhorts the church to “Rejoice in the Lord.” Notice, the Bible never commands us to feel certain things. Feelings are important, and the Bible gives space and room for expressing and affirming feelings; but we are never commanded to feel something.
The call to “Rejoice” is the call for those in the midst of the struggle to publicly celebrate, to throw parties, to remember that they have a better story, that Jesus has risen from the dead. They can “rejoice” in a different Lord, in a different kingdom, no matter their circumstances.
We transition from rejoicing, to John the Baptist calling the crowd “You brood of vipers! (Luke 3:7-18),” warning them of the coming wrath. At this point, you might be thinking…What happened to the celebration? Is this still the pink candle Sunday?!
John is not telling the crowd about a mean, capricious, and vindictive god, as God’s wrath is often falsely portrayed. John is warning the crowd that God is about to make things right. God is about to bring about his judgement and justice.
John accuses the crowd of two things: 1) They were greedy, trying to hoard their wealth, and 2) they assumed that God was on their side.
John reminds the crowds that God’s people have always been called, not to bask in their specialness, but to bear fruit, to live in God and to show his light and life to the world. He says that they have neglected that responsibility. They have given their lives to counterfeits, things which do not bear God’s fruit; these counterfeits are about to be chopped down (vs. 9).
This warning is evergreen, as true for us today as it has ever been. What are we holding on to that does not bear good fruit? Is it money? Control? Isn’t it amazing how much anxiety can be caused over lack of money and lack of control? But, did we ever really have control of our lives in the first place?
John’s instructions are clear…rejoice in what you have. Do not use your circumstances as an excuse to control, or to push others, to “work the system.” When we realize that everything is God’s and that the world only runs because of Him, we can trust that God will take care of us. Because of this, we can hold loosely the things that we possess.