Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT (Cycle C)
The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. In Latin, the word gaudete (gow-DAY-tay) means "rejoice." Today's antiphon, from St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians in our Second Reading, tells us why we should rejoice: "Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I say, rejoice! The Lord is near!" The words " I say, rejoice! The Lord is near!" should encourage us to make our lives right with the Lord as we prepare for the holy day that remembers the first Advent of our Savior and at the same time looks forward to His return.
Readings:
Zephaniah 3:14-18a
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:10-18
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), RSVCE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The words LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Church's Universal Catechism teaches that our Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of today's Readings: What Then Should We Do to
Experience Christ's Joy and Peace?
The Gospel Reading gives us the theme for this Sunday's
readings. St. John the Baptist was going throughout the Jordan River valley
proclaiming a baptism of repentance to forgive sins in preparation for the
coming of the promised Davidic Messiah and God's Day of Judgment. Three times
we hear the same phrase: from ordinary people in the crowd, from tax-collectors
ranked among the sinners, and from soldiers, asking John, "What then should we
do" to prepare for this event?
In the First Reading, the Old Testament prophet Zephaniah announces the joy the people will experience when God comes to dwell among His covenant people. And in the Responsorial Psalm, we repeat the prophet Isaiah's hymn of joy in the promise of God, "the Holy One of Israel," coming to bring His people and the nations His gift of salvation. These are the prophecies St. John the Baptist was born to proclaim. Before his birth, the angel Gabriel told John's father: "for he will be great in the sight of the Lord ... to prepare a people fit for the Lord." And John's father, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed at John's circumcision and naming that God "has raised up a horn (a strength) for our salvation within the house of David, his servant, even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old" (see Lk 1:17b, 69-70).
Our Responsorial Psalm is from a hymn of praise in Isaiah 12:1-6 that expresses the joy felt by all members of Israelite society. Isaiah begins by describing the pleasure the redeemed sinner experiences because of God's great work on his behalf that inspires both trust and gratitude. Since God is the source of their salvation, every member of the covenant people knows they can trust God and not fear Him if they are obedient to His commands. The Hebrew translation of Isaiah 12:2 reads: Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for my strength and my song is Yahweh (IBHE, vol. III, page 1635). It expresses the same joy in God's works on their behalf as verse 2 from the "Song of Victory" that Moses and the Israelites sang after the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) when they were delivered from the Egyptians. The people sang: Yahweh is my strength and my song, to him I owe my salvation (Ex 15:1-18). In Isaiah's hymn of praise, he recognized God's continuing work of salvation for His people as a miracle like the parting of the Sea of Reeds/Red Sea in the Exodus liberation.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul admonished the Christians of Philippi (and us) to cast aside all fears and anxieties and to rejoice because the Lord is near. Whatever our struggles in life, we can turn to the Lord, who gives us the true peace and happiness that only comes from the graces He bestows on those who belong to Him in a covenant relationship and honor that relationship by being obedient to His commands.
In the Gospel Reading, John the Baptist was calling the people to prepare themselves for the coming of the promised Davidic Messiah. In response to his preaching, the people cried out, "What then should we do?" The message of this Sunday's readings is that during the season of Advent, we should be asking ourselves that same question. What must we do to prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior as we approach the celebration of the anniversary of His First Advent? How should we make our lives right with God so we are ready for His return in the Second Advent? The answer is the same answer St. John the Baptist gave the people of his day. We must repent. We must turn away from sin and turn back to God, so we can proclaim Christ our Lord and Savior in acts of love and mercy and enter into the joy of His peace "that surpasses all understanding" (Phil 4:7).
The First Reading Zephaniah 3:14-18a ~ The Joy of God
Among Us
14 Shout for joy, O
daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem! 15 The LORD
has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; the King
of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. 16 On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! 17 The
LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; he will rejoice over you
with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you,
18a as one sings at festivals.
Zephaniah is the ninth of the Minor Prophets. His ministry took place in Jerusalem during the reign of King Josiah (639-609 BC). The central theme of his prophetic book is Yahweh's "Day of Judgment." Despite his warnings concerning God's divine judgment against an apostate covenant people, Zephaniah offered hope in an oracle telling the preservation of a faithful remnant of the covenant people who will be the core of a significant restoration (3:9-13). The promise of this glorious restoration becomes a hymn of jubilation in verses 14-18a.
Reading this passage should remind Christians of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38), when the angel Gabriel invited the Virgin Mary, a daughter of Zion, to rejoice and not fear because the Lord is with her (Lk 1:20, 28). In the Incarnation of the Word, the Lord God came to dwell among His people, and the salvation that Zephaniah promised became manifested in Mary's son, the "mighty Savior," the Son of God who has renewed us with His love poured out on the altar of the Cross.
Responsorial: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4b-6 ~ Extolling God's
Mercy and His Glory
Response: "Cry out with joy and gladness for among you is
the great and Holy One of Israel."
2 God
indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is
the LORD, and he has been my savior. 3a With
joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.
Response:
4b Give thanks to
the LORD, acclaim his name; among the nations make known his deeds, proclaim
how exalted is his name.
Response:
5 Sing praise to
the LORD for his glorious achievement; let this be known throughout all the
earth. 6 Shout with exultation, O
city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!
Response:
Verse 1 begins with the words And, that day, referring to "that day" in the previous Isaiah passage in 11:10-12 when the prophet promised the coming of the Davidic heir and Redeemer-Messiah: That day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious. 11 On that day, the Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim [ransom] the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria and Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia [Cush], and Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the isles of the sea. 12 He shall raise a signal for the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel; the dispersed of Judah, he shall assemble from the four corners of the earth (underlining added for emphasis).
In Isaiah 11:10, the "dwelling" that "shall be glorious" is the Kingdom of the new David, the "root of Jesse" (Jesse was David's father). That is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ into which He will "reclaim/ransom the remnant of His people" scattered across "the four corners of the earth." The Church sees herself as this "holy remnant" that has experienced God's salvation in the work of Jesus, the Davidic Messiah. As in Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 12, the Church feels called to bear witness to her joy before all humanity. Therefore, the Council of Vatican II declares: "all sons (and daughters) of the Church should have a lively awareness of their responsibility to the world; they should foster in themselves a truly catholic spirit; they should spend their forces in the work of evangelization. And yet, let everyone know that their first and most important obligation for the spread of the Faith is this: to lead a profoundly Christian life" (Ad gentes, 36).
The canticle of praise in Isaiah 12:1-6 expresses joy for all parts of Israelite society:
In verse 2, Isaiah describes the joy the redeemed sinner experiences because of God's great work on his behalf that inspires both trust and gratitude. God was angry (verse 1), but now He has spent His anger and comforts His people. Because God is the source of salvation, every member of the covenant people knows they can trust Him and not fear Him if they are obedient to His commands. The line from verse 2 in a literal translation of the Hebrew reads: Behold, God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for my strength and my song is Yahweh (IBHE, vol. III, page 1635). It expresses the same joy in God's works on their behalf as verse 2 from the "Song of Victory" that Moses and the Israelites sang after the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) when God delivered them from the Egyptians. The people sang: Yahweh is my strength and my song, to him I owe my salvation (Ex 15:1-18). In Isaiah's hymn of praise, he recognized God's continuing work of salvation for His people as a miracle like the parting of the Sea of Reeds/Red Sea in the Exodus liberation.
In verses 3-5, Isaiah changes the focus from the individual to the entire covenant community, offering praise to God for bringing them water from the springs of salvation as they Praise Yahweh, invoke his name. Proclaim his deeds to the people, repeats a verse from Psalm 105:1 that recounts God's intervention in the history of Israel. The wording "water from the springs of salvation" is significant. For Israel, water came from the River Jordan, from many streams, from underground well-water, and the collection of rainwater in cisterns. However, the best, freshest water came from natural springs. In the hymn, the people compare the gift of God's salvation to the freshest and purest water like the "living" or "flowing" water from natural springs. In verses 4-5, the covenant people are grateful for God's works on their behalf. They show their gratitude when they proclaim His marvelous deeds to their people and the nations of the world.
Jesus used the same imagery for salvation with a Samaritan woman drawing water from a well in John 4:4-14. He offered the woman "living water" and promised that whoever drank this water would never thirst again because the "water" Jesus gives is the water that "will become in him a spring of water, welling up for eternal life." In John 7:38-39, Jesus made a similar reference, identifying Himself as "streams of living water."
6 Shout with
exultation, O city of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel!
In this verse, the tense suddenly changes to the
feminine singular, and Zion, the symbolic word for the covenant people as a whole,
is personified as a woman. In the Old Testament, "Zion" is the Church, represented
symbolically by the prophets as God's virgin Bride. Perhaps this imagery is what
accounts for the feminine singular in verse 6.
With the restoration of His people, God reestablished His relationship with Israel as His faithful Bride. He is one with His people in the covenant bond of faithfulness that the prophets compared to the covenant bond between a bridegroom and his bride in marriage. Jesus used this same symbolic imagery in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, referring to Himself as the "Bridegroom" (Mt 9:15; Lk 5:34-35). And, in the Book of Revelation, the climax of human history will occur at Jesus's Second Coming when He brings His Bride, the Church, into the heavenly Jerusalem to celebrate the wedding supper of the Lamb and His Bride (Rev 19:6-9; 21:1-7). This is the climatic event we anticipate during the Season of Advent and for which we must prepare ourselves should our Bridegroom suddenly return during our lifetimes.
The Second Reading Philippians 4:4-7 ~ Rejoice in the Lord
[Brothers and sisters] 4 Rejoice
in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! 5 Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord
is near. 6 Have no anxiety at all,
but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your
requests known to God. 7 Then the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus.
St. Paul's message in this passage is even more impressive when we bear in mind that he wrote his letter to the Christians at Philippi during what was probably his first imprisonment in Rome, awaiting his trial in c. AD 61-63. When Paul mentions "anxiety" in verse 6, he is experiencing anxiety during this trying period in his life. But despite his current situation, he still urges the Christians of Philippi to have courage, rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, and offer up prayers of thanksgiving.
Paul's point is to have joy in our relationship with God, and if we are enduring temporal suffering, it should not matter. Whatever our current situation, it is only temporary, and our eternal future should be the focus of our lives. The kind of joy that fills the Christian's soul with peace does not come from the physical or material. It comes from a spirit of faithfulness generated by the knowledge that God is with us and has a plan for our lives. St. Cyprian wrote: "This is the difference between us and those who do not know God. They complain in adversity, but difficulties do not draw us away from virtue or from the true faith. On the contrary, our virtue and faith are reinforced in affliction" (De mortalitate, 13).
The Gospel of Luke 3:10-18 ~ The preaching of John the
Baptist
10 And the crowds
asked him, "What then should we do?" 11 He
said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who
has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and
they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."
14 Soldiers also asked him, "And
what is it that we should do?" He told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not
falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages." 15 Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing
you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen
the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his
threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will
burn with unquenchable fire." 18 Exhorting
them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people.
John the Baptist was preaching and giving a ritual baptism of repentance and spiritual purification to all who came to him on the east side of the Jordan River across from the city of Jericho (Jn 1:28). Two significant events in salvation history took place at this location on the east side of the Jordan River across from the west bank of Jericho:
This significant site was where St. John first began his ministry by offering a baptism of ritual cleansing for the repentance of sins. God blessed St. John with the power and spirit of the 8th-century BC prophet Elijah (Lk 1:17) before his birth. Therefore, it would have been fitting for John to begin his mission at the same site where Elijah's mission ended and where the ministry of his more powerful successor started with the prophet Elisha (2 Kg 2:1, 4-14). It is also where John baptized Jesus (Yeshua/Yehoshua), the one more powerful than John. Jesus is the new Joshua (Joshua shared the same Hebrew name as Jesus). After Jesus's baptism, like Joshua, He crossed over from the east to the west side of the Jordan River to begin His conquest. In Jesus's victorious conquest against the consequences of sin and death, He would establish His Kingdom and fulfill the promise as the only one with the power to lead all who believe in Him into the true "Promised Land" of Heaven (Acts 4:12).
St. John's preaching style was not gentle; today, he might be compared to a "fire and brimstone" preacher. In his discourse in Luke 3:8-18, St. John identified himself as the "prophetic voice" of Isaiah 40:3-5, whose mission was to tell the people to prepare for the coming of the Lord. He warned the people:
10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should
we do?"
Three times in verses 10, 12, and 14, people in the crowd
ask what they should do to demonstrate genuine repentance and avoid divine judgment.
The crowd included:
The link between demonstrating faith in God through works of mercy and righteousness that leads to salvation is a consistent teaching in the Church of the Old and New Testaments. For example, the prophet Jeremiah wrote: I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, to reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds (Jer 17:10, NJB). The merit of one's deeds counts toward one's salvation, as the inspired writer of Sirach wrote: Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins (Sir 3:29). In the New Testament, Jesus based the outcome of the Last Judgment on one's earthly record of demonstrations of works of mercy (Mt 25:31-46). St. James wrote What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (Jam 2:14) ... See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (Jam 2:24) ... For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead (Jam 2:26). See CCC 1473 for the necessity of works of mercy and CCC 2447 for the significance and kinds of works of mercy.
15 Now the people
were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John
might be the Messiah.
John's call for the people to demonstrate their repentance through
a ritual of water purification and his warnings of divine judgment for those
who oppressed the weak and disadvantaged recalled the Messianic prophecies in the
books of the prophets.
16 John answered
them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is
coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
St. John denied that he was the Messiah, and he told the
crowd that in contrast to his baptism with water, the Messiah would baptize with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. It was an event fulfilled on the Jewish feast of
Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus's Resurrection in Acts 2:1-14. And it was a
fulfillment of the prophecy of the purifying and refining characteristics of the
Messiah prophesied by the Old Testament prophets Ezekiel and Malachi:
St. John warned the people that the Messiah would bring about a final day of Judgment: 17 His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." This verse repeats the divine judgment promised in verse 9 in the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah but refers to His Second Advent. The threshing floor was a flat area where the people brought their harvested grain. A winnowing fan was a fork-like instrument used to separate the wheat kernels from the inedible chaff. The wheat grains were thrown into the air with the winnowing fork as a gentle breeze blew away the useless chaff, and the grain fell to the ground. The unwanted chaff was collected and destroyed by fire. The symbolic imagery of the winnowing fan, the threshing floor, and the burning of the unwanted chaff was a familiar Old and New Testament Biblical symbol of judgment in separating the righteous from the wicked and as an image of the final destruction (Job 21:17-18; Is 41:16; Jer 15:7; Wis 5:14, 23; Mt 3:12; 13:30, 40, 42, 50; Lk 3:17; Jn 15:6).
In the Old Testament, fire was often a symbol of purification that was more efficacious than water, signifying the divine transforming action of God's Spirit in purifying the souls of men and women who still had the hope of salvation (see Sir 2:5; Is 1:25-28; 48:10; Zec 13:9 and Mal 3:2-3 and CCC 696). It is the way St. Paul wrote about God's purifying fire in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, in which the souls of some of the saved must experience a necessary final purification in Purgatory (CCC 1030-32) and why St. Paul urged the Thessalonians not to "quench the Spirit" (1 Thes 5:19). However, a place where that which is defiled is forever consumed in flames and for which purification is no longer an option, as in John's description, is rare in the Old Testament where both blessings and judgments are temporal (see Jdt 16:17; Ps 21:8-9; Sir 7:17/19; Is 66:24; Zep 1:18). It wasn't until the coming of Jesus Christ, when both blessings and judgments became eternal, that we find divine judgment described as an unquenchable fire (CCC 1033-37). Jesus referred to this place/state of eternal punishment as Gehenna for those who do not die in a state of grace (Mt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 10:15; 12:5; 16:23; also see Rev 14:10; 19:20; 20:10, 15; 21:8).
St. John uses the familiar imagery of the harvest to teach the people about the Messiah's role as a Divine Judge. The threshing floor is the world, and the Messiah has the authority to judge and separate the righteous of the world from the wicked (Mt 13:36-43; 25:31-46).
18 Exhorting them in many other ways, he
preached good news to the people
In Luke 1:19, the angel Gabriel announced the "good news" (evangelizesthai)
of the birth of St. John to his father, the priest Zechariah, and now John
preaches the "good news" (using the same Greek word) of the coming of the
Messiah and His kingdom. Our New Covenant obligation is to keep our souls in a
state of grace in preparation for Christ's Second Advent. The people in the
crowd asked St. John: "What should we do?" The answer is to demonstrate love
and mercy to a fallen world as we continue Jesus's earthly ministry of good
deeds. And we must share His Gospel message that eternal salvation through belief
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who join their lives to His will
experience His joy and peace and the promise of a joyous reunion with Him in the
Promised Land of Heaven.
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Zephaniah 3:14 (CCC 722*, 2676);
3:17 (CCC 2676*)
Luke 3:10-14 (CCC 535); 3:11 (CCC 2447); 3:16 (CCC 696)
Joy in Christ (CCC 30*, 163*, 301*, 736*, 1829, 1832*, 2015*, 2362)
John prepared the way for the Messiah (CCC 523*, 524*, 535*)
Jesus the Savior (CCC 430*, 431*, 432*, 433*, 434*, 435)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2021 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.