3rd Sunday of Advent: Year- B
1st Reading: Is. 61: 1-2. 10-11: I exult for joy in the Lord.
2nd Reading: 1 Thess: 5: 16-24: May you all be kept safe, spirit, soul and body, for the coming of the Lord.
Gospel: John: 1: 6-8. 19-28: There stand among you-unknown to you-the one who is coming after me.
Jesus the Light of the World: The Special Witness of John the Baptist:
John the Baptist’s sole purpose on earth was to witness and to bear testimony to Christ, the Light of the world. His purpose stands as dynamic example for every believer to bear a witness to Christ as John the Baptist did with humility and obedience to the Will of God.
1. The enquiry of the delegation and the replies given by John the Baptist:
An official delegation sent by the religious authorities of Jerusalem did not come with a good intention. The crowd followed John because of his preaching and baptism at the river Jordan. The Jewish leaders were worried and angry with him seeing the religious movement without taking them into account. So they asked him three questions:
a. First question: Are you the Christ? He denied emphatically, “I am not the Christ.” Christ means “the anointed one” or “the Messiah”.
b. Second question: Are you Elijah? He said, “I am not Elijah.”
c. Third question: Are you the prophet? He replied, “No.” Moses announced in Deut. 18: 15: about the “the Prophet” or “the Messiah” would become a king as their leader in Israel. They had just repeated their first question in another form. John expressed exactly “who he was” and “what he had come to do.”
Now they asked a real question: “Then why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah and not the prophet?” (Jn 1: 25). John gave the inspiring answer which was moving. “I baptise with water...he is standing among you...I am not fit to undo his sandal strap (Jon 1: 26-27).” Here we see his total humility and witnessing life to Christ. So he allowed his disciples to follow Christ, Andrew and John followed Christ immediately (Jn 1: 35-39).
2. The replies John gave to the Jewish leaders reveal to us the kind of person that he was:
a. He was profoundly humble person: At the sight of Jesus, John realised not just his littleness but his nothingness. Where as we try to appear more than what we are.
b. John had understood his vocation well: He learnt God’s plan for him through his prayer and fast in the desert and determined to carry out those plan with his discernment.
c. John had a tremendous respect and love for Jesus: “He must grow greater, I must grow smaller” (Jn 3: 30). John realised, being the eldest one that he had no jealousy feeling towards Jesus and no pride in his life as the messenger of God.
3. Our vocation as Christians is similar to that of John the Baptist:
What would be our answers to the Jewish leaders if we were in the place of John? The questions are put for us today and we try to give the possible answer:
a. Who are you?
b. What are you? What is the purpose of your life?
c. What do I think of myself? What do people think that I am? What does God think about me?
The answer is very simple: “I am a Christian; the purpose of my life is to follow Christ faithfully, and to lead people to Jesus. I am his messenger as John the Baptist and the followers of Jesus.”
In the second reading, Paul invites us to carry out our task joyfully as Christians, since we can count at all times on God’s help who will not fail us: “Be happy at all time, pray constantly, give thanks to God for all things...! God has called and He will not fail you (1 Thess. 5: 18. 23).
Thought: The servant and messenger of God is not sent forth by people, but by God, is a man of high calling and mission of enormous responsibility and accountability. The servant’s one primary purpose is: to lead people to believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Light of the world.
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