Sometimes Advent is presented as a penitential season, almost a mini-Lent, a time for reflection on our inadequacy or unworthiness in the face of the incomprehensible gift that God gave us by sending His son. But today’s readings don’t fit in any way with that mindset. It’s all about rejoicing!
Maybe rather than penance, we should be thinking in terms of preparation. And yes, preparation involves cleaning up and getting the place fit for visitors, and perhaps we find that a tad penitential – but the point isn’t to make us feel bad, it’s so we have somewhere nice for our guests to come in. Maybe in Lent we’ll think more about penance, and consider how to avoid some of the layers of confusion that have been piled on over the centuries. For now let’s focus on the rejoicing.
If you sneak a look forward to next week’s readings, you’ll see that we finally arrive at something that is recognizably a Christmas story (the Annunciation, the visit by the angel Gabriel to Mary). This week it seems like we are still being held at the threshold – we’re almost there but not quite. Our Gospel repeats the story of John the Baptist that we heard last week from Mark. Today we hear John’s version (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28). We tend to think of John’s gospel as very different from the others, and in some respects it is. But leaving aside his cosmic introductory section, John starts in exactly the same place as Mark and makes exactly the same explicit link back to the prophecy of Isaiah. We heard that also last week, but today Isaiah has moved on still further – from the challenges of week 1, to the confidence of week 2, to now an ecstatic joy in realizing what God is doing for his people: “I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul”. (Is 61:1-2A, 10-11)
As followers of Christ we will experience many different things, good and bad, in our lives. We will have the range of feelings that all human beings have. But the message of Isaiah, repeated even more emphatically by Paul (if that is possible) is rejoice! Paul tells the Thessalonians (1 Thes 5:16-24): “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks” Not sometimes, when we’re in a good mood, when we are not weighted down by troubles and disappointments and anxiety – always!
If we’re not a people of joy, what’s the point? And how would we ever convince anyone else that we have “good news” to tell? Now your reaction might be – sure, great in theory, but get real! How can I be joyful under all circumstances?
Being joyful is a choice we make, it’s not a mood that comes over us from somewhere else. Love, faith, hope, and joy are things we chose, not things that happen to us. Is the choice always easy to make? – of course not. But it is there for us to make. And as with everything else it takes practice. And like all practice we need to do it when we don’t feel like it, otherwise we don’t progress. The great thing about Christmas is that it gives us many opportunities to feel joyful. Despite the state of the world, and maybe our own feelings, there are obvious signs of joy and happiness around us. Find them, focus on them, rejoice always.