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Prepare Ye the Way:
Building Roads & Rejoicing
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12/15/2019 Year C, Gaudete Sunday, Matt 11:1-11
St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, Inverness, CA.
Read (MS Word): 2019.12.15 Prepare Ye The Way – Gaudete Sunday Draft 4
Listen (audio file):
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(Transcript below):
Prepare ye the way of the Lord… (sung 4x)
When I was six years old, my mother was cast in the musical Godspell – which opened with the call of John the Baptizer… And I was hooked from that first line. My mom spent hours every day rehearsing the songs, and I learned them as well by singing along. We weren’t Christian, and it wasn’t an act of worship or a religious practice for her; but without realizing it, and without intention, it became one for me. Over the years, songs from the show have sustained me and comforted me, have been there as a reminder and a prayer.
Today we celebrate the third Sunday in Advent – called Gaudete Sunday, the day of rejoicing. The name comes from the opening words of an antiphon that was traditionally sung on this day, “GauDEte in Domino semper – rejoice in the Lord always.” It’s also sometimes called, “Rose Sunday” – hence the color of the third candle in our Advent wreath.
But why are we rejoicing as we begin our 3rd week of Advent?
We have been waiting and sitting with what it is to wait and not know who or what will come – and today, we begin to look towards the coming of God in human form… Emmanuel, “God with us.” According to An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, “The theme of the day expresses the joy of anticipation at the approach of the Christmas celebration.” The joy of anticipation. We don’t always put those two thoughts together, and it brings a new meaning or nuance to the Baptizer’s call to prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord now… because we anticipate that God is to come among us very soon.
It is thought that the Gospel According to Matthew was written some time around the year 80 CE, not by the disciple himself but by one of his followers who sought to share Matthew’s teachings with the people of their growing community of Christ-followers. It reflects the Hebrew scriptures more than other gospels, and the author is concerned with proving that Jesus was the culmination of those scriptures, that he was the foretold messiah.
In today’s Gospel, what Jesus has to say is really in two parts. The first is for his cousin John – and the second is about him. John had sent his followers to ask Jesus, “are you the one we’ve been waiting for? The one we have been told would come?” Jesus tells Johns followers to relate back to their teacher what has come to pass: people who were blind and deaf can see or hear, the dead have been raised… and those who are poor have the Gospel, the Good News preached to them.
Our reading from the Prophet Isaiah[1] said that we are to, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear!” In this darkness of mid-winter, we must look for joy; amidst social unrest and political upheaval, worries and concerns, and sometimes the anxiety or unease that comes with this season for many, we must look for joy. And to help us find it, that we may bring it to others, it seems to me that we could dearly use some Good News. Some FAITH in the midst of uncertainties; some HOPE in the face of fear, despair and grief; some LOVE shared among family, friends and all whom we encounter – whether or not they hold the same views or beliefs as we do; some GRACE to help us as we encounter each other in our waiting.
After John’s disciples leave, Jesus asks his own followers what called them to follow the John into the wilderness and asks what they saw there… maybe not what they expected. Not a “reed shaken by the wind” – someone who would bend by what popular opinion said, but “a prophet, and more than a prophet…” In fact, Jesus says that John is a messenger – is THE Messenger foretold by Isaiah, the one who has been sent to prepare a way. I think we read and hear that phrase so often that it becomes merely words or at best metaphorical.
But it is a visceral thing.
Building roads – whether literal or figurative – requires disruption: breaking ground, upheaval of dirt and rock… building spiritual roads causes upheaval of lives, sometimes uprooting stability and even faith. It can shake us to our core. Isaiah knew this when he spoke of a return of God’s people to Zion through the wilderness and Jesus knew it when he spoke of John as the one who Isaiah was prophesying about. By them we are asked, called, exhorted to prepare the way of the Lord. In our communities, in our world… in our hearts and in our lives.
I loved listening to my mother sing songs from Godspell. I learned them alongside her and I still recall most of them. One thing I haven’t told you though is that from the start, while the songs made me want to to sit at Jesus’ feet and to sing like Mary Magdalen – I wanted to be John the Baptist. I wanted to be the one who called everyone to gather and listen to what Jesus had to say, to make a road for God to travel and make room for God to come among them. And here I find myself!
So come, gather and rejoice in anticipation. And as we continue in our Advent journey of waiting for God to be birthed into the world, we are reminded to prepare with joy. Come. Gather. And joyfully prepare ye the way of the Lord!
[1] Is. 35:3-4