THIRD  SUNDAY IN ADVENT

1. It is beginning to look a lot like  Christmas at least in the Commercial world. The signs are  clear:

candy canes and fairy lights and holly at the front  door

trees in the Grand Hotel and in the Parks

bells are ringing and choirs singing carols.

Our readings also have to do with  a lot of signs. But these road signs paint a different picture, a different  reality. At first sight it is a reality of abandonment and therefore  despair.

The people are in exile

The people have lost their land,  their temple, their freedom.

However like the mistletoe and the  Christmas presents, there are signs which Isaiah says point to the Hope in the  hearts of the People of Israel. The new signs are

the blind will see,

the deaf will hear

the desert will flourish

the exiles will come back home.

There can be only one Emotion that  will possible: Rejoice.

2.Ah, yes Rejoice - but When? Those of you  who have children, and have taken them in a Car on a trip, must have heard the  question: ARE WE THERE YET? and sometimes before you have even gone two blocks  from your house. The Congregation in the time of the Second Reading, the letter  from James, were asking the same question: Are we there yet? We are to Rejoice, but when? The  people in the early church were expecting the immediate Final Coming of Jesus.  According to the Scriptures, Jesus had said, “There are some of you living who  will not taste death when the Son of Man comes again in his glory to Judge the  Living and the Dead.” so they were convinced that it would happen any moment  now.

However, the final coming was  taking long in coming and so James, a Wise Old Man had to exhort them to have  PATIENCE. Are we there yet? Some were so tired of waiting,  that they began to adopt the policy.  Let  us eat drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die. However since Tomorrow did  not seem to come, they did not take it seriously. So James had to tell them that  they did not need NEW SIGNS, but rather they were to prepare themselves for the  Lord’s Coming. They were to

strengthen their hearts

to stop grumbling

to bear their sufferings patiently.

3. The Gospel also speaks of signs but this  time the search for Signs does not come from an impatient people from the early  Church of the time of St. James. It does not come from a discouraged people of Israel in exile. But it comes from an  unexpected source. It comes from someone near the heart of Jesus, it comes from  his own cousin: John the Baptist.

John and Jesus were so different  but they were also very close, and had the same  experiences.

both directed people to the Kingdom of God. John directed them to the Messiah,  the one they were awaiting. Jesus directed them to the  Father.

both would criticize the Spiritual Leaders of moral  bankruptcy.

both would pay the price of this preaching, with their  lives.

However John was seeking the Kingdom of God on Right Order and  Justice

the order would be restored

the wicked would be punished

justice would be seen to be done.

The purpose of the Messiah was to  see that the Judgment of God would be enacted.

3b Jesus on the  other hand had a different way of pointing to the Kingdom of God.

it would be the way of mercy and compassion

instead of using arms and force, he would seek peace with  justice.

instead of mixing with the righteous he would be in the company of the  sinners and tax collectors.

Now  that John was in prison, and he had time to think. He found the way and means of  Jesus confusing and it left him perplexed. He was sure that Jesus was the  Messiah. All the signs were there. At the baptism, the heavens opened and he saw  the Spirit of God descend in the form of a dove. But now things did not add up.  And so he sends his disciples with the question: Are you the  One?

Jesus  does not answer directly. Jesus points to the signs given by Isaiah: the blind  will see, the deaf will hear, and the poor will have the good news preached to  them. You John have eyes to see - you can read the  signs.

4.  In our own times - we too need signs. The  times are confusing.

we seek equality of rights between men and women: job opportunities,  salary equality, a voice in the Church - to mention the  obvious.

we have same sex marriage issue. The Gay community forms a large part of  this parish. Meanwhile there are the traditional families - including my own  parents who will say the Church laws must be obeyed: no ifs, buts, or  perhaps.

we have Stem cell research. It gives better life and freedom for so many  that are disabled. But there is also the rights of the Unborn - and the belief  that from the first moment of conception: there is a full potential human being  whose rights must be upheld.

And  so the signs of Isaiah and repeated by Jesus are so needed by us today. We need  to put aside our Blindness and see each other as people who make up our church  with sincere but opposite ways of looking at Truths of our  Church.

We  need to have ears to hear, especially those of us who have our minds set.   have made up my mind, do not confuse me with  facts.

5. We have had the first coming in History,  2000 years ago, when Christ was born as a babe in Bethlehem. We will have the final coming on a  day and year we do not know. It is this Middle coming: the coming in our midst  in our own time, that needs to look at the Signs. The Kingdom of God is all inclusive: the saint and the  sinner, the rich and the poor, people of all creeds, and  orientations.

Can we have the Patience that James advocates in the Second Reading.  Patience with others, but much more with ourselves

Can we have the Hope that Isaiah speaks of in the first Reading.

The  signs of our time is the Sacrament we celebrate just now: the Broken Bread and  the One Cup we share. The brokenness is seen

in our sins

in our intolerance, and perhaps blindness to other people’s  views

in our desire that OUR philosophy of life should be  accepted.

But  there is a Cup that is shared. The cup of generosity - filled to the brim and  running over. The cup of inclusiveness, you differ from me in out look and life  style, but our values are the same: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ is  coming again.

appendix

In  the Gospel today, Jesus urges the disciples of John the Baptist to look for  signs as well signs that Jesus is truly the one sent by God. The signs include  dramatic transformations in people, physical disabilities healed, Good News  proclaimed to the poor.

These  signs are similar to those prophesied by Isaiah in the first reading: physical  transformation in the bodies and hearts of God's people and in the desert lands  where the Chosen People lived. Such signs would herald the approach of God  coming to save the people, to turn their sadness and mourning into joy.