3rd Sunday of Advent Year B. By Tobe Eze

Gaudete Sunday (/ɡaʊˈdɛtɛ/ gow-DEH-teh) is the third Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western Church, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, many Lutheran Churches, and other mainline Protestant churches.3rd Sunday of Advent Year B.

FIRST READING Isaiah 61:1—2a, 10—11

SECOND READING
1 Thessalonians 5:16—24

GOSPEL
John 1:6—8, 19—28

THEME: WHAT TYPE OF MESSAGE DO YOU CARRY?

There was a king who fell sick. At a point he asked his first son to go get him his native doctor to consult his ancestors to know the problem. When the native doctor arrived, after incantation, he told him that before he gets well all his brothers must die. When the king heard that, he asked him to be arrested. The king sent for another native doctor, when that one came he started like this. My king, I think before you get out of this, we have to do something about your enemies. The king asked him what they will do, he told him that his enemies are his brothers but he suggests that a sacrifice and charm for protection should be made for him but if he wants to end everything, they have to be killed. The king chose the first option. Why this story? It is about the type of messages we carry around. Sometimes we carry bad ones, sometimes good ones but in a wrong manner or place and sometimes we carry good ones at perfect place it should be. Sometimes we give people hope where there is no hope through our messages, sometimes we give people hope where there is hope. Sometimes we take away hope where there is hope through our messages. What we should ask ourselves is, what type of message do we carry about? Some are true but the communication may make it or them bad. Like when you want to tell a woman who has one son that the son is dead, it is true but there is a way you will present it and you will bury two persons and there is a way you will present it and she will understand. Mode or manner of communication.

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The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God. These are the words introduction of the first reading. We all received the spirit of God during our baptism and were all anointed with oil of chrism. My question now is, after receiving all these things do we carry good news to people or bad news? The first reading is a pointer for us. It is pointing at the way we should live as Christians so that we take good news to them.  I was telling one man to change from paganism to Christianity and he told me that if it is the same church that one man in his village who is the chairman of the station council is going, that his is not coming. He said that it is the same man who prays for them for peace in the village and goes behind to pour petrol to a burning flame of disunity. That the same man kills and snatches people’s lands from them. He further told me that the man has swallowed Bible, that he is no more swearing or taking oath with it but he has swallowed it and it does nothing to him. In conclusion, I am not coming (nwam na mmechi, adighim abia. Daluu ka isiri chetam). He thanked me for remembering him but told me explicitly that he is not coming. After trying all I could to convince him, then he promised to start but it will be when the chairman station council may have died. Eventually when the man died, the old man started church. Are you like this chairman station council or are you like Isaiah in the first reading? The Gospel, "I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said." John was preparing the way of God in the lives of the people. Do we prepare ourselves today talk more of preparing others? The message here is for us to prepare ourselves and others and while we do that we should imitate John. John did not take the glory that does not belong to him. Some of us like taking the glory that belongs to God. The second reading is the fulfilment of the first and Gospel. St. Paul in his ways tells us to stick to what is good and avoid what is evil. He prays for us with these words, “May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.”

Let us today send the real message of Christ through our words and actions. Actions speak loader than voice. When we take the message to the ends of the earth let us bear in mind that actions are more relevant and effective than words. Prepare yourself and people around you in the way of perfection for the coming saviour. THANKS AND HAPPY GAUDATE SUNDAY.