As a musician, I very much enjoy working with the different hymns that we have throughout the different seasons. Yet, I truly enjoy the Advent Season. The Advent Hymns within the Catholic tradition, they vary in their intensity and meaning. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. O Come Divine Messiah. Awake, Awake For Night is Flying. The list can grow quite long. They vary in their meaning and intensity, and perhaps each one of us can come up with a favorite or two. I know speaking for myself, I tend to find myself gravitating towards “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” on an almost annual basis. Why is this hymn so powerful to me?
Take a look at the very beginning- the verses tend to list problems. Ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile. Until the Son of God appear. Yet, the great crescendo that punctuates the entire hymn at the end of each verse?
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
Rejoice… it is a word that fills that entire refrain with meaning and with life! Yet, how often in this life do we need to hear that word- rejoice? The Church’s liturgy tells us that something has indeed shifted, even as the entrance antiphon tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” Are we, as Gods people, currently in a place where we can rejoice ourselves, or are we currently in a place where that very word seems far removed from our hearts?
To begin to consider this question, we should first stop off with the prophet Isaiah. As we know, his purpose in his day and age is to speak to a people that are not feeling the ability to rejoice, at least not at that point in time. Yet Isaiah, in the passage that we hear this morning is speaking this message to a people that really need to hear words of comfort. Isaiah uses this very vivid imagery to start off and set out what he means. “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful son. When Isaiah is speaking to them, he is using imagery that should speak very clearly to their hearts. Yet, there is more!
Isaiah continues- Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.” We hear that the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be cleared, and the lame will leap like a stag. At the very end of this passage- those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; they will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. What does all of this mean? Something tremendous and that will cause great gladness is coming- yet it is it just for those in Israel, or is it a message meant for more than just them?
The second reading is taken from the letter of Saint James. This letter has a very simple encouragement- be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand. As James speaks, one can really feel the tenor and demeanor of those that he must be speaking to. It sounds as if he is speaking to a people that have had all sorts of calamity, and have struggled in a number of ways in their own life. So, they are given over to complaining, and perhaps even impatience. Yet, St. James doesn’t see a need for any of that, but rather encourages them to take up the example of the prophets around them who, even in hardship, still spoke about the Lord. Nothing was able to deter them from truly giving witness to the Lord and to His message.
The final passage we hear from today is taken from the Gospel of Matthew. This is very early in Jesus’s public ministry, and yet, even this early, there is already word spreading about what Jesus is doing. John the Baptist has never been one to mince words, and as a result he finds himself in prison at this time. This however doesn’t prevent him from hearing about Jesus. So, he sends messengers to ask a simple question: are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When Jesus responds, it almost seems like He doesn’t answer the actual question. He talks about the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor. He speaks affirmatively- that all of these are healed from their infirmity.
Yet, there is more to this- because we have to thread the Gospel back through Isaiah. Isaiah spoke about the ways that the one that was coming was going to give them all of these graces. So, Jesus is actually answering that question- yes, I am the one who is to come! He speaks also to John’s disciples- and reminds them that he was speaking of something important to come. It wasn’t himself that he was pointing to, but he was rather speaking about Jesus who was coming. Truly, he had set the scene for that coming, and built the people up in expectation and in joy!
Now, we need to revisit that initial question- we are in a season of anticipation and in joy- but are we feeling that joy just yet? There are so many things that can preclude that joy, and yet, we need to be aware of why the advent season is so bent on telling us about the joy of what God has set in motion for us! Think about the times in your life when you have experienced joy… whether now or long ago. What were those moments like? What really caused our joy? Often times, they might be smaller things in life. We got that promotion we were finally looking for. Perhaps we have finished that next degree. A child is born. We meet up with a relative we haven’t seen for a long time. We have a lot of things that can truly cause joy in our lives!
However, it often can likely seem that there are many more things that can cause us to lose joy in our lives. Think about all the things that upset us or cause us stress. Perhaps work isn’t going so great. The degree is taking a lot more time. We experience loss, or perhaps we have conflict and division in our families. These are all moments that seem to take away our joy, and even cause us to be upset or to be in a constant state of sorrow. What do we do about all of those moments?
The reality of what we are given, my brothers and sisters, is the reminder that the Advent theme of Joy isn’t just for a people in captivity or exile so long ago, but it is for each one of us. We are still the ones that are often in captivity and exile ourselves- and so we often find ourselves frustrated or sinking into our hurts and into despair. We have lives that can be constantly bombarded by things that seem to threaten to take away our peace and our joy- and often we start to medicate to try to distract ourselves from that.
Yet, the reminder we are given this week- we are meant to experience joy- not through the things of this life, but through Jesus, and through the reminder that He is coming for us- if we want to participate in that. However, the message from the letter of James gives us further consideration: we cannot simply expect this to come tomorrow. Often we have to wait, and we have to trust that God is going to give us what we need and is going to come to us whenever we need it- and whenever He decides it is most important for us! Yet, the final reminder for all of us: John the Baptist spoke of the joy and anticipation of a savior- and we should be so bold as to speak of that joy to others ourselves!
Rejoice, Rejoice, Emanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel!
How is your God trying to give you joy by coming to you?
