Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
Our mission is simple: We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass. Because it’s fun to feel smart about scripture.
Greetings! Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. That’s the PINK candle, which stands for HOPE. It is also called “Gaudate Sunday.” We will hear messages of Hope.
Reading 1 Isaiah, 61: 1-2, 10-11
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel.)
Isaiah is 66 chapters in length, the longest book of the bible. We are at the end now. At this point, Isaiah is talking to the Israelites as they return from the Babylonian exile.
The quick version is:
– The kingdom divided after King Solomon. There was the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.
– the people kept turning away from God. He sent prophets to help them turn back, like Jeremiah. They did not listen.
– Eventually King Nebechudnezzar plucks them out of their homeland and into exile.
In this reading, the people get to return to their homeland. But they are beaten down. They have been slaves again for a while now, like they had been in Egypt.
Isaiah’s prophecy is directed toward a people who long for God to restore both the land AND the people. It’s important to remember, God punishes for the sake of restoration. Not just because he feels like it.
The Israelites were punished in exile, and now they look to restore the land and the people. This is a reading of hope:
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.
I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations.
How are you in need of restoration right now?
How are you in need of a fresh start?
How are you like the Israelites, and how can your “land” (family, home, work) and your people (extended family, children) be restored with God’s guiding hand?
It is a beautiful reading full of rejoicing.
Responsorial PSALM: “My soul rejoices in my God.”
Isaiah 61:10
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
Today’s response is not a psalm – the verses are from Luke’s gospel and the response is from Isaiah, chapter 61. The same reading we just heard: “My soul rejoices in my God.” Read these verses aloud.
Imagine the Isrealites saying this to God as they restore their land. Imagine yourself saying this to God today as you restore a part of your life that needs to be rebuilt.
Reading 2
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
(The 2nd reading is usually from Paul’s letters. Speaks to how the early church was built after Christ’s death and resurrection).
These are the final 9 verses of Paul’s first letter to Thessalonica. Again, a theme of rejoicing – the Lord is near!! Pray without ceasing.
How do we do this? How can this possibly be accomplished? It means that every action we do, every thought that we have, be ordered toward God and His plan.
Even making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the morning as out kids race out the doors! When done with love, this is a way to pray, believe it or not.
So is bringing a meal to a loved one. Praying a decade of the rosary for another who is struggling. We are taught here to REFRAIN from evil and RETAIN what is good.
How simple to say! How hard to do.
How do you refrain from Evil?
How do you retain what is good?
It’s about choosing.And this final wish from Paul:
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.
GOSPEL:Chapter 1:6-8, 19-28
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
This isn’t about John the gospel writer, but rather John the Baptist. The one who paved the way for Christ. Can you imagine two rubber bands and 1 pencil?
Loop the 2 ends of the rubberbands around one pencil. Now pull one rubberband to the left with one hand, and one to the right with the other hand (the pencil stays in the center).
- Look at the rubberband stretching to the left. That’s the old testament prophets.
- Look at the rubberband stretching to the right. That’s the gospel writers.
- The part of the rubber band that is in both – that is, around the one pencil? That’s John the Baptist. He is the “BRIDGE.”
- Jesus himself says John the Baptist is above all other prophets. He ushers in The Way.
Here, today, we hear, “He was NOT the light, but came to testify TO the light.” Jesus is the light, the light of the 3rd candle:
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
And this is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests
and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
He admitted and did not deny it,
but admitted, “I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘make straight the way of the Lord,’”
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptizing.
So who IS John the Baptist? He says he is Not the Christ. He is not Elijah.
He is “the voice of one crying out in the desert. Make straight the way of the Lord.” We see here that John was sent from God. He is a messenger. He is sent to prepare us for Christmas, and for the coming of Christ. He speaks the familiar words of Isaiah to his audience “Make straight his paths.”
What is our role in the coming of Christ at Christmas?
Are we the light or are you testifying TO the light? How are we doing this? Are we doing things to prepare for Christ to come into your heart? How are we preparing our family, our hearts for The Way?
Today is a day of Hope. Hope is eternal when we look to Christ and believe.
When we lose hope, Satan wins. All he wants is for us to lose hope, to blow out the pink candle.
Let us affix our eyes on Christ and live in Hope!
Banquet of the Word 