Homily For Third Sunday of Advent Year B (Gaudete Sunday), 17th December, 2023

Readings: Is 61:1-2,10-11; Ps.: Luke 1:46-50,53-54; 1Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

 

THE JOY OF DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

 

Every third Sunday of Advent the Church celebrates Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday in Advent season when we are called to rejoice for the coming of the Lord is very near. Little wonder the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass begins by saying: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. Yes, On this Sunday, we put on rose vestments a colour that is only used twice in the entire liturgical year, first on a day like this when we celebrate the Gaudete Sunday and secondly on the fourth Sunday of Lent when we celebrate the Laetare Sunday. This Gaudete Sunday is named as such because we are called to rejoice in the Lord forever.

 

So, our focus this Sunday is on the theme of Joy. That is the joy of discovering our true identity which is rooted in Christ the Lord.  We can recall that for the past two Sundays of Advent our focus was on the aspects of Hope and Peace. Today’s theme of Joy ushers us into the most important disposition of the season of Advent that calls us to discover our true identity in preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas when the true Joy of the Lord will be born in our hearts.

 

As we know, human identity is one of the most important things in every society. We are often quick to identify ourselves with people or disassociate ourselves from people because of the value we hold as our identity. But the surprising thing is that most people do not know their true identity. Many people spend their entire lives without knowing who they are.

 

But this is not the case for John the Baptist in our Gospel passage today, who when approached by the priests and Levites sent by the Jews from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you? He not only declared his identity as a voice that is crying in the wilderness, he also declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ. And he went ahead to tell us about the identity and the personality of Christ saying: “I baptize with water; but there stands among you unknown to you, the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandal.

 

The most striking thing here is the fundamental question placed before John the Baptist which says: Who are you and what do you say about yourself? This is a fundamental question because it points out the fundamental reality of who we are and what we have identified ourselves with. A lot of people do not know who they are or what they have identified themselves with. A lot of people today are suffering and struggling because they do not know who they are and the identity they bear. Some have misplaced their identity with something else, some are putting on an identity that doesn’t belong to them.

 

Dear friends, Who are you? What is your identity? What is the source of your identity? Whose identity are you putting on now? Why are you putting on someone else identity? Why have you misplaced your identity? John the Baptist was very clear about his identity, he was clear that he was not the Christ. He was clear that he was not Elijah. John was clear that he was not the prophet, he was only the voice of one crying in the wilderness, making straight the way of the Lord.

 

John knew his identity and his role in God’s economy of salvation. He was clear on who he was not and who he was. He was also clear on who Jesus is. So he was able to point others clearly to Jesus as the only Savior whom they desperately needed. Therefore friends, we must truly know who we are and our true identity. For us to effectively point others to Jesus, we need to be clear about who we are. It is only when our sense of who we are before God as a Christian begins to shape how we live and what we do that we begin to play our role effectively and be fruitful. Also, it is only when we are clear on who we are in God’s kingdom, that we can effectively point others to Christ.

 

Today we are called to rejoice for Christ our true identity is close at hand.  And for those who truly desire to know their true identity, St. Paul in our second reading tells us to rejoice always, pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects us to do in Christ Jesus our true identity, who prophet Isaiah in our first reading tells us that the spirit of the Lord has been given to him, for the Lord has anointed him. He has sent him to bring Good News to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; and to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. Dear friends, our true identity is only found in the person of Christ Jesus. All we need is to dispose yourselves for him to reveal his true identity to us and in him, we will find our true identity and our joy will be complete.

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, our true identity is found only in you through Christ your son, as we rejoice and celebrate his coming in glory, may we be filled with the joy of his presence who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. God bless you.