The Third Sunday of Advent (2025)
There are moments—maybe even seasons—in our lives when each of us wonders if our hard work and commitments are worth anything.
Does the work I do… do my struggles… do the sacrifices I make have any merit?
Is what I’m doing in my family, my job, my ministry really making any sort of difference?
These questions hurt because they not only ask hard questions about what we do, but, on a more fundamental level, they touch on how we see ourselves and whether we believe that our lives have value.
It’s a very human experience and it seems that this is the headspace in which we find John the Baptis in in this Sunday’s Gospel. After all, he is in prison and knows that his days are numbered. And so, he asks hard questions.: He has lived the radical lifestyle of a prophet as he fasted and prayed and called people to repentance, preparing the way and watching for the One who was to come…
Was it worth it?
Was John right?
Seeking answers, John sends his disciples to Jesus.
Jesus gives John the gift of pointing out all the signs that John’s preaching—and his life—were right on target. Through Jesus’ ministry, to which John had pointed, people are now seeing, walking, and hearing. Many have been healed and restored to fullness of life. The poor have been lifted up by the good news of God’s presence. The soil so carefully tilled and tended by John is bearing long-awaited fruit.
Jesus says to the crowds that John was “more than a prophet,” and that there has been “none greater than John the Baptist.” Presumably, this assurance is also conveyed to John, soothing his doubts and enabling him to endure patiently to the end.
All that he had done and proclaimed had been worth it.
And the key to understanding Jesus’ reply to John can be found in the words of the Prophet Isaiah that we heard in the First Reading.
Isaiah is painting a picture of a renewed creation. The desert that once seemed to be dead is now bursting with life; eyes that lacked sight, ears incapable of capturing and holding sound, limbs that were weak, and tongues devoid of speech are all given new life. Isaiah tells us that there will be no death in that age of fulfillment… no limitations… no mourning. As Scripture scholar Sister Diane Bergant reflects, “The world will be again as it was when it first came forth from the divine womb. It will be young and vibrant, innocent and brimming with promise.”
And she continues: “As we move deeper and deeper into the reality of God’s presence among us, we discover the fuller meaning of Isaiah’s words. We will realize that there is life in what we thought was death; there is strength in what we thought was weakness. The barrenness of the world’s pretensions will be revealed and the paucity of its standards will lie bared before us. The [Day of the Lord] will turn things upside down, but we will recognize our place in the world and see it in a new way” (from Preaching the New Lectionary: Year A).
This becomes the source the joy and gladness to which we are called on this “Gaudete Sunday.” We can rejoice in the Lord not as some sort of naïve refusal to see things as they really were, but because of the hope—the assurance—that springs from a deep conviction that God’s saving deeds of the past are and will be manifest in the present and future as well.
In order for us to cultivate this kind of Advent-awareness, we also have to be patient and to allow God to work when and how God wills. And this is why the words from the Letter of James are so important. “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient.”
Farmers carefully tend the soil, clear away rocks and weeds, and carefully plant the seeds. It takes both the hard work of the farmer and the gifts of the rain and sun, over which no one has control, to bring forth the hoped-for harvest. And this is the way that John prepared the way for Jesus, as he called for repentance and renewal—doing the work of the prophet—preparing Israel to receive the gift of the Messiah.
This is also what we are called to in these Advent days.: we watch and wait; we pray and serve to prepare ourselves and the world around us for the gift of the coming of the One who makes all things new.
All of this reminds us that these Advent days are a time for renewing our faith as we prepare to welcome Christ, the one to whom John had dedicated his life to preaching about… But, then, near the end, had begun to doubt.
This story of John the Baptist reminds us that faith is a decision to believe, and doubt can often play a role in the growth and the development of our faith. Our quest for kinship with Jesus deepens over time, but like any relationship, what we thought we understood often raises questions later. Faith (even a deep, convicted faith) doesn’t exclude the possibility of doubts and questions.
And yet, this Sunday, we can see how Jesus responded to John’s questions, revealing to John a deeper understanding of who he is and lovingly praising John for who John was. This should give us confidence in our own journeys of faith, even as we honestly face questions about our beliefs.
Wrestling with doubts and questions ultimately deepens faith. The road we are asked to travel may not always be clear. Like John, we might also be filled with doubts and we might fail to recognize the signs of promises fulfilled. But we also trust that that promised day will dawn in its time; all we can do is seek to live out our faith—regardless of how demanding that might be—and wait for that day patiently, trusting that it will come in God’s good time.
O God, who see how your people
faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity,
enable us, we pray,
to attain the joys of so great a salvation
and to celebrate them always
with solemn worship and glad rejoicing.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent
Homily prepared for Our Lady of Divine Providence and Old St. Mary’s Churches in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
