Joy from Jubilee to Incarnation

The Roman Catholic Lectionary brings texts for rejoicing on Gaudete Sunday or “rejoicing Sunday” The passage from Trito-Isaiah, which Scripture scholars date to after the Babylonian exile is tied to the Jewish Jubilee tradition which provided a restart for agriculture and freedom for slaves. Jesus proclaims the joy of Isaiah in Luke 4.18 at the beginning of His public ministry. Friar Jude Winkler comments on the joy shown in the restoration of the earth as Nature responds to the time of Jubilee. Tradition informs much of our action during Advent and the Christmas season. The tradition of a paraenesis or last minute instruction is used by Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians to exhort us to strive for holiness in rejoicing and prayer. Our prayerful reflection in Advent, as Friar Jude notes, is also traditionally addressed to the “end times”. This is in harmony with Nature in the Northern Hemisphere as the length of sun time during the day shortens.Rev. Dr. J. Carl Gregg invites us to really hear the Canticle (as Responsorial Psalm) known as the Magnificat which is  Mary’s enthusiastic song in response to Jesus’ impending birth. He invites us to consider What Christianity would look like if the focus were more on the situation in society today. Maureen McCann Waldron invites us to recognize Jesus in our presence, and feel him healing us in our most unlovable places; encouraging us to offer hope to the downtrodden, and holding us close, wrapped in a cloak of his gentle love. When the Levites came to John the Baptist, as described in the Gospel from John today, they encounter the voice crying in the wilderness who the Evangelist writes is to called give witness to the person of Jesus. The text uses the of untying the sandal in the Levirate marriage law to symbolically indicate that not John the Baptist, but Jesus is to be the Bride of Israel and raise up children as a consequence of Israel treating Yahweh as if dead. The deep tradition which surrounds our preparation to celebrate the Incarnation is rooted in the call for believers to bring the Jubilee joy to all the nations.