This weekend we hear in Matthew’s Gospel of John the Baptist sitting in a jail cell and wondering if he placed his bets on the wrong guy…questioning if the Lord is anywhere near to him. Then again, when we are faced with adversity, doubt, and loss how often have we questioned “Where is God?” and “Is the Lord anywhere near?” See how a street corner in Louisville and the wisdom of Thomas Merton may just open our eyes to see in a new way so that we can join in the chorus of Gaudete! Rejoice! on this 3rd Sunday of Advent.

1. 1 Deacon Jim Knipper
11 December 2022 3rd
Sunday of Advent - Cycle A Princeton, NJ
This morning we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Advent - also called Gaudete Sunday. The name is taken from the first
word of the Entrance Antiphon – Rejoice! Or in Latin – Gaudete! The antiphon reads: “Rejoice always in the Lord;
again I say, rejoice. Indeed the Lord is near.” But my question to you, this day, is just how near to us is he?
For if we listen to the Gospel there seems to be a disconnect. For on this Sunday, where we are reminded to “rejoice
in the Lord’, we hear of John the Baptist sitting in his jail cell and wondering if he placed his faith, his time and his
energy on the wrong person – wondering indeed, if the Lord is near. He was asking, “Are you the one who is to
come, or should we look for another?”
Sounds like John may have had different expectations of what the Messiah would be doing. After all he was the one
‘preparing the way for the Lord’, and now he finds himself sitting in dark, damp, dreary jail cell. Perhaps he was under
the impression that the Christ would appear and with the wave of his hand would do away with all suffering,
discrimination, hate and fear. Then again, when we are faced with adversity, doubt, and loss how often have we
questioned “Where is God?” and…“Is the Lord anywhere near?”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ response to this question was basically, “Go back and tell John of all that you see and hear
and that I have come to proclaim good news to the poor, the outcast, the sinners, those discriminated against – to all
people who are living on the edge. Indeed, Jesus was doing things way differently than most had expected – for his
focus was always serving those on the edges of society – meeting them where they are.
Author Ernest Boyer Jr in his book, A Way in the World, writes about the spirituality of the ‘center’ and the ‘edge’. He
defines the center as where you feel most at home. It is a place of safety and comfort where you are surrounded by
familiar, daily rituals. Your edge is that place which is unfamiliar, and filled with newness. While it is the space where
you are most uncomfortable, it is also where you learn the most about life and love and can deeply experience God.
Sometimes we have no choice and are thrown into our edges, other times it requires us to have a great deal of
courage to move from our comfortable centers into the unknown – into places where we are not in control.
The Bible gives us many examples such spirituality: such as the Israelites leaving Egypt in Exodus and Joseph the
dreamer, sold into slavery by his brothers. For Jesus – it is the story of how he began his ministry, when after his
baptism and hearing of his Father’s love, Jesus is taken into the desert to face the temptations of power and of self.
Painful but grace-filled movements from center to edge and back again.
But it would seem that John the Baptist and many of the disciples had the expectation that this Jesus the Christ, this
Messiah would be the one who would help them build up their ‘centers’ – and bolster their egos. Instead, Jesus
practiced a spirituality which focused on those on the edges, independent of who they were or what they did or what
sins they committed. He invited all people to move with him to his center – to experience God’s love – and to be the
shining light of Christ.
In years past, I traveled to Louisville a few times each year. And when I did, I made sure I walked through the city
and stopped at the corner of 4th and Walnut. Some 60 years ago, that intersection was the epicenter of the city’s
battle over racial segregation and discrimination. It is also the street corner where on March 18, 1958, while running
errands for the monastery, Thomas Merton had an epiphany.
Listen to what Merton wrote:

2. 2 Deacon Jim Knipper
“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed
with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one
another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness… I have the immense
joy of being a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human
condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot
be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
In a time and place where African Americans were discriminated against and treated as second class citizens, he
experienced that we are the same, we are all united and no one should ever be separated from the rest of the human
race. That the light of Christ shines forth equally from all people: black, white, red, blue, Christian, Muslim, citizen,
undocumented, married, divorced, straight or gay.
This is why we come together as community. Jesus did not come to fulfill our private needs – he did not come to
bolster our centers, our egos - rather he came to be with us in our edges. This is why we gather to celebrate and live
out the Scripture that we hear each week, because each of us have different centers and edges. Your edge may be
my center - your center, my edge - and her edge and my edge, his center. And when we interact with each other,
help each other, pray with and for each other, without judgement or division, we move ourselves and pull others into
a common center – which is what we heard Isaiah describe in last Sunday’s readings as the Peaceable Kingdom of
God. A place where the “baby shall play by the cobra’s den and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.” Images
given to us in order to awaken us, shock us, and coax us into realizing how different the ‘kingdom to come’ is from
our own current reality – where the difference seems to be incomprehensible.
That is why during Advent we are called to celebrate that the Kingdom of God – while is still to come - is also right
here and now. That the Lord is truly near through God’s presence in each and every one of us. That today’s call to
Rejoice! is to celebrate that we are never abandoned by God – for the Lord is always near.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell him that the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear,
and the poor will have the good news proclaimed to them. In other words, that our life is not all about building up our
center – but rather moving from our center to the edges and connecting with others and proclaiming the good news
to them….thereby bringing the Kingdom to come into the present. Jesus reiterates this later on in Matthew when he
talks about the Kingdom of God that is yet to come and the criteria for judgment will be based on the times that we
feed the hungry, clothe the naked and welcome the stranger.
In order words – that the actions we take each day should be an active participation which brings the Kingdom to
those who come into our lives – versus spending our time hoping and praying and thinking we can earn the Kingdom
which is to come.
That is what we are called to do as we announce the Good News: that through all of us, God cares for the hungry,
the poor, the lonely, the sick, the broken, the empty, God cares for you and for me, especially when we find
ourselves living on the edge. For the Reign of God is here, is now, is with us. That is why, as we cross the halfway
point of Advent we shout Rejoice – for in two weeks we will celebrate Emmanuel, the great I AM, God with us, God
among us, God incarnate, God fully human and fully alive.
So…Rejoice! Gaudete! Stay Awake! Stay Connected! Look outward and participate in the great and mighty deeds
of the Lord, the Christ, the one who is, indeed, always and forever very near!