Homily for 3 Advent B: December 11, 2011

My sisters & brothers, A couple had two little mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame.

The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed and asked to see them individually.

So, the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"

They boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open.

The clergyman repeated the question. "Where is God?"

Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.

So, the clergyman raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God!?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied: "We are in real BIG trouble this time! God is missing, and they think we did it!"

Well the good news is that God is not missing. Even though we can sometimes feel like it. Our readings today revolve around the belief that God is with his people and that his blessings are with them, especially when we are experiencing hardships.

Today we heard particularly from John’s gospel the announcement of the Baptist: declaring that the time of Lord had arrived. Believe it or not, the main point of John’s Gospel isn’t that Jesus is the Messiah. Or that he fulfills the Old Testament’s prophecies about the “Lord’s Day.” This gospel writers main point is that Jesus is GOD! Which in its day was such a radical idea that this gospel was almost rejected, not included in the bible. It seems strange to us 21st century Christians but it took believers a couple centuries to sort out who Jesus really is.

The synoptics: Mark, Matthew and Luke, seek to demonstrate that Jesus is the expected Messiah. Matthew puts the greatest detail into this message but John takes the story to a whole new level. Jesus is one and the same God who made Abraham father of the nation, set the people free from Egypt and made David king. This is the one whose birth we celebrate each Christmas. This is the one who expects his faithful people to love and assisted the oppressed, poor, sick, etc. For John, Jesus is God’s divine word of compassion spoken to the world. No my friends, God is not missing. God is here in the Christian legacy calling us to continue his example of loving compassion.