Third Sunday of Advent

Third Sunday of Advent
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Bart Morrison December 14th, 2025

Third Sunday of Advent 

Text: Matthew 11:2–19 

Rejoice. 

That is the command of this Sunday. 

Rejoice… But Why? 

The ancient Church called this day Gaudete Sunday—from the Latin word  meaning rejoice. The rose-colored vestments, the lightening of the penitential tone  of Advent, the hint that joy is breaking in—all of it signals that we are meant to  lift our eyes. 

But here is the problem: the Gospel reading does not feel very joyful. 

John the Baptist—fiery preacher, wilderness prophet, voice crying in the desert— is now sitting in prison. The man who thundered about the coming judgment,  who proclaimed the axe laid to the root of the tree, who announced that the  Messiah would come with winnowing fork and unquenchable fire—this man  now sends a message to Jesus: 

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 

That question does not sound like joy. It sounds like doubt. It sounds like  disappointment. It sounds like confusion. 

And perhaps that is precisely why this text belongs on Gaudete Sunday— because Christian joy is not naïve optimism. It is not cheerfulness. It is not  pretending that darkness is not real. 

Christian joy is something far deeper. And it is born, paradoxically, in moments  like this one.

Let us begin with John himself. 

This is the same John who leapt in the womb when Mary greeted Elizabeth. The  same John who pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The same  John who baptized Jesus in the Jordan and saw the heavens opened. 

And now he asks: “Are you the one?” 

Why? 

Because John is in prison. Because Herod has silenced him. Because the Messiah  has not overthrown the wicked or purged the land. Because judgment has not  come the way John expected. 

John believed in the Messiah. But he misunderstood the timing and manner of  the Messiah’s work. And that is something many faithful believers experience. 

John is not doubting whether God is faithful. He is struggling with how God is  being faithful. This is an important distinction. 

Doubt, in Scripture, is not always rebellion. Sometimes it is faith that has been  wounded by unmet expectations. 

John’s question is not hostile. It is honest. And notice what John does with his  confusion: He sends it to Jesus. That alone is an act of faith. 

Jesus does not rebuke John. He does not shame him. He does not send back a  theological lecture. 

Instead, Jesus says: 

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the  lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the  poor have good news preached to them.” 

Jesus answers John with Scripture fulfilled in real time. Every one of those signs  echoes Isaiah’s promises about the coming kingdom of God. 

In other words, Jesus says: “Look not at your expectations, but at what God is  actually doing.” 

The kingdom is not arriving with spectacle and violence—it is arriving with  mercy, with healing, with restoration, with good news for the poor. The Messiah  has come. But not in the way John imagined.

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Then Jesus adds a sentence that deserves careful attention: 

“And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

This is the heart of the passage. 

The word translated offended means to stumble over. To trip. To fall away because  expectations are shattered. 

Jesus knows that His way of being Messiah will disappoint many. Some will  stumble because: 

• He does not overthrow Rome. 

• He eats with sinners. 

• He forgives instead of condemning. 

• He suffers instead of conquering. 

• He will die instead of reigning—at least for now. 

And Jesus gently says: “Blessed is the one who can receive Me as I am, not as  they wish Me to be.” 

That is a word for Advent people. Because Advent is the season when we  confront the gap between our expectations and God’s purposes. 

Now we must return to the paradox of advent joy: Gaudete—Rejoice. 

How can joy coexist with uncertainty? How can joy live alongside unanswered  prayers? How can joy exist in prison cells, hospital rooms, or waiting seasons? 

Christian joy is not the absence of sorrow. It is confidence in God’s faithfulness  even when His methods surprise us. 

John’s joy was not in being released from prison. John’s joy was in knowing that  the Messiah had come—even if John himself would not live to see the victory  completed. 

That is why Jesus says of John: 

“Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John  the Baptist.”

Even in doubt, John is great. Even in confinement, John is faithful. Even in  confusion, John remains pointed toward Christ. 

This passage also teaches us something vital about the kingdom of God: the  kingdom has come. And yet, the kingdom is not complete. 

• The blind see—but not all blindness is healed. 

• The dead are raised—but death still reigns. 

• The poor hear good news—but poverty remains. 

This is the tension we live in. Advent people live between fulfillment and  completion. And joy, in this season, is not rooted in outcomes—it is rooted in  hope. 

• Hope that what God has begun, He will finish. 

• Hope that justice delayed is not justice denied. 

• Hope that the Lamb who came in humility will return in glory. So what does this text ask of us today? 

1. It invites us to bring our honest questions to Christ. If you have ever prayed,  “Lord, this is not what I expected,”you are in good company. God is not  threatened by faithful questions. He is honored when we bring them to Him  instead of away from Him. 

2. It challenges our expectations of God. We often want God to act quickly,  visibly, decisively. But God often works quietly, slowly, through weakness,  through suffering, through faithfulness rather than force. Advent teaches us to  recognize God’s work where we are not looking. 

3. It reframes joy. Joy is not pretending everything is fine. Joy is trusting that  Christ is present and active—even when the story is unfinished. That is why  Paul can say: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Not rejoice in circumstances. Not  rejoice in outcomes. But rejoice in the Lord. 

John will die in prison. He will not see Easter. He will not see Pentecost. And yet,  Jesus calls him great.

Why? 

Because John’s life pointed beyond himself. Because John trusted God’s plan  even when it cost him everything. Because John believed that God’s kingdom  was worth more than personal deliverance. 

That is Advent faith. And that is Advent joy. 

Gaudete Sunday does not tell us to ignore the darkness. It tells us that light  has already entered it. The Messiah has come. The kingdom is advancing. The  promises are being fulfilled—even now. 

So we rejoice, not because all is well, but because God is faithful. We rejoice  because the One who came in humility will return in glory. 

And we rejoice because, as Jesus says: 

“Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

May God give us grace to receive Christ as He is, to trust Him when we do not  understand, and to rejoice—always—in the Lord. 

Amen. 

©2025 The Rev. Bart Morrison.