Narnian Waiting in Hope: 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B

Readings for the Day:

• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
• Psalm 126 
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
• Canticle 15
• John 1:6-8,19-28

Sermon:

In C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we begin with the land of Narnia trapped in perpetual winter. The forces of evil are on the rise, and all other creatures have gone into hiding as best they can. They are waiting for salvation, a salvation that has been prophesied in the past. Two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve will come into the land, and Aslan will come to bring spring to Narnia once again.

And when those four children from earth come, it is a time of rejoicing. It brings about the arrival of Father Christmas, the epitome of celebration. Aslan has not yet come then, He is still merely on the way, but still, there's that rejoicing because the expected hour is drawing near.

This story very much incapsulates what Advent is about. It's what we hear about in the readings today as well.

The people of Israel had been in captivity for a long time. Captive under other nations and captive under the realities of sin, just as we all are. And they needed someone to come and save them.

They looked to God to save them. Because He was the only one who could.

And through God they had the promise of a Messiah to come and set them free from captivity, from tyranny. From all those things that draw us away from God.

It's in the hope of this promise that the Israelites were able to rejoice as we see in Isaiah and in the Psalms. It's how Mary was able to rejoice, and we with her in the Song of Mary we sang this morning. The Israelites had hope. And so they rejoiced, and as we hear in 1 Thessalonians, we rejoice with them.

This is what the season of Advent is about. It is a time where we look at those things that bind us and make us captive. It's where we look at those things and actions that keep us away from God. It's the time where we turn to God and let Him free us from those things. It's where we let Him "sanctify us entirely", as 1 Thessalonians says.

It's the time where we wait patiently, like Narnia and like the Israelites. We wait for God to come more fully into our hearts and minds. We wait and listen to the words of those who have come before us, like John the Baptist, to help us to turn, to help us repent, and to help us to make that extra room in our lives for God to be present.

This is the time of preparation, of waiting. And at the end of that time, our hope is that we will recognize more fully the saving power of Christ Jesus in our lives. The hope is that we will come to know that we have hope, hope in our God who would deign to come down and be human with us.

This is the time of preparation. And when we have done that, when we have let God in, then will be the time of feasting, the great feast of Christmas.