Third Sunday of Advent – 15th December 2024

It would be fair to say that we all have our own favourite image or picture of God or Jesus. In the Old Testament God is described as wind, fire, a shepherd, a mighty rock and a shield, among others. In the gospels, Jesus spoke of himself as the Bread of Life, the Light of the Word, the Water of Life and the Vine, just to name a few. These earthly images help us to talk about God and Jesus in ways that are easy for us to grasp and understand. They help us to relate to God in our own words and images. But no word, image or picture of God that we use can ever fully grasp the fullness of God’s own identity.

However, in the first reading for today’s mass from the Prophet Zephaniah we are given a wonderful life-giving and joyous image of God: we are told not be afraid anymore; God has overturned or done away with our sentence; the Lord, the king of Israel is in our midst and is very close to us.

Then, finally we are told God ‘will exult and rejoice over you; he will renew you with his love; he will dance with shouts and joy for you as on a day of festival.’ Our God is a singing and dancing God! God is not angry, fearsome, judgmental, remote, silent or distant. Our God is in our midst, with us, singing and dancing with joy over each of us. This is a very healthy and life-changing image of God that we can rejoice in and take great comfort from as we take another step on our Advent Journey.