THE JOY OF VENGEANCE

REFLECTIONS FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (11 DECEMBER 2022)

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"Here is your God,

he comes with vindication;

with divine recompense" (Isaiah 35:4)

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally celebrated as Gaudete Sunday. The word Gaudete means to rejoice/exult and forms the opening word of the entrance antiphon of today’s liturgy: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice… The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5). Isaiah, in the first reading, presents a list of reasons to rejoice, of which one reason stands: “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication” (Isaiah 35:4). The Hebrew word ‘naqam’ translated here (NRSV) as vindication is rendered in other versions (NIV, KJV, NASB, etc.) as vengeance, revenge, retributive justice, or requital.

Is it Christian or even human to rejoice about vengeance? How can one possibly celebrate revenge and vengeance that only perpetuate the circle of violence? Won’t an eye for an eye leave the whole world blind? Vengeance, in common parlance, means violence, payback, and retaliation. It is this meaning of vengeance that we often equate with heroism and bravery in movies, novels, and in other forms of popular culture. Exegetes opine that the understanding of vengeance in the Old Testament is not very different either. Passages including Isaiah 61:2 presents the Messiah as a warrior or a military leader and understandably, therefore, the day of His coming is portrayed as a day of vengeance.

John the Baptist, in a similar vein, spoke of the Messiah’s day as a day of wrath (Luke 3:7) that is already near. He believed that the messianic age had already begun. The axe is already at the root (Luke 3:9) and the winnowing fork is ready (Matthew 3:12). The Messiah is here to clear the threshing floor, to separate the good fruits from the bad, to gather the wheat and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17). Isn’t this how we understand God’s vengeance? Don’t we conceive the Lord’s day as a day of punishment for those who have caused us harm or those whom we judge to be evil?

For John, the day of the Lord was time for God’s revenge, retribution, and vengeance! It is understandable therefore that when John the Baptist hears about the true nature of Jesus’ ministry, he begins to have second thoughts. John was expecting a Messiah with a sword and he is now justifiably concerned to see Jesus walking with the marginalised, preaching the new law of love and forgiveness. The prophet who testified to his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God now sends them to Jesus with the question: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

Jesus challenges our understanding of God’s justice for vengeance and chastisement are His!” (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). God’s vengeance is remarkably different from our notion of justice! While Isaiah prophesied about vengeance in the future, Jesus speaks of vengeance that is at work in the present. While John the Baptist prophesied about the day of vengeance as a day of wrath and payback, Jesus shows that God’s day of vengeance is less about punishment and more about His offer of salvation.

God does not take revenge on the sinner but on the structures of sin! He challenges the evil that oppresses us and robs us of our dignity. Saint Augustine’s phrase in his Letter 211 (424 AD) summarises this meaning of God’s vengeance: cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum (with love for mankind and hatred of sins). To help us understand this alternative, counter-intuitive and counter-cultural understanding of God’s vengeance, Jesus proposes the example of his ministry: "Go and tell John what you hear and see”.

In Jesus’ mission, God’s justice is at work and this justice is not accomplished by eliminating sinners but by liberating us from the personal and structural forms of sin that enslave us. As Paul insists in the second reading, the judge is standing at the gate but he is patient. His mission opens the door to a new beginning for the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor, and those in the existential and spiritual peripheries. Yes, even God’s vengeance is Good News for it does not imprison us in the circle of violence but liberates us to the discipleship of patient love. It is this model and method of God’s vengeance that we are called to celebrate with joy this Gaudete Sunday! May God’s justice enable us to continue the patient work of the Messiah for His anawim.