SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2022
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 7:10-14
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: PSALMS 24:1-6
SECOND READING: ROMANS 1:1-7
GOSPEL: MATTHEW 1:18-24
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English poet, philosopher and Christian apologist of repute. He was a brilliant man who could think deep thoughts and express them with clarity. However, he was sometimes extremely absent-minded and over the years he became rather notorious for getting lost. He could just absolutely forget where he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing. On one such occasion, he sent a telegram to his wife which carried these words: “honey, seems I’m lost again. Presently, I am at the market. Where ought I to be?” As only a spouse could say it, she telegraphed back a one-word reply, “home.”
This is precisely what the readings today do for us. They bring us home to the real meaning of Christmas, home to the most magnificent truth in the entire Bible, home to our Lord’s greatest promise, home to the reason we celebrate Christmas, that God is with us. This great mystery of Christmas begins in the heart and mind of the Virgin Mary. She was the first to receive Emmanuel, the first to receive His saving message and experience His saving work by prevenient grace because she was immaculately conceived and did not sin. She trusted in God and said yes to God. For this reason, the liturgy of the fourth Sunday of Advent gives pride of place to the Virgin Mary. She invites us to surrender with trust to God and His saving plan even if things don’t go the way we want. When we surrender with trust to God and His saving plan and accept Christ into our lives, nothing; not even death can separate us from God and His love. That’s what Christmas is all about, that God is with us and for us.
The background of our first reading today was the threat from the kings of Israel and Syria. Ahaz the king of Judah is afraid and does not trust the Lord. He decides to join a coalition against the Assyrians in disobedience to God. Isaiah tells him to put his trust in God and not to take refuge in any political alliance; be it with the Syrians and Ephraimites or with the Assyrians. God promises the permanent survival of the people, a remnant who will come back to the land and recover what has been lost. But Ahaz does not want to listen. The prophet said to him, “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God,” but Ahaz will not ask for a sign. This is not because he believes but because he had made up his mind to join a political alliance for protection.
God, nonetheless gave him a sign; “a maiden shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.” This is a sign that he has no reason to fear the threats made by the kings of Israel and Syria. St Paul will later say, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Hezekiah later became the son of Ahaz. His birth was the immediate fulfilment of the prophecy. His birth was a sign of divine protection. In a few years, he reached the age of reason and Judah enjoyed peace and greater prosperity than they enjoyed before the Assyrian threat. But this prophecy has a deeper meaning which was not fully realized in Hezekiah nor in the life of any other king after him. And so, this prophecy continued to live in the heart and prayers of the people as an object of hope. It is a prophecy of salvation that came to be fulfilled in Christ who is God among us.
When Moses and the Israelites were caught up between Pharaoh’s army and the deep Red Sea in a seemingly hopeless situation, he believed that God was with them, they went forward trusting that God will open a way and He did. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, it was a seemingly hopeless situation; they trusted God to be with them and He was! Little David stood before Goliath. What chance could a small boy with a slingshot have against this giant of a warrior who had terrorized all of Israel? But David believed that God was with him and it made all the difference!
On this last Sunday before Christmas, let us reflect on the nearness of God whom Pope Benedict XVI says is closer to us than we realize. Do you hunger for him as much as He wants to be with you? Let us like Mary, accept Christ in our hearts and surrender to Him with trust for He is our salvation.
Happy Sunday
Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka m.ss.cc.