FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT: Year A. 23 Dec 2008

Isaiah 7: 10-14 Psalm: 24 Romans 1:1‑-7 Matthew 1:18‑-24

The headlines in today’s Toronto Star read: “One Mom. One Mall. One Challenge: to begin and finish Christmas Shopping in 60 minutes. I would say that is a good description of Stress, Chaos and Confusion. And our readings from the liturgy express similar emotions, though on a much larger scale.

1. A commander of the Army is told not to make alliances with foreign and neighbouring nations. This would involve a compromise of customs, traditions, beliefs and even adopting some of their gods and religious practices. But the Commander does not believe the prophet and goes ahead. So God takes the initiative. A sign will be given to you. A young woman will bear a child whose name is Emmanuel, God is with us.

Is the sign a judgment? You have been warned. You have disobeyed. Your reign is over. Or is it one of hope? Human beings have been told again and again. But from the time of Adam they have not listened but God will not abandon them. The sign will be one to which the People of Israel could look forward in expectation. God would be Emmanuel, still with us. And then come the third question: Is this Son a symbolic person or a real king who would deliver Israel from the mess in which Ahaz would leave the People. It is difficult to imagine a sign being given which would only be fulfilled seven hundred years later. However, the Christian Tradition has seen in this Sign given to Ahaz even when he was reluctant, the sign of Jesus, Emmanuel who is God with us. In that sense this is a Sign of hope.

2. It is a sign of hope not only for the “One woman, One mall, One challenge” but for everyone who would like to enjoy the Peace of Christmas. There are some among us who have serious problems which are accentuated and heightened by the emotional level of the Christmas Season.

• · People who are growing older and more enfeebled. They know that the move to a senior’s home is no longer going to be an option.
• · Couples whose marriage is at breaking point because of a lack of communication, financial, or fidelity issues.
• · persons recently diagnosed with cancer or renal failure or onset of Alzheimers

• Unto them a sign is given, Emmanuel - God is with us.

3. Our Gospel also paints an apparent no win situation. The wife is found to be with child before the couple has lived together. By our modern society’s standards, it is obvious she has had an affair. He is the cuckold and nothing could be more humiliating. But we cannot judge by outward appearances can we?

• · Perhaps the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares. Let us be slow to tell him to get a job!
• · Perhaps that the old couple that walked annoyingly slow through the store aisles. Remember them? They blocked our shopping progress. They are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

• This is the sign that has been given to us. Emmanuel - God is with us.

4. In the Gospel according to Luke, it is Mary who is at centre stage. The angel appears to Mary. Mary obeys God’s revelation by saying, “let it be done to me according to your will.” The onus of telling parents, friends and family and especially her husband to be lies squarely on Mary’s shoulder. Joseph seems to be in the background. He is almost an after thought.

In our Gospel, which is taken from Matthew, the roles seem to be reversed. There is no Annunciation, no Visitation to Elizabeth. It is Joseph who is at centre stage. The angel appears to Joseph. It is Joseph who has to say, “Let it be so” to God’s will. Joseph has the choice either to divorce or keep Mary as his wife.

5. Joseph appears only four times in the Gospels.

Once: in today’s Gospel.

Once: at the flight into Egypt.

Once: at the return to Nazareth.

Once: at the loss in the Temple.

In none of these occasions, does he utter a word. He apparently is the strong silent type. His faith is shown in action. He acts. He does. He moves. But that does not mean he is not under stress, under chaos, under confusion. It does not mean he does not doubt whether what he is doing is the correct thing to do.

6. For people of deep faith and obedient to God’s law, or as the first Psalm says, “blessed is the one who walks in the ways of the Lord and follows not the path of the wicked” - for these people it is always a matter of second guessing. “Am I doing enough? Does God expects me to do more?” Against all the Wisdom of his contemporary world, Joseph would decide to do what was right and just. He would divorce Mary in private. He would not humiliate her in public. But Emmanuel, God is with us - is also with Joseph. He is called to do something even better. Joseph is called to accept in faith the Word made flesh who came to dwell among us, because God so loved this world in which we live.

“The Word came into the world and as many as received Him, God gave them the power to become the children of God.” One people, one world, one challenge: to begin and finish with Wisdom and Understanding, with Counsel and Might, with Knowledge and the fear of God as Isaiah promised us. May this fourth Sunday find Peace in the midst of Chaos, Silence in the midst of Confusion, and Joy which the Lord came to give us.

May you have SILENCE

to hear His quiet coming;

PEACE to feel Love subtly stirring

JOY to respond and

HOPE renewed

APPENDIX:

Perhaps we might remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.

Perhaps we will be slow to judge that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly. He could be a worried 19‑-year‑-old college student. He has his final exams on which he cannot concentrate, because with budget cuts, his student loans for next semester are uncertain.