Fourth Sunday of Advent A  Dec 19, 2010

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

It is six more days for Christmas, but we already say: Emmanuel = God is with us. All our readings, including the psalm speak of the presence of God in our midst.

Sometimes we might be reluctant to have God in our midst. It might be that we are afraid of being too demanding like King Ahaz was afraid of asking for a sign. It might be that we are conscious of our own sinfulness: that we are soiled and dirty with sin. Peter said as much to Jesus after the miraculous catch of fish: "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Luke 5:8. In general, we want to get our act together before we appear in the presence of the Lord. Like the Centurion we say: "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home” Matt 8:8. The reality is: When will we ever be worthy? When can we ever fill every valley or level every mountain?

Ahaz was afraid and so are we. There are two ideas that immediately arise from our desire to be worthy before coming into the Lord’s presence or demanding a sign from the Lord.

The first is that we will never have enough time to straighten our everything in our lives, even if we spent a 1000 lives! Neither the Church nor God will give us the luxury of time and energy to get our act together. The Kingdom of God is here and now.

Secondly, if we do get our lives in order – then we do not need a Saviour. We have achieved our own salvation. God wants us to come into his presence just as we are – saint or sinner.

Ahaz will not ask for a sign, but God will give him a sign anyway. Like the Scribes and Pharisees, we do not think we need a Saviour, but God will give us one anyway. In response to this we sing in the Psalm: May the Lord come in; he is the King of glory. We invite the Lord to come him addressing Jesus the Messiah by different titles that we find in the Old Testament, especially in the prophet Isaiah. We say

Come, O Wisdom from the Mouth of the Most High

Come, O Lord and leader of Israel

Come, O Root of Jesse

Come, O Key of David

Come, O Radiant Dawn

Come, O King of Nations

Come, O Emmanuel       (see appendix)

These are the O Antiphons that we have been reciting from the 17^th December and they end in a crescendo leading up to Christmas.  The Lord comes with a purpose as we see in the opening verses of Paul’s letter to the Romans. The Lord comes so that we might be Messengers of the Gospel, we might be apostles of the Good News.  The good news is that Emmanuel – God is with us. Later on during the Mass we will say during the Lord’s prayer:

Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done. The Kingdom is already in our midst. God is with us. Paul will wish us the Grace of God and Peace. These are the very prayers that follow the Lord’s prayer, as we say: “Deliver us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of Our Saviour.” This is what we are doing with greater intensity during this fourth week of Advent.

In our Gospel, we find our gaze fixed on Joseph. He is a man who at this moment is not at peace. He is a man who is in a quandary. His wife to be is already pregnant. He will not humiliate her, but dismiss her quietly. He too is awaiting the coming of the Messiah, and he is oblivious of the fact that the Messiah is physically so close to him. He does not know how close he is to that awesome event.

On the second Sunday of Advent, John calls us to prepare the way of the Lord. This preparation was not only for the Holy Night in the Little Town of Bethlehem. It was a call for a preparation of the entire Christ Event: his birth, His public life, His command to Love, His suffering and death, His resurrection, His promise to come again in glory.

Joseph is enlightened to the Christ Event. He is brought out of darkness of a lack of knowledge and understanding into the Light of Radiant Dawn.  The angel tells him that Christ is to be the One who will save the people from their sins. Christ is not just a cute baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, away in a manger, with no crib for a bed. Joseph will realise that

when the angels return to heaven,

when the shepherds return to their flock,

when the Wise Men return to the East, that is

when the work of salvation will begin!

And so we say: Maran-tha! Come Lord Jesus.

Appendix:

Those who recite the Breviary, like priests, sisters and some devout laypeople will recognize the words of the Gospel Acclamation each weekday. They belong to the antiphon that is recited during the evening prayer. It is recited before and after the Magnificat.

From 17^th to 23^rd December we have a set of seven antiphons called the O Antiphons.

These moving "O Antiphons" were apparently composed in the 7^th or 8^th century when monks put together texts from the Old Testament, particularly from the prophet Isaiah. They form a rich, interlocking mosaic of scriptural images. The great "O Antiphons" became very popular in the Middle Ages when it became traditional to ring the great bells of the church each evening as they were being sung.

One thing noticeable about the O Antiphons is that the first letter of each invocation, forms an acrostic in Latin when read backwards: the first letters of Sapientia, Adonai, Radix, Clavis, Oriens, Rex, and Emmanuel in reverse form the Latin words: ERO CRAS. His people's plea is “O come Divine Messiah. To which, Christ, responding to saying  "Tomorrow I will be there."