The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meditate on the resonance of waiting for renewal of our life with the themes of the Sunday before Christmas.
Waiting for Christmas
The reading from the Prophet Micah yearns for a Ruler from Bethlehem.
* [5:1–6] Salvation will come through a “messiah,” an anointed ruler. The Book of Micah shares with Isaiah the expectation that God will deliver Israel through a king in the line of David. Bethlehem-Ephrathah is the home of the Davidic line.1
Psalm 80 is a prayer for Israel’s Restoration.
* [Psalm 80] A community lament in time of military defeat. Using the familiar image of Israel as a vineyard, the people complain that God has broken down the wall protecting the once splendid vine brought from Egypt (Ps 80:9–14). They pray that God will again turn to them and use the Davidic king to lead them to victory (Ps 80:15–19)2.
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews recalls Jesus' one sacrifice instead of the history of many.
* [10:1–10] Christian faith now realizes that the Old Testament sacrifices did not effect the spiritual benefits to come but only prefigured them (Heb 10:1). For if the sacrifices had actually effected the forgiveness of sin, there would have been no reason for their constant repetition (Heb 10:2). They were rather a continual reminder of the people’s sins (Heb 10:3). It is not reasonable to suppose that human sins could be removed by the blood of animal sacrifices (Heb 10:4). Christ, therefore, is here shown to understand his mission in terms of Ps 40:5–7, cited according to the Septuagint (Heb 10:5–7). Jesus acknowledged that the Old Testament sacrifices did not remit the sins of the people and so, perceiving the will of God, offered his own body for this purpose (Heb 10:8–10).3
In the Gospel of Luke, Mary Visits Elizabeth.
* [1:45] Blessed are you who believed: Luke portrays Mary as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (Lk 1:20). Mary’s role as believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the explicit mention of her presence among “those who believed” after the resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14).4
Sr. Candice Tucci, OSF, comments that ancient history, ancient lands, ancient people, come to life for us anew each year. No longer ancient but present, now, in our time and years to come. Ever present and ever new! Emmanuel, God with US! Each of us play our part in the on-going story adding to the sacred, ancient narratives of a faithful God who saves us, loves us, and embraces us. All we have to do is to desire to hear God’s voice, listen and say YES!
Christmas, a few days away. What signs or experiences have you had that say to you God is a faithful God? In the deep silence and core of your being listen for God’s Word. How have you embraced a confirmation of that active presence of God within you? Who has confirmed/affirmed that presence? How will you bring to birth Jesus, and put flesh on the WORD that speaks to you?5
Don Schwager quotes “John prophecies from the womb,” by Maximus of Turin (died between 408-423 AD).
"Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother's womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy - since he could not do so with his voice. As Elizabeth says to holy Mary, 'As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy.' John exults, then, before he is born. Before his eyes can see what the world looks like, he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard, I think that the prophetic phrase is appropriate: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you' (Jeremiah 1:5). Thus we ought not to marvel that after Herod put him in prison, he continued to announce Christ to his disciples from his confinement, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements." (excerpt from SERMON 5.4)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Micah 5:1-4 comments that maybe Advent has seemed like a long time of waiting. Maybe we have been waiting for Jesus to speak, and we hear nothing but silence. Maybe we have been waiting a long time for him to answer a prayer, and we want to be reassured that he hears us. Maybe our waiting will continue, even after Advent is over.
Unlike the Jews before Jesus’ coming, you don’t have to wait for the Messiah to appear. And whatever else you are waiting for, you don’t have to wait for him to draw close to you. He loves you so much that he offers you his own Body and Blood in the Eucharist. This is what he came to do—to save you and unite himself to you. So even if you find yourself still waiting on the Lord, know that he always fulfills his promises. Today he is waiting for you to receive him, and that alone is reason to rejoice! “Lord, fill me with joy, today and at your coming on Christmas Day.”7
Friar Jude Winkler notes the similarity between a child in Isaiah called Emmanuel, and a king from the small town of Bethlehem in Micah. The Holy Spirit action in the Gospel foreshadows Jesus' obedience to the Will of the Father. Friar Jude reminds us of the meditation of Mother Teresa concerning the Unborn Child in Elizabeth’s womb.
Nicholas King SJ, a tutor in Biblical Studies at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, offers a reflection on the texts of the Fourth Sunday in Advent that in the frantic days that lead up to Christmas, it is vital that we take time ‘to gaze attentively at this child, who will put all the darkness of our world’.
Why so little about Jesus, just before Christmas? Because the mystery of the Incarnation serves to remind us that the Lord has ‘no hands but ours, no voice but ours’. We have a grave responsibility upon us, and the only way to bear it is to gaze attentively at this child, who will put all the darkness of our world, and all our foolish anxieties, into their appropriate context. God is at work, and God will lighten our darkness, if only we will cease from frantic fretting and calmly gaze.8
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, describes how Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) shaped Christianity’s celebration of Christmas. In the first 1200 years of Christianity, the most prominent feast was Easter, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Around 1200, Francis of Assisi entered the scene, and he felt we didn’t need to wait for God to love us through the cross and resurrection. He believed God loved us from the very beginning and showed this love by becoming incarnate in Jesus. He popularized what we take for granted today, the great Christian feast of Christmas. But Christmas only started being popular in the 13th century. The main point Fr. Richard wants to make is the switch in theological emphasis that took place. The Franciscans realized that if God had become flesh and taken on materiality, physicality, and humanity, then the problem of our unworthiness was solved from the very beginning! God “saved” us by becoming one of us! Franciscan sister and theologian Ilia Delio invites us to consider Advent as a time to wake up to God’s incarnate presence.
The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus meaning arrival, “coming.” . . . [But] if God has already come to us, what are we waiting for? If God has already become incarnate in Jesus what are we waiting for? And I think that’s a really interesting question. . . . We’re called to awaken to what’s already in our midst. . . . I think Advent is a coming to a new consciousness of God, you know, already loving us into something new, into something more whole, that we’re not in a sense waiting for what’s not there; we’re in a sense to be attending to what’s already there. But the other part I think is that we can think of Advent as God waiting for us to wake up! You know, as if we’re asleep in the manger, not Jesus! Jesus is alive in our midst. . . . What if we’re in the manger and God is already awakened in our midst and we’re so fallen asleep, we’re so unconsciously asleep that God is sort of looking for “someone [to] get up and help bring the gifts into the world?” . . .9
The waiting to celebrate the Incarnation is an opportunity to renew our commitment to live in the light of the ancient promise of fullness of life.
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