December 19, 2021

Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year C)

Once again as we prepare for the coming of Christ this Advent, we have a popular reading from a minor prophet to serve as the background (Mic 5:1-4a). It is the very last prophet which appears before the New Testament and so serves as an appropriate introduction to the Gospel from Luke (Lk. 1:39-45).

Here in Micah, we are introduced to Jesus, the ruler with a background from “Bethlehem-Ephrathaha, least among the clans of Judah, from whom shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.” (Mic. 5:1).

It is the ancient promise of a messiah to be born in Bethlehem to a young maiden betrothed to a man named Joseph. He is destined for greatness. “He shall take his place as shepherd by the strength of the LORD, by the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall dwell securely, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth: he shall be peace (Mic. 5:3-4).

And so when his mother carried him in her womb she traveled in haste by the message of an angel to the hill country of her kinswoman, Elizabeth and entered the house of the priest known as Zechariah. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the infant in her womb leaped for joy and she cried out in a loud voice: “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

In spite of the fact that God’s call for Mary must have been very difficult, more difficult that we could ever imagine or understand, it was her extraordinary faith and trust, her openness to God and acceptance of God’s will which made it possible for her to become the mother of God’s Son, Jesus.

Imagine the questions, the doubts, the fears, the confusion which must have flooded Mary’s mind when she heard that message from the angel Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace!…you have found favor with God…you will  conceive and bear a son.”

St. Luke tells us in his gospel: “she was greatly troubled by his words and wondered what he meant.” Being visited by an angel must have been unbelievable for Mary. But then to be told that she would become pregnant, and she wasn’t yet married, must have been almost too much for her to take.

Something that would dramatically and drastically change her entire life and would be a tremendous scandal for her and Joseph and both of their families was happening to her. An unmarried Jewish teenage girl becoming pregnant was just about the worst thing that could happen. She could be disowned by her family, thrown out – shunned as an outcast by society and maybe even stoned to death.

And Joseph, her fiancé, would have to endure terrible embarrassment and shame. How could Mary ever get Joseph to understand how all this happened to her? What would her parents say?  Her father?  What would her friends think? This is not a situation which someone would welcome, let alone willingly accept. And did you notice that Mary didn’t ask God “why”? She asked “how”, but not “why” –  “why, Lord, are you letting this happen to me;  oh God, “why” are you doing this to me”?

Those are questions which most of us have probably asked, at one time or another in our lives. Sometimes, when we have serious problems and difficulties, when life is hard for us, we ask: “Why, Lord, why are you letting this happen to me; why me God?” — But not Mary. –

She didn’t understand how and why, and she didn’t have it all figured out, and she was probably very confused and frightened, but she said anyway to the angel Gabrielle: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” In spite of the predicament, she was in she believed that God was with her to help her through anything that might happen to her.

She trusted that God had a plan, and that everything would be OK, even if she didn’t understand how and why. That’s the kind of faith and trust we need to have. The Lord is with us, just like he was always with Mary. Because of our Baptism, we too have been, like Mary, “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High,” and filled with the Lord’s presence.

We don’t realize the importance and the significance and the power of our Baptism. The seeds of faith were planted within us at Baptism. Without our faith there’d be no focus to our lives. We would have nothing stable to hold on to – nothing to give true meaning and direction in our lives. And it is faith which makes it possible for God to enter and come into our lives.

Since the beginning of time and down through the history of salvation, whenever God has chosen to come into our world and reveal himself to humanity – the faith of ordinary people – human beings like us and like Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth – has been the key which unlocks the door between our two worlds – God’s and ours.

God is present to us and in our world, and God is active in our lives and here on earth because of faith — because of our faith God’s work gets accomplished. We make God’s presence known and felt. We are God’s instruments – his eyes and ears, his hands and feet – God works through us.

Just think for a minute, because of the faith of one man – Abraham – a whole people, the chosen people of God, came into being. And because of Moses that nation of people was led out of slavery and into a promised land. And because of the faith of a young, teenage, Jewish girl and her carpenter husband, the Son of God – Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, came.

Well, we, too, have been invited to participate in the Lord’s work, in spite of the fact that we all have our weaknesses and limitations, our doubts and fears. We may feel like our talents aren’t large enough, our faith isn’t strong enough, our love not big enough to do God’s work.

We may even wonder why in the world God would choose us in the first place. But no faith is so small that it can’t help nourish someone else’s faith. No love so weak that it can’t bring at least a little warmth into another person’s life. Any amount of talent is useful when it’s used in the service of others.

The Lord is present and he’s active in us through the support we offer one another in times of hardship, illness, death. He guides our efforts to establish peace and justice on the earth, in speaking out for life, and to improve the quality of life for every person.

God will use us to do his good work in our world and in our lives if we will let him – just like he did with Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth. Like Mary, we are a highly favored people, and the Lord is with us. In our prayer during these last days and these last few hours of Advent we might ask God to give us a special gift this Christmas – the gift of a stronger, deeper faith – so that we might trust him more, like Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth did, that we might live the teachings of Jesus better in our lives, and that we might reach out to help and support others like Mary did with Elizabeth.

It’s almost unbelievable what a little faith can accomplish.