January 1, 2023 (Year A)

In the readings for today we find the blessedness that comes from God to all people regardless of social status or reputation, for all human life is precious in the eyes of God. In the reading from the book of Numbers (Num. 6:22-27) we hear the special blessing that God gave to Moses and Aaron to pronounce upon the Israelites at the time of the Exodus when they wandered in the desert.

During the entire ordeal, the Israelites did nothing but complain to Moses and the Lord for the situation they had gotten into. They had been held captive in Egypt and made to work as slaves under harsh conditions. They thought their exit from Egypt would bring them joy and peace at last. But the wilderness was a harsh place to travel and many times they complained to Moses and to God for bringing them out into the desert where there was hardly anything to eat or drink.

Despite their constant moaning and bickering to Moses, God still considered the Israelites to be His chosen people and thus He dictated a blessing that Moses should use to bring God’s grace upon the people. It was a simple blessing we have heard quite often: “The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (Num. 6:24-27).

The word “peace” in this blessing can be interpreted in many ways. It can include the idea of happiness, good health, prosperity, friendship, and general well-being. We see these blessings coming to the shepherds in the Gospel for today (Lk. 2:16-21). This passage picks up in Luke’s Gospel after the angel had appeared to the shepherds who were working in the fields on the night that Jesus was born.

Now these shepherds were considered to be pariahs of society. They were poor itinerant workers who traveled constantly to find pasture for their animals. They were among the lowest-esteemed laborers in Israel. But this particular night it was these outcasts that God chose to first hear of the news of the birth of the savior.

After their encounter with the angel, the shepherds quickly find their way to the stable where Mary and Joseph are staying with Jesus. Obviously, the announcement to these poor shepherds was in line with the blessing of Numbers. The Lord had blessed them with being the first to hear the news and He let His grace shine upon them offering them happiness and peace in the words that had been spoken to them. So overjoyed were they that they run out shocked by God’s glory to tell their story to all the people they met.

Now Mary and Joseph at this point share the status of the poor shepherds. They are transient, or homeless, and have to rely on an innkeeper for a small bit of comfort as Mary’s time comes due. We don’t really know what type of interaction occurred between the shepherds and Joseph and Mary. We simply hear that “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.” (Lk. 2:19).

Here, too, Mary is the recipient of the type of blessing we hear in Numbers. She has peace in her heart and a sense of general well-being as she ponders everything that has transpired on the night of this birth. Certainly, she must have been filled with happiness seeing how everything worked out fine in this strange situation. It was not what she would have expected for her delivery to occur, but it was a blessing from God.

Certainly, there are times in our lives when things do not go as expected. We make plans and we prepare for contingencies feeling prepared for whatever the task at hand might be. But things don’t go as planned and we are caught off guard. We question how could this happen? Where did we go wrong? Why did things not work out the way we had anticipated? Like Mary and Joseph, we find ourselves in an unexpected dilemma. Like the shepherds we find a very strange ordeal which we have to investigate in order to understand.

But we only need know that the blessing from Numbers applies to all faithful Christians still. Whatever the circumstance, we must ponder in our heart the blessing which God always shines on us. The Lord blesses and keeps us. He is gracious to us, and He looks upon us kindly to give us peace.