Homily for the Week of December 22, 2013

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year A 2013

Isaiah 7:10-14 Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-24

         We read almost every day about the problems in the Middle East. Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus there were problems in Syria as there are now. Isaiah in our first reading, however, mentioned that God would keep the Jewish people safe. God would give their king a son who would help them to come back to life as usual. Matthew, in the gospel I just read, indicates that this son is really Jesus.  Jesus fulfilled this promise by being born of Mary. 

         Although we are 3 days away from Christmas our gospel really tells us the story so often told about Jesus. Matthew places Joseph in the middle of the whole story. The Gospel is Matthew’s version of how it all happened to Joseph.  Matthew has no description of the birth of Jesus, but after the opening section of the “begots” in which all the family of David is related, all we have is the narration of how Joseph believed the message from an angel as did Mary.

         Often artists or painters picture Joseph as an older man. Yet, in reality  The historical Joseph was a carpenter living in Nazareth, a village of about 200 people. He was most likely a young and vigorous person, excited about a future with a woman he loved. He was also a very religious man and knows what the Law of God prescribes.  Mary is a teenage girl who also lived in Nazareth.  Joseph and Mary had apparently been dating and they had been engaged to get married.   Joseph finds out that Mary was going to have a baby and he knew that he was not the father. In that culture engagement was as much a commitment as  marriage. Being betrothed was just another way of saying that you were engaged. It’s just that couples did not live together until they were formally married. i would think that Mary must have told Joseph that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that she had conceived a child.  Joseph wanted to end their relationship, but just as he was about to leave her an angel came and made the facts clear to him.  Joseph would take Mary into his home and would be expected to take care of their child. It would also have been common to give Jesus the name Joseph, but Joseph was told to name the boy Jesus which meant saviour since Jesus would save us from our sins.

         Joseph also gave Jesus his social status.  That is, Jesus, like Joseph would have David as one of  his ancestors. That was important because the Jewish people for centuries believed that the Savior would be a descendent of King David.

         As you reflect upon the Bible story you might detect a conflict between love and faith, between Joseph and Mary loving each other and between they believing or trusting each other. These are the very basic conflicts that we have in any relationship including engagement and marriage. However, the doubts of faith and trust find a solution in genuine and spiritiual love. Joseph slowed down by a dream lives through faith into a deeper reality. Joseph is offered the invitation, the gift, to see beyond what is sensibly present. Faith is a way of seeing through what can be blinding. Joseph could see only Mary’s being pregnant and his having to separate from her. The more we love someone, the less we find ourselves satisfied with the gift we offer them as a sign of that love.

         This last week of Advent, with its gift-wrapping, is a prayerful time as well. God wrapped infinite Love within the flesh of Mary. God says to each of us, “I know you; your history and I want to give you the perfect gift.  I have you in mind and all I desire is that you receive the Gift and all that this Gift means.”

         As with Joseph and Mary, we do not know all that this Gift means; we spend our lives unwrapping the meaning. We celebrate our belief that the Giver, the Sender, can not keep love hidden; it has to be offered again and again and that is the nature of time and eternity. We can become blinded by what we expect or perceive a gift to be. We are spending these days of Advent, not exactly asking for signs, but just unwrapping the gift of each day and waiting for its full meaning to be seen and received. As with Joseph and Mary we wait, watch, ponder and receive it all as the gift it is all meant to be.

         With all the evil and suffering in our world, it is a mystery why God would want to be with us. Of course, we know from everyday experience that we want to be with people whom we love.  So that is why God wants to be with us. At times we may find it difficult to figure out God does love us, especially when we don’t  love ourselves very much or when we have to face serious problems or tragedies.  At those times we are tempted to feel that God has forgotten us.But it is precisely at those times of doubt  that we must believe God when he tells us: I am with you always. There is no easy way around the fact that, like Joseph, we too need to have a lot of faith sometimes.  And there is no easy way to have faith then to take time to pray as you are doing right now and hopefully you do every day.