Faith-Prophecy-Joseph’s dream

HOMILY ADVENT WEEK 03 03 – Year II

Prophecy Fulfilled: God is With Us

(Jer 23:5-8; Ps 72; Mt 1:18-24)

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Do you have a friend whose word you can trust totally?

Today’s readings can be a reminder of the rock-solid foundation of our faith, based on the realization of all the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ.

The criteria of a true prophet lie in whether or not what was spoken will come about. In the Old Testament, the true prophets rallied against the many false prophets who tended to prophesy what a particular king wanted to hear, and many a true prophet was punished and persecuted for precisely speaking the unvarnished “truth to power” which is another hallmark of a true prophet.

In today’s Gospel an angel tells Joseph in a dream to name his son Jesus “because he will save his people from their sins.” That proclamation of the angel is the fulfillment of all the prophets and patriarchs of old such as Abraham, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Isaiah.

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah speaks of a righteous branch for David, who shall execute justice and righteousness, who will save Israel, who will allow God’s people to live in safety and security “in their own land.” Today I would interpret that as also to mean God’s people will live a life of wellness, being at home in their own skin, living according to their true selves and not out of their false selves.

In the gospel, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, assures the distraught man whose fiancé, Mary, was pregnant, not to be afraid to take her as his wife because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, and will save his people from their sins. The angel then refers to the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 about a virgin conceiving and bearing a son who would be named Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

Well, that’s the good news of Christmas. All the prophets of the Old Testament have been proven true, for they are being fulfilled in this little child conceived and born so mysteriously. The rightful King has returned to reclaim what is his and to let the prisoners go free. What is significant is the God announced by all the prophets and patriarchs is a God of justice, and this means that God burns to set things right. God hates the sin and violence and injustice that have rendered gloomy his beautiful world, and therefore he comes into that world as a warrior, ready to fight. But he arrives (and here is the delicious irony of Christmas) stealthily, clandestinely—sneaking, as it were, unnoticed behind enemy lines.

The King comes as a helpless infant, born of insignificant parents in a small town of a distant outpost of the Roman Empire. He will conquer through the finally irresistible power of love, the same power with which he made the universe.

Psalm 72 adds that justice and peace shall flourish forever. To my mind, justice is a right relationship with God, with all other people in our lives, with ourselves, and with all of God’s creation, as well as the element of fairness and honesty in all our dealings. Peace is much more than a passing emotion or feeling. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we can claim because of our faith and baptism in Jesus Christ.

The gospel today begins with the “birth of Jesus the Messiah.” That title conveys how justice, peace, joy and freedom will be realized in our lives. As the Messiah, Jesus had a two-fold role – to redeem and to sanctify, to forgive and to heal. This is the core of the good news of our salvation. We can come to Jesus, Emmanuel, for forgiveness of all our sins, that which we have done out of our woundedness to hurt others, and also for healing of our sinfulness, that which caused us to sin, our painful emotions and our negative attitudes. Then we are truly liberated, and can live in our own land.

The Eucharist is food for our journey into the fullness of the realization of all of salvation history, when Jesus will come again in glory. In the meantime, Jesus continues to come to us through Word and Sacrament even daily, to forgive and heal, to transform us into his own likeness, as active participants in the fulfillment of all the prophecies of old. This we can trust. This is the rock-solid foundation of our faith on which we can build our lives.