Faith-Openness-Identity-St. Joseph’s dream

HOMILY SUNDAY ADVENT 4 A

Opening up to Newness and Our True Identity

(Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24)

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Are you afraid of the unknown?

Today, the Word of God invites us to have faith of St. Joseph, let go of sin and open ourselves to the newness of life with God.

The readings for this last Sunday of Advent are all about identity and role. In terms of identity, Jesus is Emmanuel, Messiah, Lord, Savior, Son of God, King of glory, the fulfillment of prophecy. In terms of role, as Savior Jesus liberates us from sin – harmatia – a Greek word that means “missing the mark,” like an arrow falling short of its target.

Our identity and role become clearer in the light of his. As St. Paul puts it in the second reading, we are called to be saints, apostles, to belong to Jesus, to be filled with grace. Our role is to let go of sin and to open ourselves up to the new life God wants to give us in Christ, to the “obedience of faith,” a life free from addiction and sin, focused on the Word of God. We are to let the King of Glory into our lives and surrender to him.

The readings are very appropriate for today, the last Sunday of Advent – our last day to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the coming of Jesus into this world historically two millennia ago. The best way we can prepare is to obey God’s Word and place our trust in him today as Lord and Savior, Son of God and Emmanuel. We can let him forgive us and heal us, and we will experience salvation (the peace and joy only He can give) right here and now, in our lives. What we celebrate at Christmas, then, is not just that first coming of Jesus, but also his present coming into our lives to save us from our own darkness.

In his commentary on today’s readings, Corbin Eddy offers some interesting insights. He writes that in the complicated political situation threatening to pit the sister nations of Israel in the north and Judah in the south against each other in unholy alliances with Syria and Assyria respectively, King Ahaz is afraid to move, to pray, to ask for a sign Isaiah claims God will give him. We may not understand exactly why he hesitates, but we can conjecture: for him to do so, something would have to give, to change in his life. It is not reverence for God but his unwillingness to risk giving up control that keeps him from presenting himself to the Lord in faith. Ahaz is afraid to move, to grow, to change. Something in all of us is afraid to pray, to expose ourselves to God, because something may have to give. Genuine prayer requires a certain flexibility and readiness for a sign. Genuine prayer contains within it an invitation to grow and change.

Ahaz reflects something very deep in human nature, which we may discover in ourselves. Many addicts refuse to talk about their addiction or seek help, because they are afraid to change, to let go of the certain security in the control they think they have. I remember visiting an alcoholic in the hospital who was dying from cirrhosis of the liver. This man was bloated and barely coherent. I encouraged him to seek help and was greatly saddened by his response to my parting words, “I hope to see you again.” He muttered, “Don’t tell anyone I am here!”

What a tragedy – here this man was dying of alcoholism yet still too proud to admit his need for help. He was afraid of the unknown and could not reach out. He died two weeks later, leaving behind a widow and four young children.

Bob is a more positive example. While lamenting he feared he had wasted Advent, he shared a significant incident with me indicating just the opposite. During a retreat he attended, the retreat master encouraged the participants to look over the pattern of their sins and try to identify their main sin. Pondering that question, Bob slowly became aware his core sin was not really trusting in God’s providence, that God would really look after him in the end. The evidence was he had surrounded himself with material possessions and the latest, best technological gadgets. Now Bob realized he needed to start to divest himself of some of those items, to simplify his life. At the cusp of the second half of his life, he had finally made that inner journey into his own hidden darkness, opened himself up to receive the freely offered forgiveness and healing of Jesus the Messiah, and poised to live a more simply and joyous life. That, to me, was an amazing Advent journey.

The Advent scriptures speak of readiness for something new, a renewed call to holiness, to conversion of heart. We may be pious and religious but are we ready for something like that? The Christian tradition sees the birth of Jesus as the ultimate sign that Ahaz is looking for, even though he cannot admit it or deal with it. Arising from his family and race is “God-is-with-us.” This stretches Isaiah’s original direction, but the Advent liturgy sees Isaiah’s ultimate goal reached in Jesus. He is God’s image and likeness restored, the great sign of what we, even in the midst of our personal and political struggles, are invited to be and to become. And the sign is given, whether we are ready or not. We are invited to respond, “Amen.”

Using the faith of Joseph, who decided to care for the person and dignity of Mary rather than adhere strictly to the Law, Matthew wants to instruct his Church in being “righteous” in a way that respects both the Law of the Bible, and the Christian orientation to love, even if it seems to violate the Law. Thus, Joseph stands at the beginning of the Gospel, as a model of what Matthew hopes for all disciples, having the faith to live the tension between the prevailing understanding of God’s commandments and the new thing God is doing in Jesus. By Joseph’s decision to obey the startling and unexpected command of God, he is already living the heart of the Law and not the letter, already living out the new and higher righteousness of the kingdom. In a difficult moral situation, he faithfully attends to the voice of God, and he is willing to set aside his previous understanding of God’s will in favor of the newness of this Word from the living and saving God.

The Eucharist is a bridge between heaven and earth, between the past, the present and the future. We remember what Jesus did while on earth, we celebrate what he is doing even now and we receive communion in anticipation of that heavenly banquet we will be part of in the future.

So, let us pray for the faith of Joseph, let go of sin, and be open to the newness of God’s Word.