Dec. 22, 2013: 4th Sunday of Advent A
That’s what King Ahaz did when he was in a serious situation. Ahaz was overcome by fear as his city Jerusalem was surrounded by two invading armies. Through Prophet Isaiah God spoke words of assurance, “Take care you remain calm and do not fear; do not let your courage fail.” (Isa 7:4) But that wasn’t enough for Ahaz. So the Lord urged Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky!” Up to that point, Ahaz had not been faithful to God. His solution to a situation that he could not control was to ally with the much powerful king of Assyria. In order to find favor with the king of Assyria, Ahaz introduced to Jerusalem idolatrous worship of Assyrian deities. Falling on his knees to call upon God was not the first resort for Ahaz. Perhaps ashamed of his lapsed faith Ahaz replied, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then, the Lord proceeded to give him the sign anyway and the sign was, “the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Little did Ahaz know, but through the child whose name means ‘God is with us,’ the threat from the enemy kings would end before the child grew up.
I wonder if we see ourselves in Ahaz. Like him, are we tempted not to ask God’s help due to our pride? At the end of an outcome, do we want the satisfaction that we solved our situation on our own? In the end do we want to hear, “I did it” or “Look at me, at what I accomplished”? Or is there room for humility, where all we want to hear at the end is, “I had nothing to do with this; all the glory belongs to God alone”? God wants to help us and guide us, but often times, our first solution is reliance on ourselves. As the saying goes, in this world the only person that I can trust is ‘myself.’ God wants His people to depend on Him for deliverance. Our question is often how can the Christ Child practically help us? Isn’t there a popular saying which says, “God helps those who help themselves?” Unfortunately this saying has as its foundation pride--self-reliance and self-determination--the very attitude that got King Ahaz in his mess. What is EGO other than an acronym for “Edging God Out.”
In the Gospel, God showed us two persons who modeled for us a very different way to approach our lives here on earth -- that is, living our lives trusting God completely, sometimes not knowing what the outcome will be. It had never been heard of before that a child could be born without a natural father. Mary was asked to accept this miraculous exception to the laws of nature. Mary was not yet married. Pregnancy outside of wedlock was not tolerated in those days. Mary was only engaged to Joseph, and such an engagement had to last for a whole year. She was asked to assume a great risk. She could have been rejected by Joseph, by her family, by all her own people. Mary knew that Joseph and her family would not understand without revelation from God. She nonetheless believed and trusted in God's promises.
Likewise, Joseph had to face a challenge to his faith and put his trust in God. Joseph, a just and God-fearing man, did not wish to embarrass or punish his engaged wife, Mary, when he discovered that she was pregnant. To all appearances she had broken their solemn pledge to be faithful and chaste to one another. Joseph, no doubt took this troubling matter to God in prayer. He was not hasty to judge or to react with hurt and anger. God rewarded him not only with guidance and consolation, but with the divine assurance that he had indeed called Joseph to be the husband of Mary and to assume a mission that would require faith, confidence, and trust in Almighty God. Joseph believed in the divine message to take Mary as his wife and to accept the child in her womb as the promised Messiah. Like Mary, Joseph is a model of faith for us.
Accepting the child was an act of faith and trust in God, but this faith and trust in God was not a singular event. They had to entrust the rest of their lives to God -- all of their lives. This is how it should be with us. Our baptism and reception of Eucharist are not events that change us for a moment, but something that should change and permeate all of our lives. If we are not loving and caring, even after reception of sacraments, then we have not changed. We must look deep in our hearts and change the behaviors, thoughts, and actions that keep us from being Our Lord’s love in this world. Without prayer, without searching our hearts, we cannot know what separates us from Our Lord’s heart. It is an understatement that the next few days will be a very busy one for all of us. We will be busy buying, decorating, and celebrating Christmas, but we do not open the most important gift that’s been given to us. Let us keep in mind that we must allow the birth of the Christ Child change our lives.
