Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sunday, December 24, 2023
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and he shall name him Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:10-14). Today, Christians celebrate the final Sunday of Advent, known as the Fourth Sunday of Advent. While we hear of the themes of hope, peace, and joy in the first three weeks of the season, we hear of the Father’s love for mankind during the concluding days of Advent. There was once a hymn written called Of the Father’s Love Begotten. Initially written by Prudentius in the 4th century, it has been a hymn for Christians for two-and-a-half millennia. The hymn was initially written in Latin, called the Corde natus ex parentis. John Mason (“J.M.”) Neale translated the hymn into English during the mid-19th century.
There was a question that was asked among the chief priests and the scribes about Jesus’s origin. Jesus would rebuke them and say, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going” (John 8:14). Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans wrote, “Jesus Christ, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through the resurrection of the dead” (Romans 1:3-4). Given the fact genealogy was important to the Israelites, land was determined through genealogical means. Those that did not prove their ancestry were considered outsiders. Jesus had a genealogy that was not like the rest, which shows his connections to Abraham, David, and the prophet Amos. Too bad none of the major prophets were included in Jesus’s genealogy. With the fact Jesus evolved unlike the rest of the people of Israel, God was with him and his family. The word “Emmanuel” is Hebrew for “God with us,” for God was with Mary from the moment of her conception until her assumption into heaven.
Since Jesus reached out to those considered least among the people in society, the Father would choose the least of the clans of Judah. The prophet Malachi received from God, “You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient times” (5:1). Jesus was to be born in the Bethlehem, which is Hebrew for “house of bread.” When Jesus is born in Bethlehem, he replaced the old with the new. It is stated in Psalm 40:7-9, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. In holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” In Hebrews 5:10, it is written, “By this ‘will,’ we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” By accepting God’s will through the angel Gabriel, Mary brought us the one who would redeem mankind. By listening and following God’s will, Jesus would bring those who wandering in the wilderness closer to God.
The Father made a promise to the ancestors of Jesus throughout the 42 generations of Salvation History, and it was the promise to “restore all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10). While Adam and Eve fell to original sin by eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, Jesus and Mary restored grace to the earth and gave hope for salvation to all. For the Savior to have been born, there had to be a woman that was born without the stain of sin. The angel Gabriel gave a special address to Mary at the annunciation, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Throughout Mary’s life, God the Father was with her. While the events of how the Savior would come were done through private revelations, those events would be an impact on the world.
The angel Gabriel did not want Mary to be upset over the Father’s plan for salvation, since the Holy Spirit will conceive the Savior in her womb. The angel Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33). Mary questioned the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man” (Luke 1:34)? The angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that all is well. The angel answered, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1:35-37). Mary understood the angel to the point she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). The angel would depart from Mary. When Mary’s visitation with her cousin Elizabeth took place, Elizabeth greeted Mary saying, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled” (Luke 1:42-45).
After the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, her life was turned upside down. She thought (like other virgins do) that she was not supposed to have children. Joseph, Mary’s lawful husband, even had fears that he had to stone Mary over the act of committing adultery. In Mosaic Law, stoning was used as punishment for anyone committing the act of adultery. Like there was an angel that appeared to Mary, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in necessity to take Mary as his wife. While Joseph did not initially want to take Mary as his wife, the angel of the Lord said otherwise because it was the plan of the Father. There was no way Joseph was going to ignore God. Joseph heard, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20:21). He was shocked at what the angel said. While scripture does not record his response to the angel, he reconsidered his decision not to marry Mary.
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had one thing in common: they were bound by the will of God the Father. Joseph was there to guide. Mary was there to bear the one who would be Jesus. Jesus would be the one that would uptake the Father’s mission on earth for the redemption of sinners. Whom did God send to guide Jesus, Mary, and Joseph along the way? The answer is quite simple. An angel would guide them along the way. That was the same occurrence with the conception of John the Baptist. Zechariah and John the Baptist’s elderly parents, and they never thought they were going to have children. The angel said otherwise. Angels are instrumental in guiding us along the way with God’s infinite power.