By The Venerable G. Kingsley Knowles
Third Sunday in Advent. Christ the king Anglican Church.
December 25, 2020.
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL NAME HIM EMMANUEL.” Isaiah 7:14
Five days were left for Christmas. Getting up early in the morning, the wife said to her husband, “Honey! Last night I had a dream and in the dream you gave me a beautiful golden necklace as present for Christmas. What could that mean?” The husband smiled and said, “Wait and see.”
Next morning as soon as she woke up the wife again said to her husband, “Honey! Last night again I had the same dream and in the dream you gave me a beautiful golden necklace as present for Christmas. What could that mean?” And again the husband smiled and said, “Wait and see.”
Rector of Christ the King Anglican church,
Nassau Bahamas
On the third morning the wife said to her husband the same thing and the husband also gave her the same reply.
Finally, the Christmas Day arrived and the wife saw her Christmas present wrapped in a beautiful package and kept on her table. Excited as she was, thinking that her tricks worked, immediately she opened it expecting a beautiful golden necklace. But unfortunately to her great disappointment she found a book instead. And the title of the book was – “THE MEANINGS OF DREAMS”.
This morning I want you to move with me in 3 separate reading that conveys what happens when one is obedient to the power and authority of God. The church in its wisdom present the birth narrative to us in this way Last year we cycle (a) Isaiah 7:10-17, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25. I beg your indulgence to speak from these readings this morning.
Miracles happens when families exhibit obedient authority of God. Reengagement takes place and therefore The impossible becomes possible.
In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 1 we come across a man – St. Joseph, to whom the angel of God always spoke in his dreams and he always listened to them and in obedience of faith acted as he was told. He was a righteous man and he played an important part in God’s plan of salvation of mankind. Actually, he was the hope of the prophesy of the Prophet Isaiah.
Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent – the last Sunday prior to the feast of Christmas. We are at the threshold. The birth of Jesus is now near. In a few days’ time we will be celebrating the memory of that great event. Throughout Advent, we have heard of God’s promise to send a Liberator – a Savior into the world; today, we catch a glimpse of how that is to be accomplished and to some extent, we can associate with the greatest joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary who awaited the coming of Baby Jesus into the world.
From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 7, He asks Ahaz, the king of Judah, to put his trust in God and God will offer him any sign he wishes. When the king refuses, God himself gives him the sign of a Savior to be born.
In the Letter to the Romans1:1-7 St. Paul sums up his good news to the early Christians by telling them that Christ is a descendent of David and the Son of God.
In the Gospel from St. Matthew, we are told about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. St. Joseph, who is specially chosen by God to be His instrument, is informed in a dream that his wife Mary is with child by the Holy Spirit. This is how St. Joseph enters fully into the mystery of the Divine plan of Salvation and becomes a part of it by being the father (foster) of Jesus so that He Jesus becomes an inheritor to the throne of David.
“THE VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON, AND SHALL NAME HIM EMMANUEL.”
- In the book of Isaiah, we have the ‘Emmanuel-prophesy’ He speaks of the promise of a Messiah and a Messianic era.
As a background for this:
The kingdoms of Syria and Israel had already invaded Judah but failed to capture Jerusalem. To save his kingdom and the Davidic dynasty, Ahaz, the king of Judah, decides to align with the Assyrians who did not have the faith or culture of Hebrews. Ahaz had already forsaken God, and was living a bad life, sacrificing to idols and even having his own son murdered as a sacrifice to pagan idols. The prophet Isaiah, an adviser to King Ahaz, can only see trouble from this political alliance with the Assyrians. So he opposes the plan arguing that the dynasty of King David is not going to be preserved by playing politics but by putting his trust in God. (Faithful obedience) he reminds him that It is God’s power which will save him and his kingdom from his enemies. But Ahaz is not able to place his trust in God; he would rather trust human aid to accomplish what he needed. You cannot make a human calculation with God. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts …, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD
So Isaiah will not give up or give in. He requested the king to ask God for a sign. Ahaz is afraid and he refuses to ask for the sign. Isaiah reveals the sign, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.“ The name ‘Emmanuel’ comes from a grouping of Hebrew words and means ‘God is with us.’
We see St. Matthew quoting this ‘Emmanuel-prophesy’ of Isaiah in Gospel, He does so to show that God is doing what he promised by bring the people who have gone astray back. This fulfillment is accomplished in the blessed Virgin Mary, who is betrothed to St. Joseph belonging to King David dynasty.
(Matthew 1: 18-20 and Luke 2:1-7) “JOSEPH, SON OF DAVID, DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TAKE MARY YOUR WIFE INTO YOUR HOME”:
You see before they lived together, she was found with child. Among the Jews, betrothal was the first part of the marriage, constituting a man and woman as husband and wife though their normal married life would only begin some months later. So any relationship outside of that was considered adultery which was punished with death by stoning.
Thereafter, Matthew draws the connection of the virgin birth of Jesus quoting the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.'” Jesus is the very presence of God the Father in our world. The effectiveness of that presence depends on
- our conscious union with Jesus and
- with the vision of his Gospel lived out in our daily lives.
- Let Jesus be really re-born, by rekindling, the fire of faithful obedience in each one of us this Christmas. The Lord wants to enter into our hearts. We should be like Joseph and Mary who put their total trust in Divine Providence. As we continue with the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us pray for all Christians that they may prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord and welcome Jesus like Mary and Joseph, to receive his joy and peace. Conclusion may come here.!
Challenge to us in Christ:
JESUS – THE SON OF A WOMAN AND THE SON OF GOD:
St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans carries his beautiful salutation to the Christian community at Rome wishing them the very best, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Here St. Paul considers himself to be ‘a slave of Christ Jesus’ and ‘an apostle’ set apart to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. He speaks about two over-riding aspects of Jesus Christ: his humanity and his divinity. As to Jesus’ humanity, he affirms that Jesus is a descendant of King David as prophesied through the Prophet Isaiah; that he is human, born of the flesh, born of a woman. And as to Jesus’ divinity, he asserts that Jesus is the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead. Through the mystery of incarnation, the Son of God became one with us – sharing the hopes and fears that we have in our imperfections. Through the paschal mystery of his passion, death and resurrection, the true nature of Jesus as Son of God was fully manifested. Indeed, Christmas and Easter are intimately woven as part and parcel of salvation history.
St. Paul further says that through Jesus Christ he and his companions have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of the Name of Jesus. This calling of obedience of faith is a calling to the entire human race. It is a calling to each and every one of us to feed upon the Word of God for our spiritual growth so that we may go forward to teach and defend the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
The Lord has come, the Lord is here, and the Lord is coming again. On Friday, we will commemorate his coming on earth in human flesh. This moment of worship, a great Feast that unites heaven and earth, will be one of joy and praise for all the faithful who will gather around the spiritual table of the Lord to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Anticipation and preparedness refocusing, re tooling and reigniting of families are the watchwords for this Sunday of Advent. In this immediate preparation for the birthday of our Lord, we delve into the meaning of him who is God’s gift to us – whose ‘advent’ or coming into our life for us we deeply long for. The Messiah would come as a child. He is the ‘Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God with us.’ And God is indeed in our midst. Born of the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit and fostered by Joseph, of the House of David, Jesus would save his people from sin. He is the radical revelation of faithful love and the fullest expression of saving life. May Mary and Joseph continue to be models and our examples of faith and trust in God as we encounter Christ, the son of God, the Light of world and the Prince of peace at Christmas. And this is the Good News of today.