Saturday, 20 December 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014 - Fourth Sunday in Advent - Promise made to her – and to us
To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12,14a, 16; Rom 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38
Referring to her first year as
a volunteer in a home for unwed mothers, a young woman said to me, “I was
depressed. What kind of God would let young women and innocent children suffer
so much? Finally it got through to me…God is not going to come down and show us
his love like he did two thousand years ago. We have to let God’s love work
through us. As Mary did, we have to say yes to what God wants us to do.”
On the last Sunday in the
season of advent, the Church invites us through the readings to move away from
testimony to fact. We read the story of how God intervened in human history
through the faith and courage of one woman. Confronted by the message of the
Angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Messiah, Mary could only
wonder aloud: “But how can this come about?” Humanly speaking, it was
impossible for her to bear a child, since she was a virgin. But the Angel
responded: “The power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow”. A
seemingly impossible situation is about to be made possible by the intervention
of God. But for this to happen, the Almighty God had to count on the
cooperation of a humble woman named Mary.
In the family of David in which
Jesus was born not everyone was as virtuous as Mary, Jesus was born of a family
in which some people frequently misused their positions of power and authority
and others gained their rights by means of deception, God chose a family not
unlike our own families. In other words, the Incarnation occurred within the
real world, a broken world, a world that was very much in need of healing.
The
mystery, of which Paul speaks in the second reading of today, is not only the
fact of the Incarnation, but also the means whereby it came to be. God chooses
the weak of the world to confound the strong. He chooses the humble to bring
down the mighty from their thrones. The weak, sinful family of David came to be
seen as an avenue of God’s goodness to others. Born of this family, Jesus
became the ultimate agent of God’s blessing for all. This is the mystery now
revealed: This messy world of ours, the real world of human history, is now
“charged with the grandeur of God.”
What
happens in the first reading of today takes place just after David had defeated
the Philistines and united the tribes of Israel. Flush with enthusiasm he
proposes to build a house for the Ark of the Covenant which was a kind of
throne for God, also containing the tablets with God’s commandments from Sinai.
Gold reverses this proposal questioning how a humble human can build a shelter
for God. After all, it is God who has sheltered David throughout his perilous
career as shepherd, military commander, and leader of an entire nation. Instead
God proposes to dwell among David and his ancestors: “I shall appoint your
heir, your own son to succeed you. . This announcement from God to David says
that the Creator of the Universe, the Loving and Just God resides not in a
special place but in people who believe. The presence of the Living God among
people from Moses. To David, and now to us is described by Paul as a “mystery
revealed”.
This
is the central meaning of Christmas for us. Of course God is always with us.
But the birth of Jesus represents a unique moment when this awesome gift
becomes especially apparent. Our Gospel passage today reminds us of how the
presence of God ‘breaks the chains that bind us’, lifts up the poor, and makes
us wonder, ‘Could the world be about to change?’
Through
the annunciation made to Mary we are reminded that Christ is not born amid pomp
or fanfare, riches or glory. Christ was born in a dark moment of history when people
had every reason to be afraid. And still it is the places in our lives where
oppression, illness, and injury reside that we are told to look for God.
As
strange as that sounds it is perfectly in keeping with the Christmas spirit. It
is in our woundedness, our fear, our shame, our callousness towards the poor
that God visits us and turns the world around, yes, turns the world upside
down. This is why we are told, “Do not be afraid”. People of humility and
faith, who live simple lives of justice and love like Mary, are favored by God,
sheltered by the Holy Spirit, and fruitful. They will live forever. This is the
promise that was made to David, to Mary, and now to us.
Friday, 19 December 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014 - Will you say YES to all that God wants to do through you today even when you fully cannot understand why?
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 7:10-14; Lk 1:26-38
The text of
today’s Gospel relates a scene immediately after the announcement of the birth
of John the Baptist and contains the announcement of the birth of Jesus. There
are many similarities in the annunciations to Mary and to Zechariah. The angel
Gabriel is the one who makes both announcements. Both Zechariah and Mary are
called by name and exhorted not to be afraid. Both ask a question of the angel,
and it is the angel who tells them what name each child is to be given. It is the angel who predicts what each child
will turn out to be. However, even as there are similarities, there are
differences in the narratives. While the announcement to Zechariah comes in the
Temple and as a result of his fervent prayer, the announcement to Mary comes
(apparently) when she is in her home and it is unanticipated. While Zechariah
and his wife Elizabeth are advanced in age, Mary has not yet stayed with her
husband, and so is a virgin. The birth of John to parents who are past the age
of child bearing is a miracle, but even greater is the miracle of the birth of
Jesus, who would be born through the Holy Spirit, and to a virgin. Even as John
the Baptist goes with the spirit and power of Elijah, Jesus will be called “Son
of God”. Luke clearly wants to show John as great, but only the forerunner of
the Messiah, Jesus, who is greater.
Here, too,
like in the case of the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, God
intervenes in human history. Mary though
betrothed or engaged to Joseph, who was of David’s family, had not yet lived
with him. This she would do only after marriage, which would be one year after
the betrothal. The angel greets Mary as the recipient of God’s grace. She has
opened herself to the promptings of God’s Spirit. While Zechariah was gripped
with fear at the very appearance of the angel, in the case of Mary, it is the
angel’s greeting that perplexed her. The angel reassures Mary and makes the
announcement, not only of Jesus’ birth, but of who he will be and all that he
will accomplish.
In response
to this announcement Mary, like Zechariah, asks a question. While both
questions seem similar, it is clear that Zechariah’s question expressed doubt
and asked for a sign, as is evident in the angel’s words before Zechariah is
struck dumb. Mary’s question, on the other hand, is a question asked in faith.
Mary did not question the truth of the revelation like Zechariah did. She asked
only for enlightenment on how God would accomplish this wonderful deed. This
will be accomplished in Mary through the work of God’s spirit. This is why the
child will be called holy. Luke probably also intends to convey here that it is
not merit on Mary’s part that obtained for her what she received, but God’s
generous gift in the Spirit.
The
evidence that what the angel has announced will indeed take place is the
pregnancy of Elizabeth, for nothing is impossible for God. Mary responds, not
merely with a Yes, but by asking that the Lord work in her to accomplish all
that he wants. The annunciation would not have been complete without Mary’s
trusting, obedient response.
Today, many
assume that those whom God favours will enjoy the things we equate with a good
life: social standing, wealth, and good health. Yet Mary, God’s favoured one,
was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would later be executed as a
criminal. Acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of
God’s blessing. The story is so familiar that we let its familiarity mask its
scandal. Mary had been chosen, “favoured,” to have an important part in God’s
plan to bring salvation to God’s people, but it is unthinkable that God would
have forced Mary to have the child against her will. Mary is an important
example, therefore, of one who is obedient to God even at great risk to self.
When we
think of or reflect on Mary, the one word that comes to mind to describe her
whole life is the word, AMEN, a word which may be translated, “so be it”, “your
will be done”, “do whatever you want to do in my life”. This was, indeed,
Mary’s constant response to every situation in her life, especially when she
could not understand why things were happening the way they were. The text of
today is, then, a call and challenge to each one of us, that we, too, like
Mary, might be able to say YES to all that God wants to do in our lives. It is
a challenge to be open and receptive to the Spirit of God, so that we, too,
might be able to give birth to the Saviour in our hearts.
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014 - Do you believe that God can do the impossible in your life? How will you show this belief?
To read the texts click on the texts: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25; Lk 1:5-25
The text of
today is unique to Luke and is about the foretelling or annunciation of the
birth of John the Baptist. It begins by introducing Zechariah and Elizabeth and
then moves to the temple where the announcement of the birth is made by an
angel. Zechariah responds to this
announcement in disbelief and leaves the Temple after being struck dumb. The
announced child is conceived in Elizabeth’s womb fulfilling the angelic
announcement.
In the
first verses of today’s text, Zechariah and Elizabeth are introduced. Zechariah
means “God has remembered,” and Elizabeth means something like “My God’s oath.”
While Zechariah is a priest, Elizabeth is from a priestly family. By stating
that they were childless (when barrenness was regarded as a tragedy, a
disgrace, and even a sign of God’s punishment), despite the fact they were
righteous and blameless, Luke probably wants to indicate that there is no
connection between sin and punishment. That they were advanced in age, and so
may have lost all hope of having a child, is to show the wondrous nature of the
angelic announcement.
The priests
were divided into 24 groups, and each group served twice a year for a week at a
time in the Temple. On this occasion, Zechariah was chosen to enter the
sanctuary and offer the incense. A sacrifice was offered twice a day, both on
the outer altar and on the inner altar, inside the sanctuary. A list was
compiled of those priests who had never been chosen to enter the sanctuary, and
then lots were cast to determine the priests who would bring the sacrifice to
the altar and clean the ashes off of it. This honour normally came only once in
a lifetime. This was perhaps the most dramatic moment in Zechariah’s life as a
priest. It was thus a significant moment for God to break into human history.
Zechariah’s
immediate response to the angels’ appearance was one of fear and terror. The
first words spoke by a character in the Gospel of Luke are by the angel and are
an exhortation not to be afraid. The angel then announces, not only the birth
of a son to Zechariah and Elizabeth, but also the greatness of the child. The
name of the child is to be John, a name which means “God has shown favor” or
“God is gracious”. Zechariah’s response is a direct quotation of Gen 15:8, “How
will I know that this is so?” To Zechariah’s emphatic “I am an old man.”, the
angel responds with an even more emphatic, “I am Gabriel.” Gabriel was sent to
speak for God, but because Zechariah did not receive the good news, he would
not be able to speak until the annunciation was fulfilled and the child was
born. Though Zechariah was to pronounce a blessing on the people after he came
out of the sanctuary, he could not do so since he had lost the power of speech.
The angel’s
announcement comes to pass and Elizabeth conceives. She praises God for his
graciousness to her.
There are
numerous occasions in our lives when things do not go the way we want them to
go. We try everything and nothing seems to work. We begin to think that God
does not care for us or that he is punishing us for some wrong that we or our
forefathers did. We might even stop praying at these times and lose faith. The
text of today calls for exactly opposite attitudes to these and challenges us
to cultivate them.
First, if
things are not going the way we want them to go, it does not mean that God is
punishing us for some past sins. There is very clearly no connection between
sin and God’s punishment. To be sure, any kind of negative feelings that we harbor,
any resentment that we hold on to, any sediments of anger residing in our
hearts, can lead to blocks in our minds and bodies and can affect our health.
Giving in to despair and desperation and losing hope can also lead to ill
health.
The call is
a call to hope. It is a call to continue to petition God, and to keep asking
him for what we need, with confidence and courage. It is a call to continue to
believe that God can do what is impossible and that nothing and no one is
outside the scope of God’s power. He can, with a word, make all things whole.
Thursday, December 18, 2014 - When in a dilemma do you usually do the right thing or the loving thing? Would your life have been any different if Jesus had not been born?
To read the texts click on the texts: Jer23:5-8; Mt 1:18-24
This text,
which appears immediately after the genealogy of Jesus, and is the Gospel text
for today, narrates the story of his birth. Since Mary and Joseph were engaged,
they were legally considered husband and wife. Thus, infidelity in this case
would also be considered adultery. Their union could only be dissolved by divorce
or death. Though Joseph is righteous or just, he decides not to go by the
letter of the law and publicly disgrace Mary, but he chooses a quieter way of
divorcing her. God, however, has other plans for both Joseph and Mary and
intervenes in a dream. Joseph is addressed by the angel as “Son of David”
reiterating, once again after the genealogy, the Davidic origin of Jesus. He is
asked to take Mary as his wife and also informed that is the Spirit’s action
that is responsible for her pregnancy. He is told that he is to give the child
the name “Jesus". Jesus (Iesous) is the Greek form of "Joshua"
which, whether in the long form yehosua, ("Yahweh is salvation") or
in one of the short forms, yesua, ("Yahweh saves”), identifies the son, in
the womb of Mary, as the one who brings God’s promised eschatological
salvation. The angel explains what the name means by referring to Ps 130:8. The
name “Jesus” was a popular and common name in the first century. By the choice of such a name, Matthew shows
that the Saviour receives a common human name, a sign that unites him with the
human beings of this world rather than separating him from them.
Matthew
then inserts into the text the first of ten formula or fulfilment quotations
that are found in his Gospel. This means that Matthew quotes a text from the
Old Testament to show that it was fulfilled in the life and mission of Jesus.
Here, the text is from Isa 7:14 which, in its original context, referred to the
promise that Judah would be delivered from the threat of the Syro-Ephraimitic
War before the child of a young woman, who was already pregnant, would reach
the age of moral discernment. The child would be given a symbolic name, a short
Hebrew sentence “God is with us” (Emmanu‘el) corresponding to other symbolic
names in the Isaiah story. Though this text was directed to Isaiah’s time,
Matthew understands it as text about Jesus, and fulfilled perfectly in him,
here in his birth and naming.
This birth
narrative of Matthew invites us to reflect on a number of points. Of these, two
are significant. First, many of us are
often caught in the dilemma of doing the right thing which might not always be
the loving thing. If we follow only the
letter of the law, we may be doing the right thing but not the most loving
thing. However, if we focus every time
on the most loving thing, like Joseph, it is surely also the right thing.
Though Joseph could have done the right thing and shamed Mary by publicly
divorcing her, he decides to go beyond the letter of the law and do the loving
thing, which in his case was also the right thing.
Second, the
story also shows us who our God is. Our
God is God with us. Our God is one who always takes the initiative, who always
invites, and who always wants all of humanity to draw closer to him and to each
other. This God does not come in power, might, and glory, but as a helpless
child. As a child, God is vulnerable. He is fully human and in his humanity, is
subject to all the limitations that humanity imposes on us. Yet, he will do
even that, if only humans respond to the unconditional love that he shows.
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Thursday, December 17, 2014 - What one action will you perform today to make Jesus known to someone who has not encountered him?
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 41:13-20; Mt 11:11-15
John the Baptist is clearly a precursor in the Synoptic Gospels. He is
the one who goes before the Lord to prepare his way. In Matthew, John has a
borderline role. John is the last and greatest of all prophets until the time
of Jesus. He is indeed the one who, alone among the prophets of the Old
Testament, was the forerunner of the Messiah and this is what makes him the
greatest human being.
Even so, John does not belong to the new era of God’s rule inaugurated
by Jesus. While on the one hand, the content of his proclamation about the
kingdom is the same as that of Jesus; on the other hand, even the least in the
kingdom is greater than John.
The “least” in the kingdom, who is greater than John, while it may
refer to Jesus (who came after John and was “younger” than him), here seems to
refer to the disciples. These are greater than John because they have the
privilege of seeing the inauguration of the kingdom which John was not
privileged to see. They are also the ones who recognize the Messiah and point
to him more clearly than John could hope to do.
From the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the kingdom has been forcefully
advancing. The Prophets and the Law prophesied until then and, implicitly,
prophesied this new era. And from that time on, the fulfillment of the
prophecy, the kingdom itself has been forcefully advancing. This advancement
cannot be seen by those who have closed themselves to this kind of revelation
and thus, the text ends with the invitation to hear.
The kingdom that Jesus inaugurated continues to advance today despite
many setbacks. It is not a kingdom that advances by force or by any kind of
pressure. It is a kingdom that wins over
opponents by that unconditional love with which Jesus began it. We in the
present generation are the fortunate ones who have been privileged to witness
the kingdom. Now, it is our responsibility to point to him and make him known
to those who have not yet had the privilege of encountering him as we have
done.
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - What name do you use to address Jesus? Why?
To read the texts click on the texts: Isa 45: 6-8, 18, 21-26; Lk7:19-23
Though Luke
has mentioned earlier in his Gospel (3:20) that John was in prison, there is
nothing to suggest that he is still in prison when he asks the question about
Jesus’ identity. Here, the question is asked after John receives a report from
two of his disciples about the things that Jesus was doing. Thus, a number of
explanations have been offered as to why John asked this question of Jesus. One
reason is that John, after hearing the report from his disciples, was troubled
by uncertainty. If he was still in prison (as Matthew clearly states he was
when he sent his disciples to ask the question) then this uncertainty would
have been greater. Another reason is that John expected the Messiah to come
with spewing fire and venom, but Jesus was reaching out to people in
unconditional love. This surprised John since Jesus was not the kind of Messiah
he had expected. Another reason is that John, though not sure, was hopeful that
The Messiah, whose coming he had announced, had indeed come in Jesus and that
would vindicate his own proclamation.
Or, John thought that, by asking such a question of Jesus, he could
encourage him to make a public announcement so that all would know that the
Messianic age had arrived.
Jesus
cannot be captured in an image, or picture, or put in a box. He remains bigger
than anything we can ever imagine. Thus, what is required if one is to
encounter him is to get rid of any categories that we may have used to define
him. Jesus fits no specific category and
yet, belongs to all of them. We sometimes think we know who Jesus is, what he
stands for, and what he is doing, and then he surprises us and does something
quite contrary to our expectations. Many scholars and holy men and women have
proposed first one understanding of who Jesus is, and then another. They are
all correct and all incorrect. Thus, the best response to Jesus is to be
constantly open to whatever revelation he decides to make and to keep our whole
being open in the hope that we will encounter him.
It is only
important for us to constantly realize that God has acted in Jesus, and has
been revealed as a God of the poor, a God who wants all people to be whole, a
God who reaches out to the lame, the blind, the deaf, the mute, and the scum of
society. God reaches out to tell them
that they are loved and honoured because they, too, are created in the image
and likeness of God. The ones who accept
this Jesus, will also accept that the mission he inaugurated is now their own,
and they are called to join him in continuing it as he would have done.
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