Commentary
Sunday, 12/22/2019, Fourth Sunday of Advent
Don’t Miss the Sign
First Reading Commentary: Isaiah 7:10-14
Religious and spiritual people are not the only ones to call on God in times of stress. Some of the most non-religious people in the world call on God when they are in trouble. They say things like, “Lord, have mercy” or “Heaven help us” or “O my God.” Because their faith is either weak or non-existent, these words are sometimes nothing more than expressions of frustration and become a violation of the First Commandment—Thou shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
Many people with weak faith look for signs from God but they fail to recognize that God has given many signs which are right in front of them. In fact, we are all confronted with countless signs every day beginning with our own lives. Only God can create life and with each breath, our individual lives are signs for each of us.
Then there are those who do not believe that God can or will provide. As a result, they either do not pray at all or will not share those intentions which are nearest to their hearts with God. This is the exact opposite of what God wants us to do. God wants us to bring our problems to Him and God wants us to rely on Him.
Isaiah tells us that the LORD spoke to Ahaz and told Ahaz to ask for a sign but Ahaz said, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD.” This sounds like Ahaz was respecting the LORD by not wanting to tempt Him. But in, reality Ahaz was saying, “No” to God.
God invited Ahaz to ask for a sign that would show that He would come to the rescue of Judah. But because of his lack of faith, Ahaz said, “No” and chose to not rely on God. Therefore, Ahaz put his faith in human powers. We often make that same mistake. We look for things that are of this world to fix our problems instead of putting our problems in God’s hands and seeking His salvation.
After Ahaz refused God, Isaiah spoke to the house of David and said, “Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God?” Isaiah was saying that we should not trouble each other with things that are too much for us to handle. Not only do we burden ourselves with a load which is too heavy for us to carry, we also trouble God with our lack of faith. God would rather take the burden from us but we do not give Him the chance and consequently, deny ourselves of His saving-grace.
Think about that. When we reject God’s invitation, we deny ourselves of His saving-grace. God's saving grace is something that none of us can afford to be without. So, God never gives up on us and constantly reaches out to us. Not because He needs to. God does not need us for salvation. We need Him!
Even though we do not ask, God puts signs in front of us. Ahaz said “No” to God but through Isaiah, God promised to send a sign anyway—the virgin conceiving and bearing a son called Emmanuel. This is a sign that God’s love, mercy and forgiveness are limitless and without end. This is the Father’s sign to us that God is with us and always will be.
Belong to Christ
Second Reading Commentary: Romans 1:1-7
In opening his letter to the Romans, Paul identifies himself as a slave to Christ meaning that his total allegiance belongs to Christ and that he serves one God and one God only. Paul tells us that we are also called to belong to Christ.
What does a slave do if it is not the master’s work? A slave does as the master commands. Therefore, by telling us to belong to Christ, Paul is telling us to obey the Commandments. And why should we do that? Because our Master is our Creator, Protector and our Savior. He is like no other master because we are not mere possessions. Our Master loves us and will never mistreat us. All He wants is for us to be with Him so that together, we can enjoy everlasting peace and happiness. And to prove it, He sent His Son.
Paul is telling us that he was called to be an apostle and given the mission of proclaiming the gospel of Christ. He reminds us that the Gospel is a fulfillment of the prophecies found in Scripture. Those prophecies tell us that Christ is a descendant of David and the Son of God who was resurrected from the dead.
Paul wrote, “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith.” We do not normally think of faith and obedience in the same context. One can be obedient to someone else without having faith in them. In fact, we all do that from time to time. For example, we may obey the law because we don’t want to be fined or go to jail but we have no faith whatsoever in the people who wrote the law. We may even obey the law because we know that it is for our own good but that does not mean that we have faith in those who wrote the law.
But when we do have faith in someone, we will obey that person because we believe in what they say. One of the messages from Paul today is that there is no one more deserving of our faith than God. It is simple logic: if we place all, of our faith in God, we will belong to God and if we belong to God, we will obey Him.
Joseph’s Dream
Gospel Commentary: Matthew 1:18-24
During the time of Mary and Joseph, if a woman was betrothed to a man, she became his wife. If she had relations with another man, it was considered adultery and the punishment was death by stoning. Knowing that he did not have relations with Mary, Joseph thought that she had committed adultery so he intended to divorce her.
But Joseph was a righteous man and wanted to divorce Mary quietly so that no shame would come to her. What this means is that Joseph obeyed the Mosaic laws but wanted no harm to come to Mary because he loved her.
We all know someone who is in a relationship that we do not understand. We look from the outside in and scratch our heads—sometimes in disbelief. Almost always, if we ask the person why, they will say, “Because I love him/her.” Well, it is obvious that Joseph loved Mary. However angry or broken hearted, Joseph loved Mary.
If Joseph divorced Mary publicly and adultery was proven, Mary would have been stoned. This presented Joseph with a dilemma but he was unaware of what had happened so God sent an angel to enlighten Joseph and that changed everything.
We have all heard it said, “God will not give us more than we can handle.” In Joseph’s case, we can say that God will not put us into a predicament that we cannot get out of because He will show up to save us. If God created the situation, you can bet that He will come to the rescue. If it is God’s plan that we are trying to carry out, you can bet that God will come and make it work.
The angel told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary into his home because Mary had conceived through the Holy Spirit. The angel said, “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
This was in fulfillment of the prophecy that the LORD had given to Isaiah: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” Joseph knew the prophecy and he knew the meaning of Emmanuel; God is with us. So, when he awoke, he took Mary into his home.
It was no accident that God chose Joseph to be the husband of Mary. Not only was he from the house of David, Joseph’s faith was absolute. Can you imagine what Joseph might have done if he had no faith in God? He would have dismissed the dream and divorced Mary without any concern for her demise. Then, where would we be?
But Joseph was filled with all of the gifts and virtues of the Holy Spirit. Patience did not allow Joseph to make rash decisions. Knowledge and counsel opened Joseph’s mind. Strength, courage and fortitude allowed Joseph to handle the situation without fear. Awe and wonder or fear of the Lord together with his absolute faith drove Joseph to stay with Mary and take her into his home.
These are the things that make Joseph the patron saint of fathers. In today’s world with so many broken families, more men should look to Joseph as an example and for encouragement.
Consider this: If you want to see what a perfect family should look like, take a look at the Holy Family. There you will find the perfect mother and the perfect father. When you look at Mary and Joseph, you will find two people with perfect faith. That is why God, the Father, chose Mary and Joseph to be the parents of Jesus, God—the Son.
As we prepare to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus, we should take a moment to say thank you to St. Joseph who like Mary, said, “Yes.”
