Homily Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C God's call, our response
Homily
Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Reading
1: God used Micah to prophesy about the future coming of the promised Messiah.
He prophesied that the long awaited One would be born in Bethlehem of Judea.
What is significant about Bethlehem? It was the town of David’s birth. Just as
God chose an unknown youth from an insignificant place to be the former great
king of Israel, so God has chosen that the future ruler/Messiah should also
come from Bethlehem.
Just
as David, as shepherd, was chosen to shepherd God’s people as king, so the One
to come will shepherd God’s people in his name. But how? David was able to
overcome Goliath by the strength of the Lord and was able to establish the
great nation of Israel by the strength of God. In the same way the One to come
will shepherd God’s flock by the strength of the Lord and in the name of God.
In Matthew’s Gospel, the evangelist will verify that Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem
was the fulfillment of this prophesy. Jesus himself will identify himself as the
Good Shepherd who will bring peace to an alienated people.
Reading
2: The first reading says that all is accomplished by the strength of the Lord
and in the name of the Lord. This reading underlies another aspect of Jesus’
life and identity. “Behold, I came to do your will, God.” The author of Hebrews
reminds us that the greatest gift of Jesus to the Father was not his death on
the cross as a sacrifice, but his decision to embrace the will of the Father
even to the death of the cross.
This
was the standard and hallmark of Jesus’ life. “I have come to do the will of my
Father.” The first Adam chose not to do the will of God and thus sin came into
the world. The second Adam, Jesus, chose to embrace the will of the Father in
obedience and love and thus came our salvation. “By his will we are consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus.” In baptism we are called to do the
will of God in the strength of the Lord in the name of the Lord.
Gospel:
The Gospel picks up this message of being obedient to the will of God without
understanding fully all the implications or ramifications.
At
the Annunciation, Mary’s response to the angel’s revelation that she, a virgin,
would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit; that she—an insignificant
person from an insignificant town of Nazareth--was chosen by God to be the Mother
of the Savior of the world, was Yes. Her response was direct. “I will do your
will.”
When
the angel further revealed that Elizabeth, her cousin, has also conceived a son
in her old age, Mary went in obedience to care for Elizabeth. Because Mary is
obedient in small and big things, the word of God to her is confirmed.
Elizabeth says the babe in her own womb leapt for joy. She then acknowledged
Mary as the Mother of the Lord. She said that all this has happened because
Mary believed that the word of God spoken to her would be fulfilled and she
acted on his word.
Jesus
comes to us in the present moment. He comes to bring peace, reconciliation, joy
and love. The Holy Spirit prepared Mary for the conception of Jesus. The Holy
Spirit prepared Elizabeth to receive the silent presence of Jesus. The Holy
Spirit comes to prepare our hearts for the present coming of Jesus into our
lives, so that we will not be oblivious of his coming in the ways he will
choose to come to us in the next few days.
By
seeking his will, by being in the will of God and doing the will of God, we
will be better receptive of the hidden coming of Jesus to us.
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