“History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God—Buddha, Mohamed, Confucius, Christ, Lao-tze, and thousands of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day.
Each of them has a right to be heard and considered. But a yardstick external to and outside of whatever is to be measured is needed, so there must be some permanent tests available to all men, all civilizations, and all ages, by which they can decide whether any one of these claimants, or all of them, are justified in their claims. These tests are of two kinds: reason and history. Reason, because everyone has it, even those without faith; history, because everyone lives in it and should know something about it.
Reason dictates that if any one of these men actually came from God, the least thing that God could do to support His claim would be to pre-announce His coming….If God sent anyone from Himself, or if He came Himself with a vitally important message for all men, it would seem reasonable that he would first let men know when His messenger was coming, where He would be born, where He would live, the doctrine He would teach, the enemies He would make, the program He would adopt for the future, and the manner of His death. By the extent to which the messenger conformed with these announcements, one could judge the validity of his claims.
Reason further assures us that if God did not do this, then there would be nothing to prevent any impostor from appearing in history and saying, “I come from God,” or “An angel appeared to me in the desert and gave me this message.” In such cases there would be no objective, historical way of testing the messenger. We would have only his word for it, and of course he could be wrong….
Because of the Old Testament prophecies, Christ’s coming was not unexpected. There were no predictions about Buddha, Confucius, Lao-tze, Mohamed, or anyone else. Others came and just said, “Here I am, believe me.” They were, therefore, only men among men and not the Divine in the human. Christ alone stepped out of that line saying, “Search the writings of the Jewish people and the related history of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.”
Putting Christ’s Birth in Context
These are the beginning paragraphs of the Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen’s Life of Christ. (p 1-2) They summarize the core message of all three readings for this 4th Sunday of Advent: Jesus is God, who came to earth; Jesus is equally human, our flesh and bone, come-from-the-Father-to-lead-us-to-the-Father.
As Bishop Sheen goes on to say, “once He appeared, He struck history with such impact that He split it in two, dividing it into two periods: one before His coming, the other after it.”
As we approach Christmas, the world around us celebrates “holidays.” And, indeed, holidays can be good to celebrate with family and friends. But we, as Catholic Christians, celebrate something much, much more: we celebrate that GOD HIMSELF came to be born in profoundly simple circumstances. This Jesus was and is “Emmanuel”—GOD WITH US.
The reflection picture today is of my Kerygma Tree—a variation on the Jesse Tree, an Advent practice that recounts the story through the history of the Jewish people of the developing readiness for Jesus’ birth in history. Up until now, this Kerygma Tree has mostly been symbols of the story that began in Genesis 1. Now, this last week of Advent, it turns to the events of the Incarnation, then, post-Christmas, to the events of the Kerygma, the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to bring us to God.
First Reading Micah 5:1-4a
Micah, the prophet, prophesied to Judah around 727-700 BCE—during the 8th century before Christ. He was a contemporary of Isaiah and said many of the same things. He is praised by Jeremiah for helping lead kings and people of Judah to repentance in the years after the fall of Israel to the Assyrians.
Peter Kreeft, in his commentary on this reading in Food for the Soul, his new book of reflections on the Cycle C readings, lists 10 prophecies of the Messiah in this passage—all of which came true in Jesus. Can you identify them all as you read? I missed most of them! They are: (1) that he will come from Bethlehem; (2) that he will rule Israel; (3) that his origin is from of old; (4) that God waits for his mother; (5) that his brothers will return from exile to Israel; (6) that he will stand firm; (7) that he will shepherd his flock; (8) that they will remain; (9) that his greatness will reach the ends of the earth; (10) that he will be peace. (Food for the Soul, p 41)
Kreeft goes on to explain each one. Wow! I had never paid that close attention to the prophecies. I have always seen them as true, as helping the people of Israel in dark times, as tying Old Testament and New Testament together. But from Kreeft’s detailed description I was led back to Bishop Sheen and the quote with which this reflection began. Rereading that, it put Jesus in history. It put the prophecies in context of reading I’ve been doing from the catechism and the 2020 Catechetical Directory that help me understand: our life with God depends on and stems from how God reveals Himself to us. God wants to reveal Himself! God’s primary revelation is in Jesus, the Christ. For that reason, he is more than the reason for the season: he is the reason for my life.
Micah came alive and speaks to me today about the REALITY of God, his revelation of Himself, and his LOVE through relationship.
Second Reading Hebrews 10:5-10
The Hebrews reading builds on Micah and names for the early Christians the essential difference between the days of the Law and the Prophets and the days of Christ. It speaks of the two covenants: the covenant formed during the Exodus. It was the covenant of the Law. That covenant named right and wrong and recognized that God’s people do not always follow what is right. God set up a way of sacrifice of animals and vegetables to help people regularly repent and keep trying to follow his ways. But then, through Jesus, the Christ, there is a new covenant: the covenant of Christ’s full obedience of will. This covenant didn’t do away with the old core rules of relationship with God (the 10 Commandments), but it moved them to full expression of love—love proved by Jesus’ willingness to suffer and die. Jesus led the way in self-giving. He made following God a matter of mind, heart, and life. He demonstrated a sacrifice of will instead of sacrifice of lamb, bullock, or goat.
This was a new covenant for the early Christians. It is meant to be a covenant for us today: we obey the letters of God’s commandments in what we do AND we give ourselves up to BECOME day by day more like Christ—more instruments of God’s practiced love.
The Gospel: Luke 1:39-45
The Gospel today is the familiar story of the Visitation, the 2nd Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. Generally, when I pray the Joyful Mysteries, I tend to visualize Mary and Elizabeth, their mutual caring for each other, and their joy in seeing in each other as assurance that what God had seemed to reveal to them was indeed real and true. But today, in light of the other two readings, my heart focuses on how they join Old Testament and New Testament, old covenant and new covenant, in their pregnancies and in their lives. Their meeting stands between the two covenants.
In these brief verses we witness John, roughly six months in the womb/three months from birth, BEGIN his life’s work—to announce and prepare the way of the Lord. Talk about an early vocation! We witness his mother, Elizabeth, proclaim Mary’s embryo child as Lord. We do not yet witness Mary’s great Magnificat.
We hang, for today, between testaments, between covenants. We know that Christ is among us. Yet he is hidden. Time stands suspended. Liturgically, we wait…
For Christmas.
Prayer:
Lord, today help me to appreciate Your coming in history. How privileged I am to live these two-thousand years after You came! How much I live in this knowledge while I overlook Your careful plan of revelation. Come, Lord Jesus, reveal Yourself to me today, this Christmas. Come as You wish, when You wish—in moment of worship, in friendly greeting, in visitor welcomed or visit made. Come! And may this reflection help me to stand firm in my faith, to remember and affirm that You are God, You are real, You are not just another good person or picture of something “beyond.” You are God. All this Christmas, let me adore You. Adeste Fidelis!
To all readers: May your final days of Advent be blessed and your Christmas be filled with love and the joy of God’s revelation of Himself to you and to the whole world.
