Word to the Wise
Sunday, December 18, 2022 - 4th Sunday of Advent - A
[Isa 7:10-14; Rom 1:1-7; Matt 1:18-24]Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. [Isaiah] .....[T]he gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh....[Romans] "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She is to bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." [Matthew]
Throughout the season of Advent, the hope and expectation of the Jewish people for a Messiah has been celebrated through the prophecy of Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets. But Isaiah's voice has been the most prominent. Behind much of this prophecy is the promise made to King David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14: I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever." Although this may have immediately referred to Solomon, the early Christian community saw this scripture and Nathan's prophecy as referring to Jesus. In addition to Matthew's referral to Joseph as "son of David," we also have Luke's account of the trip to Bethlehem because Joseph was "of the house and family of David." [Luke 2:4].
St. Paul, in today's second scripture, carries forward the prophetic spirit about God's promise previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh... What today's scriptures do is to pull together centuries of hope and history and faith-narrative to focus on God's plan of salvation to be accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ, whose birth we will commemorate next Sunday.
But the story will not end on that day, as we know. Jesus will grow up and teach and preach and suffer and rise from the dead and the story will continue. It continues through our re-telling and reliving it over and over again. As the days of this next week pass, we can look at the nativity scene in our homes and see what all the prophecy and hopes and expectations aimed at. Can we share this with one another and all the world? AMEN