4th
Sunday of Advent – December 20, 2020
We come to the last Sunday before Christmas and the readings for
December 20 speak about the unexpected preparations that God made for Jesus to
be born among us and as one of us.
The first reading from the Second Book of Samuel tells us that King
David wanted to build a better dwelling place for God. David was concerned that
he lived in a palace of fine cedar wood while God only had a tent, the tent
where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. A magnificent temple would be built,
but unexpectedly not by David but by his son Solomon. God’s plan was different than King David’s. God’s plan was to establish a House of David. “The Lord will make you a House. Your House and your sovereignty will
always stand secure before me and your throne be stabled forever.” Centuries later, when St. Luke writes his gospel, he connects the
unexpected promise. “In the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a
virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David.”
In the second reading, Paul reminds the Romans that our ‘wise-God’ patiently waited to
reveal the plan of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of his
Son, Jesus Christ. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (I
Corinthians 1:25). “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your
ways my ways,” declares the LORD (Isaiah 55:8).
We see this in the Christmas story itself. Zechariah and Elizabeth
didn’t expect to have a baby (John) in their old age. Mary didn’t expect to
become the mother of the Son of God. The Annunciation took place in Nazareth,
not exactly the center of the earth. A disciple of Jesus 30 years later will be
heard to say with a little cynicism, “Can anything good
come from Nazareth?” Truly in the eyes
of the more sophisticated, it was something of ‘the middle
of nowhere’. Yet this is the place God chooses to enter our world – not Rome, not Athens, nor any of the other great centers of power,
culture and learning in the world of that time. Joseph didn’t expect his young
bride to become pregnant. Herod didn’t expect to be disturbed by news of the
Messiah. The shepherds didn’t expect to see angels in their fields. The Magi
didn’t expect to find the Savior of the world born in a manger in a poor little
country village like Bethlehem. God surprised everybody that first Christmas.
And Jesus kept surprising people. He was a Messiah who ate with sinners and
hung out with common folk rather than the power brokers of his day. He came not
to be seated on a throne or live in a palace but to die on a cross. He turned
the world upside down with his teachings when he said things like, the meek
shall inherit the earth, the first shall be last and the last first, and love
your enemies.
What are your expectations of Christmas this year? There is no
season of the year so full of nostalgia and ripe with expectation than
Christmas. We can build up hopes and dreams that can’t possibly be fulfilled.
That is one reason people often feel depressed when Christmas is over. When you
consider it, the thing that really makes Christmas for us is not always what we
expect to happen, but what we didn’t expect. The most
memorable Christmas’ might be those when something unexpected happened.
The unexpected happened to King David. The unexpected happened to
Mary and Joseph. Before Gabriel leaves Mary, the angel reminds her that her
elderly relative, Elizabeth, well past the age of bearing children, is going to
be a mother also – already six months pregnant. “With God
nothing will be impossible.” Expect the
unexpected.
In whatever way your celebrate Christmas this year, I wish you
peace, joy, and many unexpected blessings during 2021.
Fr. Don Webber,
C.P.