This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, the dark comes early and stays late. Centuries ago, partly because of the long darkness of December, the Church chose December 25 as the time to celebrate Christ’s birth. The three readings for this Sunday before Christmas tell backstories of the darkness which forms the contrast for Christ’s light.
Isaiah 7:10-14
The Church chooses this snapshot of Judah during the reign of King Ahaz because of the prophetic reference to Mary and Jesus: “The virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Some details of the historic backstory can add to our appreciation of the importance of that statement.
Ahaz was the 12th King of Judah. He ruled for sixteen years, from 732 to 716 BCE. One reference said that he was perhaps the most wicked king of Judah. Isaiah’s prophecy about the virgin giving birth related to God’s direction to Ahaz NOT to solve his political problems by forming an alliance with Assyria. The virgin who would give birth at the time was Abijah, who was an “almah,” that is a young woman who was a virgin, who gave Ahaz an heir to the throne, Hezekiah.
Ahaz would not accept the sign as a guarantee of God’s promise to protect Judah. He got in alliance with Assyria. As a result, Judah was free of war during his reign, but the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel were defeated by the Assyrians and deported to Babylon.
But it wasn’t just the politics of it. Ahaz closed the temple and forbade instruction in the Jewish faith. He brought in an altar to Baal, the god of the Assyrians, and even sacrificed some of his children to that god. More details are found in II Kings 16 and II Chronicles 28.
There was great darkness in the time of King Ahaz. In that time of darkness, Isaiah prophesied there would be a great light. At the time, that light was Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, who returned the people to worship of Yahweh and removed the profanations in the temple. We know that great light was also to be Jesus–born some 700 years later.
Romans 1:1-7
In Cycle A, we learn from Romans almost as often as we learn from Matthew. We’ve had some readings from the latter part of Romans on the first and second Advent Sundays, but now we begin at the beginning.
It is easy to gloss over the rather elaborate salutations that are a part of Paul’s letters. It’s not our style. We’ve even moved to the informal, “Hi” of emails, skip the “how are you’s” and get right to what we are writing about.
Not so, Paul. He has learned of the strong Christian community in Rome, but he does not know them, nor they, him. He is introducing himself. It is interesting how he does it. He first identifies himself as a “slave” of Jesus Christ. Some translations use the word “servant” instead of slave, but, either way, he is saying “Jesus Christ is my master, my Lord, I belong to him.” Then he seeks to connect with the two groups within the Christian community: Jews and Gentiles. He speaks to the Jews in terms of how Jesus is the Son of God, “promised through his prophets.” He speaks to the Gentiles in terms of “the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also.”
In a couple of sentences Paul says, “I identify with both groups. I want to guide and minister to both groups.” Yet he makes it clear that belonging to Christ is the primary identification. It is Christ who will bring the light of Truth, Love, and Stability to the Roman community. He can identify with both groups while still centering his faith on Christ. This is all possible because Jesus is “established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead.”
The immediate political darkness of the fledgling Christian community was minor, compared to the darkness in Isaiah’s time, but another characteristic of darkness is that it makes us alert because of what is unknown. Paul’s letter to the Romans outlines so many core concepts of Christian faith and life. Romans provides a light to the unknown within the darkness of the unexplored. Paul introduces himself, almost like a candle in a darkened room, to set the stage for the many “ways of faith” he will teach the Romans—and us—through his letter–and thus bring Christ’s light.
Matthew 1:18-24
It is always good when reading Matthew to remember that the Gospel of Matthew is directed toward Christians with a Jewish background. Just before these verses, Matthew has given a genealogy of Jesus, beginning with Abraham. Matthew is establishing where Jesus fits in the story of the people of Israel.
Matthew is writing to face the darkness of lack of awareness of the great light of Christ and Christian life. He is establishing a “toehold” from the beginning to help his readers come to understand who Jesus really is.
So he begins with a simple description of how God made the Incarnation happen. Like Paul with the Romans, Matthew is establishing the credibility of what he will say throughout his 28 chapters. He is saying: Jesus is Jewish. He is also the Son of God. This is how a Jewish child can be the Son of God. He fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah and other prophets. It may be hard to believe. But Joseph believed. It took divine revelation through a dream, but Joseph believed, trusted God (unlike Ahaz), and so the Son of God was placed in a righteous Jewish family.
There was darkness at this time, too, in history. Judah and all the neighboring lands were under the rule of Rome, a foreign, pagan power. And Mary was with child, though not yet living with Joseph. She, her family, and Joseph, unlike Ahaz, trusted God. He gave them the path of light in today’s Gospel. Joseph had a dream.
Applications
The first application I make from these readings is noticing the background of political, religious, and personal darkness which forms the background for them. Whether it was the uncertainty of the times of Isaiah or the uncertainty of the Roman empire, or the uncertainty of living faith, troubles loomed on the horizon. Within the backstories of darkness, God came as Light. Darkness just made the light brighter and more appealing.
Practically, we are a week from Christmas. I would encourage you to spend a little time each day praying in the Light of the Coming Christ. The Gospels this week tell the story, the final events that were the journey to Bethlehem. This week, each day read the Gospel and enter into the story. See yourself with Zechariah on Monday (Luke 1:5-25), Mary on Tuesday (Luke 1:26-38), Mary and Elizabeth on Wednesday (Luke 1:39-45) and Thursday (Luke 1:46-56), Elizabeth and Zechariah on Friday (Luke 1:57-66) and Saturday morning (Luke 1:67-79). Pause and let the light fill you.
Prayer:
We are now in the seven days before Christmas. Each has a verse in the medieval hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The verses are invitations to prayer for the day. Pray the one today for December 18:
O Come, O come Emmanuel/and ransom captive Israel/that mourns in lonely exile here/until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.
Note ONE:
There was wonderful discussion last Sunday because a reader asked a question that came from his reading of the Gospel. Do you have a question that comes from the Scripture that is not covered in this reflection? Make a comment and ask it! I promise to check mid-day on Sunday and see what I can find out about your question. Other readers can also add what they know. It was grand fun last week! If you have a question, ask it—this week or in weeks to come.
Note TWO:
In response to Pope Francis’ request that we study the documents of Vatican II in 2023 as a preparation for the Holy Year of 2025, I will be facilitating a study group in January on the Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. We will meet from 1:30 to 2:30 pm US Eastern time on January 8, 15, 22, and 29. Lumen Gentium can be downloaded for free from the Vatican website or is available in many resources. Discussions of church documents by A Catholic Moment readers in the past have drawn people from the US, Canada, countries in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and even Australia. We have had marvelous discussions!
For more information or to sign up for the group, contact me at mary@skillswork.org Blessings! Participation is free (with no ads!) but there will be assigned reading of Lumen Gentium, questions to ponder before the discussion, and some optional suggested videos and additional reading.
