IV SUNDAY OF ADVENT
1st Reading: Is 7:10-14, 2nd Reading: Rom 1:1-7, Gospel: Mt 1:18-24
On the fourth and last Sunday of Advent, the liturgy presents to us the Child whose birth we prepare to celebrate: He is the “Emmanuel,” the “God with us,” the friendly God who comes to meet us to save us from everything that prevents our encounter with true life. It is Good News, for the coming of the Child God gives a new and full meaning to the history of humanity.
In the first reading the prophet Isaiah assures King Ahaz, worried because his kingdom is under threat from enemies, that there are more than sufficient reasons to face the future with hope, and Hope does not deceive, as Paul teaches and as the motto that guides us in this jubilee year. The young wife of the king will give birth to a boy who will ensure the future of the nation. The birth of this boy will be a sign that God is and will always be with His people, accompanying them on the paths of life and history.
Ahaz said to the prophet Isaiah that he did not want to ask God for a sign because he did not want to put God to the test. It was a false excuse. The truth is that Ahaz trusted more in alliances with the powerful, in the strength of the Assyrian army, in the power of weapons, in the logic of violence, than in God.
Ahaz well represents a certain “modern” mentality, rational and concrete, that prefers to bet on earthly and human logics rather than on logics that place us in the realm of transcendence and the unfathomable mystery of God. The problem, however, is that the human foundations upon which we build our projects almost always prove unreliable. They collapse quickly, betray our trust, disappoint us at every step.
Ahaz quickly had that experience. Only God does not disappoint and does not betray. Perhaps we do not always understand his logic and his “times” of intervention. Where is our “secure rock” that does not fail: in God or in human structures?
In the Gospel Matthew affirms that the Child who will be born of Mary of Nazareth will be the “Emmanuel,” the “God with us,” the God who comes to visit us to remain at our side and to offer us salvation. Joseph, the young “betrothed” of Mary, is invited to collaborate in God’s project and to welcome this child. And “Joseph did as the angel commanded him.”
Joseph’s attitude challenges everyone, especially us, the disciples of Christ. For in our times, many of Christ’s followers do not do what He commanded in the Gospel. For He commanded that we love one another as He loved us. In fact, He said that it would be by reciprocal love that the world would know that we are His disciples. If we did as Joseph did, we would not have the wars that we have today in the world, because the driving force of wars is hatred, a fact that contrasts with the example and the summary of all the commandments: love of God and of neighbour as ourselves, which He left us as a legacy.
In the second reading the apostle Paul presents himself to the Christians of Rome. He defines himself as “servant of Jesus Christ, His witness to the ends of the earth in order to lead all the gentiles to obey the faith.”
It is our turn to continue Paul’s mission so that Christ, whom we will soon welcome in the celebration of Holy Christmas, may be known and loved throughout the planet earth, in order to build a more fraternal world as Pope Francis teaches in Fratelli Tutti.
For the realization of this noble project, it is necessary that Emmanuel, the God with us, find welcome in our hearts. The Child God who comes to be with us does not impose His presence; He waits to count on our hospitality. No guest stays where he does not feel well received.
Let us follow the example of Paul who welcomed Christ into his life and shared Him.