The fourth candle of AdventA Time for Both
December 19, 2010, 4th Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-14 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-24
First reading
The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, “Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky.” But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask for a sign! I refuse to put the Lord to the test!” Then Isaiah said, “Listen now, O house of David! It’s bad enough for you to wear out men’s patience—do you have to wear out God’s patience too? I tell you the Lord himself will give you this sign: a young woman[1] shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
The fourth candle of Advent
The second part of Advent, which is called `Late Advent’ or the `Novena of Christmas’ in the liturgical books, began last Friday, Dec. 17th. This coming Tuesday, Dec. 21st will be the first day of winter. The Old Farmers' Almanac shows the period between 17th and 25th of December as the darkest of the entire year; it has 15 long hours of darkness and only 9 short hours of light. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 19h, we light the fourth candle of the Advent wreath to dispel the physical and psychological darkness of these last days of 2010.
A litany of promises in Early Advent
In Early Advent (which began this year on Nov. 28th), the readings at Mass from the prophet Isaiah are a relentless litany of promises that everything that’s wrong with the world shall be fixed. Early Advent gazes forward into the future. Accordingly, the verbs in the Isaian readings are in the future tense (the `shall tense’), for that’s the tense of promise:
“In those days they shall melt down their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. One nation shall not raise the sword against another, and they shall no longer train for war again.” (Is 2:4-5) "In those days the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." (Is 11:6) "In those days the blind living in darkness shall open their eyes and see. “ (Is 29:18) Etc.
By the end of Early Advent, we are somewhat wearied by Isaiah stoning us to death with the future tense of promise at daily Mass.
A litany of stories in Late Advent
The arrival of Late Advent (or the Novena of Christmas) on Dec. 17th comes as a welcome relief from Early Advent with its litany of promises. Everything suddenly changes. Late Advent now gazes backward into the past -- to a moment of history when the Word became flesh. Suddenly the verbs of the scripture readings at Mass are in the past tense, because that’s the tense of history, and also the tense of story. The wearisome litany of promises in Early Advent is now replaced by an exciting litany of stories in Late Advent. The gospel readings at Mass these days perks up the ears of the child in us, as they do what Christmas does best: tell stories.
“Once upon a time an angel of the Lord appeared to an old priest named Zachariah offering incense before the altar of the Lord, and announced that his barren wife Elizabeth was going to have a baby.” (Lk 1: 5-25) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord appeared to a maiden named Mary, and announced she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Lk 1: 26-38) “Once upon a time an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in their fields, and announced to them that in the city of Bethlehem they would find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Lk 2:1-14) Etc.
A time for everything
“There’s a time for everything under the sun,” says Ecclesiastes. (3:1-8) There is a time to take the many stories of Christmas literally and at their face value, as children do -- stories about angels singing “Glory to God in the highest” and about “Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” But there’s also a time to search for the meaning behind the many stories of Christmas, as adults do. St. Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke, felt and thought as a child. But now that I am a grownup, I have put away the things of a child.” (I Cor 13: 11)
Retelling the story: a task long overdue
One of those many stories that make up the one great story of Christmas is told on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent (Cycle A). The angel Gabriel appears to Joseph in his sleep, and assures him that his pregnant wife Mary has virginally conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. The story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus does not fly well in today’s culture which feeds upon a steady diet of bursting breasts and twisting torsos. Such a culture does not deem the story of virgin birth as worthy of serious thought. It dismisses it out of hand as quite meaningless and even offensive to human nature.
A positive statement about Jesus
There are some, however, who believe the story need not offend. What’s more, they believe the story can be retold in such a way as to be filled with meaning and message. And they believe that that retelling is a task long overdue.
To begin the retelling, the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is not a negative statement about sex. It cannot mean that when the Son of God comes into the world, it’s below His dignity to be conceived in the very same way that all other babies are conceived. The virgin birth story cannot mean that God, who in the beginning created the world male and female, now repents of His `indecent’ creation, and decides to do things the `right way’ (virginally ), at least in this one very special case. That’s an insult to every mother and father, and to every child born into the world. The story is not about a fundamentalist obsession with virginity.
The story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is a positive statement about Jesus. It says that the Infant born of Mary is much more than just the gift of Joseph and Mary to the human family: He is, above all and especially, the gift of the heavenly Father to us. Jesus is not just from earth, He is also from heaven.
A positive statement about woman
Retelling the story continues: Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about woman. When the Novena of Christmas begins on Dec. 17th the gospel opens with that long male-driven genealogy from Matthew: "Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah.” The genealogy runs through 42 monotonous generations of “men begetting sons.”(In that genealogy there isn’t a word about mothers begetting daughters!) That tedious male-driven genealogy finally comes to a screeching halt with these words, "And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and it was of her [not of Joseph] that Jesus who is called the Christ was born.”(Mt 1:1-16)
With one powerful stroke the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus puts an ax to that implicit lie of history which lines up only men behind the great moments of history. Behind an event so momentous that it divides time for many into B.C. and A.D., there stands not a man but a woman - Mary. Upon such a momentous page of history a woman, and not a man, puts her signature.
A positive statement about man
Retelling the story continues: The story of Joseph and Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is also a positive statement about man. In the story of Christmas Joseph steps aside and abdicates his sexual prowess to let the message get through that Jesus is much more than his gift to us: He is especially the gift of the heavenly Father.
Stepping aside is a big order for men who down through the ages have been accustomed to center-stage, and who do not give up power easily. At the end of the day, that perhaps is the real but veiled reason why the Roman Church finds it hard to ordain women. Joseph stepping aside invites a male-driven hierarchy to step aside and make room for women.
Joseph’s stepping aside and abdicating his sexual prowess in the Christmas story is a big order especially for a culture like ours which places a heavy expectation on a young man to be a stud. That expectation is unfair to the young man, for it forces him to invest an inordinate amount of time and energy on sex during his developing years, when there are other areas of development which are equally important. The stud approach to the male is also unfair to a young lady. It makes her feel there’s something wrong with her, if she doesn’t arouse the sexual desires of young men. Or it has her investing an inordinate amount of time and energy to be sexy, to the neglect of other important areas of her human development.
Blatant miracle or teeming with meaning?
At the end of the day, we can do one of three things with the story of Mary’s miraculous and virginal conception of Jesus: 1) We can explicitly, or at least implicitly, reject the story as totally incomprehensible, as our carnal culture does. 2) Or we can go to the other extreme and accept the story with a fundamentalist obsession with virginity, as some staunch believers do. 3) Or we can choose to go in search of the meaning behind the story, as do those who contend that virgin birth must be more than just a blatant miracle; it must also and above all be teeming with meaning.
Conclusion
A time for both under the sun
Hearing the stories of Christmas as little children and hearing them as adults is not a matter of chronology: first we hear them as children, and then we grow up and hear them as adults. We vacillate between the one and the other in the various phases of our human journey. Sometimes we are in an adult mode, searching hard for meaning -- as today we searched hard for the meaning behind the story of Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus. Sometimes we are in a child mode -- in no great need of deep meaning, but utterly delighted by a simple story about a virgin who gave birth to a Son and laid Him in a manger.
Which mode is better? Neither. There’s a time for both under the sun. On our human journey there is a time to be adults searching for meaning. And there is also a time to be unquestioning children listening delightfully and easily to stories about “heavenly hosts singing glory to God in the highest,” and about “Magi from the East bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
[1] The Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14 does not say “a virgin” but rather “a young woman” shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. In the Hebrew text there is no mention of nor emphasis upon the virginity of the mother who bears the child; the emphasis is upon the name of the child: He is `Immanuel.’ ’He is `God-with-us.’
[2] The use of “virgin” in Mt. 1:23 instead of “young woman” reflects a Greek translation of the Old Testament, made some 500 years after Isaiah.
