I’m sure you have heard the expression, “actions speak louder than words.” Joseph speaks volumes, but we don’t know a single thing he ever said. Yet we see a man of profound integrity, a merciful and gentle man, but most of all we see obedience.
We can certainly understand how he would be conflicted and puzzled by news of Mary’s pregnancy. Yet after the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, we are told, “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home” (Matthew 1:24). The Angel informs Joseph that this child was conceived through the Holy Spirit and then quotes from the prophecy in our first reading, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
As we reflect on our Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Matthew 1:18-24) we are confronted once again with God himself taking flesh and becoming a child. We call this the incarnation. We might ask, what is the big deal? Why do we need an incarnation?
We learn three things from our Gospel. We learn who Jesus is; secondly, why our belief about Jesus matters, and finally, what our response should be.
Jesus is God
First, Jesus is God. The child growing in Mary’s womb was “conceived by the Holy Spirit.” Joseph is not literally Jesus’ father, nor is any human father. God is the father of this child.
Furthermore, the angel tells Joseph, “to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). In last week’s reading from Isaiah 35, God himself saves his people. [1]
Yet, the angel says Jesus “will save his people from their sins.” This clearly implies that Jesus is acting in the place of God. Jesus, who is God, will save his people.
To make the point crystal clear St Matthew quotes Isaiah 7, “the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel” The name Emmanuel means “God with us.” This is not a spoiler alert for us today, but to St Matthew’s Jewish audience this was a big deal! How can the child Jesus also be God with us?
Yet the idea that Jesus is God is also a problem for some modern people. Does this claim make Christianity too exclusive and give it a kind of all-or-nothing character. No other religion makes the claim that God became man.
While other religions claim to make you good, and lead you to God, we are claiming that God came to us. God takes the initiate. As St Paul reminds us, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is not of course to deny some goodness in other faiths, but no other religion has an incarnation.
When we come to realize just how radical this claim is, it is impossible to believe that Christianity is just one good religion among many at the religious buffet.
Think about this for a moment, if Jesus is not God as we claim, then our faith is a lie. It is actually a delusion. If Jesus is a liar, he is not good. We cannot sit on the fence about this. We must decide either for or against Jesus claim to be God. Jesus cannot be merely a good man, or a great teacher, or a prophet, although of course he is those things, he also claims to be God.
Not only is Jesus God, “He will save his people from their sins.” Following Jesus as his disciple is not merely a way to a good life, but the way to salvation. As Jesus himself says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
When we come to realize just how radical this claim is, it is impossible to believe that Christianity is just one good religion among many at the religious buffet.
Think about this for a moment, if Jesus is not God as we claim, then our faith is a lie. It is actually a delusion. If Jesus is a liar, he is not good. We cannot sit on the fence about this. We must decide either for or against Jesus claim to be God. Jesus cannot be merely a good man, or a great teacher, or a prophet, although of course he is those things, he also claims to be God.
Why Our Belief about Jesus Matters
Not only is Jesus God, “He will save his people from their sins.” Following Jesus as his disciple is not merely a way to a good life, but the way to salvation. As Jesus himself says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Someone might say, “I don’t think doctrine is important, I think it is enough to just live and good life, and be a good person.” Of course living a good life is admirable, but we must remember that we cannot save ourselves by our good works.
As St Paul forcefully reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9). This is the constant teaching of the church.
Jesus saves us by his sacrificial death on the cross. In fact, even the power to live a good life comes from God’s unmerited grace.
What Our Response Should Be?
First, the truth of the incarnation calls us to make a choice either for or against Jesus. Jesus claims to be God, and this calls for an all-or-nothing response from us. Once we have assented to the belief that Jesus is God, we must demonstrate our faith. In our second reading, St Paul calls each one of us to “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5).
The “obedience of faith” means the complete submission of our heart and will to God. [2] This fundamental act of saying “yes” to God is necessary for our cooperation with God’s grace. This full submission of our heart allows us to receive his unmerited forgiveness.
How does this work? The Holy Spirit moves our hearts, turning them towards God, and opens our minds to see the truth. God intends this inspiration in our hearts to lead to our joyful assent, our “yes” to God, and an ever-deepening relationship with him. Yet God does not force anyone to believe.
Jesus Christ became a man to bring about the obedience of faith in each of our hearts. This is the goal of our joyful expectation in Advent.
Many of us prepare a manger scene in our homes a Christmas to remind us of the Nativity. I invite you today to imagine that this manger is your heart. We need to prepare our heart to receive our savior.
Do you feel your heart is unworthy to receive the King? Even a humble manger in a stable was his resting place that day. None of us is worthy to receive him, but out of love he comes to each of us, if we will open our hearts. “O come, O come, Immanuel.”
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[1] “Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense he comes to save you” (Is 35:4).
[2] This is the meaning of the
act of “faith” or the “obedience by which man commits his whole self freely
to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals.”
(Dei Verbum, 5) As the fathers of Second Vatican Council put
it,
To make this act of faith, the grace of God and the interior help of the Holy Spirit must precede and assist, moving the heart and turning it to God, opening the eyes of the mind and giving "joy and ease to everyone in assenting to the truth and believing it." To bring about an ever deeper understanding of revelation the same Holy Spirit constantly brings faith to completion by His gifts. (Dei Verbum, 5)
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