Wouldn’t it be great if we had access to God’s personal planner?
My first thought this week was to go straight forward with the appointed Gospel and write about the plight of Mary. I knew that all of us could relate to the stress and anxiety she had to face amid such a profound call from God.
Surely, I thought to myself, it will be good news for my readers to learn that even the chosen one of God, Mary of Nazareth, dared to question God. How can this be, she asked?
The second thought that came to me, almost simultaneously, was to write about faith. I could use Mary as the model. It’s true that she had some questions about her unexpected condition, and yet in faith she finally just accepted the will of God and said Yes to God without condition. I could remind you that Abraham is considered the pillar of faith, but Mary is certainly the New Testament equivalent.
However, as I sat down to begin writing this week, I began to think about all the wondrous and extraordinary images that Luke presents to his reader throughout his birth narrative, beyond today’s Gospel, beginning with the image of an angel appearing from heaven to a poor maiden in a remote part of the world. I don’t know about you, but angels from heaven don’t appear in my bedroom very often, well, except for my wife Kathy.
Then there is Luke’s account of the Virgin Birth! How mysterious an image is that? There hasn’t been a single replication of it in two-thousand years.
Next, there’s Joseph. God talked to him in his sleep. Now we all have dreams, but how many of them give such clear, comprehensive, step-by-step instructions on what to do when you wake up in the morning?
There’s also the story of John’s father, Zechariah. He doesn’t believe, so another angel from heaven tells him that he’s going to be deaf until the baby’s born, and by golly there isn’t a hearing aid made today that could help old Zechariah!
If that isn’t enough, when Mary visits the very pregnant and very elderly Elizabeth, the unborn John the Baptist leaps in her womb. John, we are to believe, was aware of exactly who was in the womb next door!
Now I know that in today’s world of ultrasonic scans, we have seen babies, only weeks conceived, sucking their thumbs and maybe even uttering some kind of primitive sounds, but as far as I know, it has never been proven that these unborn babies are fully aware of what’s going on outside the womb in the real world. I don’t believe there has ever been another case of such clairvoyancy in a fetus.
It would be much easier to preach on God’s understanding of living with fear and anxiety, or on steadfast faith in God’s call, but how do I even begin to prepare a Gospel reflection with all these Advent theatrics running through my head?
One of my favorite cartoons shows a priest in the pulpit with a Bible open in his hands. He has obviously just read some troublesome passage, and he looks up at his congregation and says, These are among the verses that I would interpret as HUMOR!
I can relate to that. The fact is, however, that Luke is really quite serious!
I think that on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, 2023, and with only a matter of hours until the Christmas Eve service, we should take what Luke has to offer us this Advent very seriously.
If you look at all of Luke’s Advent and Christmas images, there’s one theme running through them all. What he’s stressing above all else is the message that behind Christmas there is a divine intentionality, what Process Theologians would call God’s Initial Aim for each moment of life. The miracle of Christmas was by design and destined to become the pinnacle of human history.
If you ever saw the first of the older Star Wars movies (episode IV), you may remember the scene where Han Solo, the knight in shining armor, breaks through a heavily guarded cellblock to free Princess Lea. It became very apparent, very quickly, that escape was almost impossible, at which point the Princess sarcastically asks, When you came in here, didn’t you have a plan to get out?
Everybody likes to know that there is a plan, that God didn’t just wind us up like a music box and then stand back and listen until our lives played out. Luke knew that, which is why he lets us listen in on the conversation with the Angel and Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will come over you.
GOD HAS A PLAN!
All three angels began by saying, as angels often do, Fear not!
Fear not, Mary, God has a plan.
Fear not, Joseph, God has a plan.
Fear not, Zechariah, God has a plan.
Three angels can’t be all wrong! God has intention for each of us this Christmas. You and I can do a lot of listening between now and the singing of Silent Night before the creche.
Let’s spend some time arranging and re-arranging the soft straw in the manger of our hearts. Let’s prepare ourselves for the plan this year! And when He is born there, let us pray that because of the way we live our lives in the new year, the Christ Child will join his distant cousin and leap for Joy.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND THOSE YOU LOVE THIS CHRISTMAS!
Leave a Reply