{"id":3066,"date":"2019-12-22T11:22:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T16:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3066"},"modified":"2019-12-22T11:22:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T16:22:46","slug":"4th-sunday-of-advent-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-advent-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Advent, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

4th<\/sup> Sunday of Advent, Year A<\/a>
Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (7c, 10b)
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-24
December 22, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s almost\nChristmas but not yet.  We have to wait a\ncouple of more days.  On this Fourth\nSunday of Advent, our reading from Isaiah prophesized a birth from a\nvirgin.  Our gospel today tells part of\nthe story of how the birth came to be. \nIn the second reading, Paul speaks of the call and grace we receive\nthrough this birth, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going a\nlittle deeper with the readings, Isaiah wrote in a time of distress for the\nIsraelites.  They were being\nattacked.  Ahaz is king at the time and\nhe is making plans of how to protect his country.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this time\nof distress, the Lord sends Isaiah to Ahaz to tell him to \u201cask for a sign from the Lord<\/em>.\u201d \nGod wants to give them hope.  How\nmany times in your life have you asked for a sign?  I know I do at times, \u201cLord, please give me a\nsign to know what to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahaz is\noffered a sign, as \u201cdeep<\/em>\u201d or \u201chigh<\/em>\u201d as he wants.  What would you ask for as a sign?  But wait\u2026Ahaz refuses.  Instead, he replies, \u201cI will not ask!  I will not tempt\nthe LORD<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really?  He refuses the sign?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes.  The wording of his reply, \u201cI will not tempt the LORD<\/em>\u201d might look\nlike holiness, that he doesn\u2019t need a sign because he trusts in the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only that\nwas the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, Ahaz\ndoesn\u2019t refuse the sign out of holiness. \nRather, he has his own plan, a partnership with other humans.  His plan will not work but he wants to do it\nhis way.  Thus, Ahaz \u201cwearies\u201d the Lord\nby not listening, continuing to go his own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What way do\nyou follow?  Your way or do you seek to\nfollow God\u2019s way (thy will be done)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahaz does not\nwant a sign but the Lord offers a sign of his own choosing, \u201cthe virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,\nand shall name him Emmanuel<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that\nthis sign is ultimately fulfilled for us in the birth of Jesus that we\ncelebrate on Christmas.  It is the coming\nbirth that we hear about in today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human\nperson in this gospel is Joseph, betrothed to Mary.  In Joseph we see a very different side of\nhumanity than Ahaz.  Ahaz sought to do\nthings his way.  On the other hand,\nJoseph was a righteousness man, seeking to do the Lord\u2019s Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph was\npreparing to take Mary, his betrothed, into his home as his wife.  It would a time of hope, looking forward to\ntheir future together as they start their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this\njoyous time of anticipation of their marriage, Mary is found to be\npregnant.  Joseph knows they have not had\nrelations together.  So, he can\u2019t be the\nfather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To him, this\nmeans Mary must have committed adultery. \nOne might imagine how hurt he might have felt.  Still, he wanted to do what was right in the\nLord\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He could have\nhad Mary stoned but he was \u201cunwilling to\nexpose her to shame<\/em>.\u201d  He still\ntreated her with love and compassion. \nSo, trying to do what is right, he \u201cdecided\nto divorce her quietly<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing is\nMary hadn\u2019t committed adultery.  Her\npregnancy was from God.  She conceived\nthrough the Holy Spirit.  It is God\u2019s\nplan that Joseph would take Mary into her home, raising Jesus as his own son,\nbecoming the Holy Family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph didn\u2019t\nknow that.  That\u2019s why the Lord sent an\nangel to Joseph in a dream to tell him that this was all God\u2019s will.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The angel\ntells Joseph, \u201cyou are to name him Jesus<\/em>.\u201d  The fact that Joseph is to name the child is\nsignificant for it would signify that Joseph taking Jesus as his own son.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus is the\nprophecy of a virgin bearing a son to be fulfilled.  Joseph did as the Lord commanded and took\nMary and Jesus into his home.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph\nanswered the call that God gave him to be part of the Holy Family.  Paul answered God\u2019s call for him to be an\napostle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God calls all\nof us to holiness.  God has a path for\nall of us to follow.  It is through Jesus\nwe receive the grace we need to live as true disciples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahaz made a\nchoice to follow his own plan rather than God\u2019s.  Ahaz did not have a good plan and, thus the\nnation of Israel fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph had a\nplan based on his desire to follow God but it was not God\u2019s plan.  When he learned what God\u2019s plan was, he\ndropped his own plan to do what the Lord commanded.  With Joseph\u2019s \u201cyes\u201d (along with Mary\u2019s) came\nJesus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are free\nto choose how we want to live but remember good things happen when we follow\nJesus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Advent, Year AIsaiah 7:10-14Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (7c, 10b)Romans 1:1-7Matthew 1:18-24December 22, 2019 It\u2019s almost Christmas but not yet.  We have to wait a couple of more days.  On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, our reading from Isaiah prophesized a birth from a virgin.  Our gospel today tells part of the story …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Advent, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[223,82],"tags":[669,189],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Ns","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3067,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3066\/revisions\/3067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}