Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for December 23, 2007
Liturgical Year A- Cycle II
4th Sunday of Advent
By Fr. John Carney
 Topic: Like Joseph, trust in God
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Reading I
Is 7:10-14
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! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

Reading II
Rom 1:1-7
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel
Mt 1:18-24
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
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The scriptures today give us the tale of two men: Ahaz and Joseph. To get the point, I think we need to know a little more behind the story that we just heard: the short reference to Ahaz and the story of Joseph as well.

Ahaz was the eleventh king of Judah. He reigned in the 8th century before Christ in Judah. By that time, the twelve tribes of Israel had broken into two different kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel to the north, which had ten of the tribes within it, and the kingdom of Judah to the south, around Jerusalem, which had two tribes, Judah and the lesser tribe of Benjamin. At this time in history, the great empire threatening Israel was Assyria. The kingdom of Israel aligned itself with the nation of Syria, which is hard to believe, Israel and Syria as allies, as they prepared for war against Assyria. They asked Judah to join them in their coalition. Ahaz looked around and did the math and believed that Assyria would be victorious. Not only did he not join Israel, his brother, along with Syria against Assyria, but also he actually joined the Assyrian Empire, in effect turning his back on Israel. He did that because, again, he did the math and he figured out that if he wanted to be on the winning side, he had better join the winning team. By the way, he became, in effect, a vassal state of Assyria and Judah was a weak nation until it was taken into captivity in 586 B.C., over one hundred years after this occurred. Not only did he fight against his own people, but Ahaz permitted the worship of Assyrian and ? gods in Israel. He removed the altar in the temple and replaced it with an altar to the Assyrian god. Worst of all, there was an Assyrian custom where your first-born son was to be sacrificed to the Assyrian god Molech and Ahaz actually had his son killed. He sacrificed his son to the Assyrian god Molech. Ahaz is considered to be the worst king in the history of Israel and of Judah. Ironically, his son was a very good king.

We see the character of Ahaz in the first reading and then in the gospel. The Church tells us about Joseph, another man who had a difficult problem. To understand that story, we have to understand the Jewish custom and law regarding marriage. There were three steps to this. The first step was the engagement. This occurred when the couple was very young, often without their consent and indeed sometimes without their knowledge. The families got together and made the engagement. After that, a betrothal occurred. The betrothal was a legal contract that had a liturgical ceremony to go along with it. There were blessings involved. From the time of the betrothal until the marriage, the couple was considered, in effect, married. They didn’t live together. They stayed with their families. If they decided not to be married, they would have to have a formal divorce. The betrothal really was a very important part of the custom and the law of the Jews. Finally, the marriage itself occurred. It was really, more or less, a short liturgy and a big party that might last days. Often times, the woman would move into the man’s home or into their new home before the marriage and then they would celebrate with their friends and loved ones.

In the scripture, we hear today, Mary and Joseph are betrothed, but are not married. If the woman had become pregnant during this time by the betrothed man, it would have been considered bad form, but not an egregious offense against God. However, if the woman were to become pregnant by another man during this time, she would be considered an adulteress and the penalty for that would be that she would be stoned to death. The pregnant woman would be taken to her father’s house where she would be thrown at his door and there stoned to death. The child within her would die as well. Now, Joseph knew that. Joseph also knew that he wasn’t the father. So, he was deeply disturbed with this problem, this dilemma. He decided that he would quietly divorce her. I read that as meaning that he wouldn’t deny that he was the father. He would just put the divorce through and that would be it, in order to save Mary’s life and the child’s. Of course, in his dream, he now learns that Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We see Joseph, a just man, faced with a problem, relying first of all on mercy and then in prayer, relying on God’s justice, not his own. An interesting contract.

Ahaz put expediency before principle. He thought, “What would be best for me? What serves my interest?” As a matter of fact, in the scriptures you see that God says, ‘Ask for a sign.’” He says, “I don’t want a sign from you.” If you read that quickly, you might think that he was just being humble. He wasn’t being humble. He didn’t want a sign from God because he was afraid that sign would have him do something that he didn’t want to do. He didn’t want God interfering with his decision. We see him contrasted with Joseph, the just man, who listened to God in his heart. Ahaz relied only on himself and Joseph relied on God’s justice and mercy. Principle versus expediency.

The Church gives us this final lesson before Christmas. Obviously, the Church calls us to be like Joseph. It calls us to play our role in God’s plan of salvation, to bring about the kingdom of God by following the voice of God in our hearts; by following a well-formed conscience by actually living according to principle; by acting and living in a generous manner, serving others and caring about them, not being primarily concerned with ourselves. As Christmas approaches, as a priest especially, I think I am aware of most people’s problems. They seem to surface this time of year, every year. Many of our parishioners have some very, very serious problems and face some critical questions in their lives. All of us are confused sometimes, perhaps even afraid at times. All of us suffer pain and doubt as part of our lives. Nevertheless, like Joseph, we will be faithful.

I received a Christmas card from a lady awhile back who, if I told you her problems, we would be here all day. She is a good and wonderful lady. There’s just a dark cloud over her head. She wrote this on her card: “I don’t know where God will take us, but I believe that wherever it is, it will be for His glory.” I think that’s one of the messages of Christmas. I know that you’re busy in these next 24 or 48 hours, but I think that you have some time to reflect on what Christmas is. We are called to trust God and to be faithful. We pledge that faith and trust today. I hope I speak for all of us when I say, “I don’t know where God will take us this year, but I believe that if we walk with Him and rely on Him, wherever it is, it will be for His glory and our glory as well.”

Please bow your heads now as we pray.
“Lord, as we prepare for the birth of your son, give us the spirit of joyful anticipation and trust. Help us to see that Christmas is saying yes to something beyond all emotions and feelings. Christmas is saying yes to a hope based on God’s initiative. Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work and that God asks us to be a part of His plan. Things will never look just right or feel just right. The world is not whole and at times, we experience this fact in our own unhappiness. It was into this broken world that a child was born unto us who was called ‘Son of the Most High’, ‘Prince of Peace’, ‘Savior’. We look to him and pray, ‘Thank you, Lord, that you came to save us.’ Even if everything isn’t just right this Christmas, we trust God and know that this holy season affirms something larger than sentiment. It says that God is with us in every situation to supply the grace we need. We believe. We trust. We await the Savior of the world. Come, Lord Jesus.”