Fourth Sunday of Advent

Lectionary 12

When Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.

Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll,

behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"

We have to notice with Micah's prophecy the presence of time and its human response, patience. After "she who is to give birth has borne..." we will still have to wait for the child to grow to adulthood, and then we will ask this ruler of Israel, "What do you want of us?"

In the meanwhile he will have learned the obedience which is required of every human being. He will not be allowed to stay up as late as he wants; he will have to eat what he is given to eat; study what he must learn, and clean up after himself. He will have to submit to the authority of his father and mother if he is to learn anything about the authority he will wield.

Several years after the Messiah had appeared the Letter to the Hebrews described the willing obedience of that mystical person. Submitting to the limitations of  a human body, the Anointed One declares, "I come to do your will, O God." In fact, we recall to our horror, his submission included helplessly hanging on a cross.

The obedience of the Savior is an abiding mystery and challenge for us. Created in God's image we are free; we cannot endure life without an abiding sense of freedom. Realizing the severe limits on our freedom, oppressed people often admire and support the freedom of powerful people. They surrender their freedom to rulers and vicariously enjoy the despot's freedom as their own. They say, "If I cannot do what I want, my hero can! He can go where he wants to go, do what he wants to do, say whatever he wants to say, and punish those who oppose him."

But the "ruler of Israel" who appeared in Bethlehem narrowly escaped slaughter soon after he was born, and succumbed to it when, as an adult, he finally arrived in Jerusalem. Although he demonstrated remarkable freedom during his brief life -- he spoke as a prophet to power; he preached to the poor, healed the sick, and raised the dead -- he paid the inevitable, heavy price for it. Even now, having witnessed our Messiah's resurrection and "victory over death," we wonder when does our victory come.

I have been reading David W. Blight's Frederick Douglas, Prophet of Freedom -- which I would recommend to anyone and especially as Advent reading -- and I am struck by the catastrophic disappointment of the Civil War. After all the disruption, destruction and carnage so little had changed. The Fifteenth Amendment -- which the states readily passed as if it might settle the question of slavery once and for all -- allowed little freedom to the "freedmen." A hundred and fifty-three years later we are still struggling with the Enlightened promise of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Amendments -- that "all are created equal." Racism remains America's Original Sin; segregation and its handmaid Fear still oppress the daily life of every American.

Blessed are you who believed

that what was spoken to you by the Lord

would be fulfilled."

Elizabeth greeted Mary and admired her faith. Not only did Mary willingly accept her vocation as Immaculate Conception and Virgin Mother, she demonstrated it as she set out for Jerusalem to visit Elizabeth. Like her Son, Mary moved freely from place to place. She seemed to consult with no one but the Holy Spirit as she set out to see the sign the Angel had announced to her. She would continue to demonstrate that faith and courage as the most faithful disciple of Jesus.

Elizabeth's words are addressed to you and me also. We have heard and believed what was spoken by the Lord. We live in that faith and practice it daily. We have seen many minor resurrections but still await the ultimate Glory to be revealed. 

If we feel satisfaction, it's a measured satisfaction and only in hope, a gift of the Holy Spirit. As Saint Paul said, "We live by faith and not by sight."