We’ve probably all heard that very simple encouragement: Just have faith! Whenever it comes to a difficult moment in life or one that can seem a bit odd or even seem impossible, often this is the piece of advice that is issued. And in a very real way, often that is what we should be encouraged to do! Yet, in the Advent season, we are also being invited to a deeper and greater of gift of faith ourselves whether we readily think about it or not. We are preparing for the coming festivities of Christmas, and they are indeed rapidly approaching in about a week’s time. Yet, have we, as we are preparing, have we focused on increasing our gift of faith? Are we responding to God’s call for each of us?
In this fourth week of Advent, we are introduced to a very simple fact: God is becoming man. He is prepared to share in our human nature. Even in the moments before the incarnation, there is an important fact that is already being manifest to the world- that God is truly becoming man. It is not enough to simply remain in the way that He was, but He wanted to do something so much more profound! As we consider this fact, what does it encourage of each of us? Why do we celebrate this even in the moments before the Incarnation even occurs?
The first reading for this fourth week of Advent comes from chapter seven of the book of Isaiah. We have been following the book of Isaiah ever since the beginning of advent, and we are still continuing that very same thought here. However, we are coming to a particular prophecy to a particular person. We are told that Isaiah is used by the Lord, and is speaking to Ahaz, the king at the time, and he is encouraging him to ask for a sign from the Lord. Perhaps something smaller. Something normal. Maybe even something monumental and huge. Whatever it was- there was a simple petition- ask for it!
When Ahaz answers, it seems that he is answering in some sort of piety. Oh, I won’t bother God with this. I won’t tempt the Lord. It seems like some sort of piety that is present here, and yet it is actually a moment of failure for Ahaz. The problem with Ahaz is that he refuses to believe in what the Lord is telling him, and therefore won’t ask for a sign- because he can’t bother to believe in what is going on. Therefore, he doesn’t want to. What Isaiah comes back with is a rebuke: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God?! We can tell there is a note of desperation in Isaiah’s voice, and yet, it isn’t all lost just yet. So, Isaiah gives a sort of prophecy: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” This is a powerful and profound moment, because God is doing more than chastising Ahaz. He, instead is doing something far more profound, in sending a son that shall be called Emmanuel.
The second reading comes from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans. This letter is in its very beginning statements, and yet, it is starting off very strong in its message and caliber anyways. Yet, there is the same theme of a prophecy that is coming in through this reading as well. There was a promise and this promise gave His Son, who was a descendant of David. So, He is the one who fulfills all the prophecies of old, and the one who was to come. He is the one who gives the spirit of apostleship, and the gift of faith. Yet, it isn’t just for the Romans or for the Jews, or for one particular group of people, but it is for every group and every place. Therefore, even the Gentiles are called into this grace of apostleship, and is being called to have the gift of faith. Therefore, Paul is trying to emphasize that it isn’t about just one group being picked over another, but it is for all of humanity.
Finally, we move on to the Gospel of Matthew, and we are starting off on the narrative how Jesus came to be born. Yet, there is some material that takes part at the very beginning, and it sets the stage for the rest of the narrative. So we begin with Mary and how she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was concerned with this, and therefore, he had planned to divorce her quietly, so as to not expose her to shame. Yet, in a dream, an angel appears to him, and tells him of the plan that God has. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.” He goes through how Jesus has been conceived, and how he was to be named Jesus- and the name Emmanuel comes up yet again- reminding us how the Lord has indeed planned for this moment for so long, and even in Joseph’s own time, He is continuing to make plans for it.
When Joseph hears of this, he has an immediate response: he moves to faith, and then does exactly as the angel of the Lord had commanded, and takes Mary into his home. Thus, even as the Christ child is not yet here, we are being told how there are all sorts of plans that are in motion making it possible for Him to come into the world.
Yet, notice something very simple: that name Emmanuel. The name itself has a great and tremendous amount of meaning in telling us that “God is with us.” This name in itself is telling us something very profound- that God is seeking to be in our midst and to really help us to know that he is on a mission to set us free. Yet there is a deeper need here: the need for faith. The very reason that God is using this name at all tells us something profound- He wants to remind us that the He is coming to be with us in the midst of this world.
So, first, when we consider the gift of faith, go back to two fundamental choices. First, we can take the choice of Ahaz. We can choose not to believe in the fact that Jesus wants to come for us. Perhaps we feel as Ahaz did, and we feel that we have it all together well enough on our own. We don’t need any sign and we don’t need any wonders. We are just fine where we are. Ahaz thought so, but unfortunately for him, he did not yet have the gift of faith, and he refused to let God work in his life.
Yet, consider the example that Joseph offers. He has more reason to ask questions than Ahaz does, and yet, when he has all of those questions, he doesn’t become cold and callous. Rather, what he does is that he allows those questions to turn into faith and motives for it. He may have had questions, he might not have been sure about what his place was in all of this. Yet, he still has the gift of faith, He is willing to pursue God’s plan, and to recognize that God is working in his midst, even in the times when it can be the hardest to see or to understand. His gift of faith is rewarded in time, and yet, at this moment, he is waiting for that gift of faith to be rewarded.
Finally, when St. Paul speaks to us in the letter to the Romans- he reminds us the gift of faith is not just for us- but it is for everyone, even the people that we might feel are going to struggle with faith the most. The people that we might feel are not going to accept the Gospel well. Even those that might seem to be the furthest away. Faith is for all of them as well.
Thus, when we are simply going through these final days of preparation- our preparations are not yet over. We are invited to consider those areas of life where we need Jesus to enter into right here and right now. Those places that might seem impossible or might seem that they are far removed from Jesus’s own help. So, when we encounter them, we are encountering them with the gift of faith. So, my brothers and sisters, we are focusing on this simple need “Just have faith.” May we, as we prepare for Christ’s coming, be filled with that very simple and yet very profound gift of faith.
