Isaiah 7:20–14
Luke 1:26-38
When I was young, the older ones had a way of “deceiving” us younger ones. When we accomplished something, they would say “make a wish,” and they knew fully well that we were too young and maybe too stupid to make a serious wish. We would end up asking for sweets and chocolate. Our wishes were granted and we enjoyed it. However, looking back today, I wonder what I would ask for if I had the opportunity to make those wishes again. Certainly not chocolate.
In the first reading of today, the kingdom of Judah had been besieged by two strong armies, and God’s response to Ahaz, the king of Judah, through the prophet Isaiah was “fear not, their evil designs shall not come to pass” (Is 7:7). To show his graciousness, he tells Ahaz the King to make a wish and to ask for a sign of God’s protection, “Let it be as high as the sky, as deep as the netherworld.” Ahaz was initially perplexed, but he realized that there was nothing he could ask for that would compare to God’s generosity. Nothing! He knew that God was capable of giving so much more than he could ask or imagine, and because Ahaz trusted in God’s graciousness, God decided to grant him the promise of a gift beyond all gifts, both a sign and a reality. “A virgin is with child and shall bear a son.” God himself will become our gift, and he will become one of us, “Emmanuel”.
In the gospel, God begins to fulfill his promise. It was another time of distress. The people of Israel were under Roman authority, and in a forgotten town called Nazareth, a young woman called Mary received a message from an angel. God will again show his graciousness. He will give the world a new beginning. He will cause a virgin (Mary) to be pregnant and an old woman (Elizabeth) to give birth. The angel said to Mary, who had found God’s favor, “you will conceive and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus.” And to be even clearer, he said to her, “he will be called the son of the Most High…, holy, the Son of God” (Lk1:32, 35). God will accomplish for the entire world what he had promised through the prophets. God will grant us solutions to our fears, our troubles, and the difficulties that hinder us all. He will do this by becoming one of us, by walking with us on this path we call life, by experiencing with us all our joys, our fears, our worries and anxiety, the love in our hearts, our heartbreaks and pain, and all things that we call human, even our weakness.
All God needed to perform this miracle 2000 years ago was one young girl who said “yes! Let it be done to me as you have said. “She had her doubts, she had her fears, she was perplexed, but ultimately she said “yes!” All God needs to express himself most powerfully in our lives and in the lives of others is our own yes. Many times we experience our own doubts and fears, and yet the Lord asks us to trust in his graciousness and give our yes to him. It is important to remember that he is able to do the impossible and work with fragile and sometimes difficult instruments. He asks for an individual yes to God’s presence in our lives, a collective yes to his presence in our communities, and a yes to becoming signs of his presence in the lives of others, as Mary was and is.
Dear Friends, the first reading of the day speaks of God who made a promise at a time of trouble. The gospel speaks of God who fulfills that promise at a time of difficulty. Both readings tell us of a God who is gracious beyond measure and is willing to give to us and to our world something better than anything we can ever imagine. God wants to give us his presence. Beyond the fears of our present era, beyond omicron, beyond our personal and individual difficulties and challenges, God wishes to gift himself to us as our friend, our companion, our helper, and king. And he asks us to say “Yes!” like Mary, so that we may receive his grace and also become bearers of his presence to others. That we may be the means by which God’s kindness reaches all those with whom we come into contact.
Let us not be afraid because God is the one who asks and invites us to walk with him through the journey of life. Let us say yes once more to him so that he may fill our lives and make us signs of his presence in our society.
Amen.