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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Year A

God Takes Us In; We Belong to God

We humans hunger to belong. As a result, tracing one’s genealogy has become very popular. Ancestry.com has three million members.  People upload family histories and search for connections. Studies of 

young people reveal that they are more passionate about where they belong than about what they believe. 

Belonging was important for Jesus as well. The angel said to Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take Mary into your home.” Joseph could have quietly thrown her out. Instead, the just man from  Nazareth took her in. He offered the young pregnant Mary a roof over her head and a family lineage. He provided her a place and a people. Thus Jesus, adopted as his son under the Law of Israel,  became a descendant of Joseph’s “house of David.” 

Having a land and a people was important to the Hebrews. These things are important to us as well. Yet many people in this world are uprooted. Refugees and immigrants have no country, no place of belonging. Children who are passed from foster home to foster home do not know that security of belonging. They live on the edge of place. 

We belong in this world, but at the same time, we don’t belong.  As an Advent people, we acknowledge that we are pilgrims on this earth. We too live on the edge of place. St. Paul says that we are called to belong to Jesus Christ. We don’t abandon our family and our heritage, but we acknowledge that all that is, is God’s. God is our home. God is our Source and our Goal. The Lord does not throw us out, but has taken us in and fully adopted us. God has given us a place to belong. 

Consider/Discuss 

  • We wonder, “Where do I belong?” and “To whom do I belong?” As we come close to Christmas, think about the joys that God has given you in belonging, especially those you may take for granted. Think about the ache of not belonging as well. What can we do today to strengthen those bonds? 
  • On this Sunday, three days before Christmas, how we spend our money,  our time, and our energy reveals much about to what we belong. Where and how are we invested? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

O come, Emmanuel, God-with-us; come into our hearts, hear the  sound of our cry. The tensions of Christmas are intensifying. We  need to rest in you. We need a place to belong. Like Joseph, take us  into your home. We are searching not for a God of distance but the  God of presence. When we need it most, hold us in your loving arms.

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Scripture Study for

Isaiah understood that the “house of David” was protected by God, according to God’s promise to David (2 Samuel 7:11–16).  King Ahaz, threatened by surrounding states seeking to depose him,  contemplates turning to the Assyrian Empire for help, an act reflecting a lack of faith in God’s protection. Not wishing not be dissuaded from his political course, the king “piously” declines God’s offer of a sign of his continued support of the Davidic monarchy. Nevertheless,  the prophet points to a sign, which is a “young woman” (in Hebrew;  “virgin” in the Greek translation) who is pregnant (future tense in the Greek). The son to be born will inherit the throne of David,  making him a sign of fidelity to God’s promise. 

Paul begins his letter to the Romans by setting out the core of his message about Christ Jesus, which is the good news, earlier announced in Israel’s scriptures, that God has sent a descendant of  David and confirmed him as Messiah and Lord by raising him from the dead. Paul himself is a “slave” of Christ—not degraded chattel  but an apostle of the gospel to the Gentiles, a role he has been given  by God that they too may belong to Christ through the “obedience  of faith.” This phrase refers to the summons to acknowledge Jesus’  lordship and so enter into covenant relationship with God by  “belonging to Christ.” 

The Matthean annunciation focuses on Joseph, a “son of David.”  The child to born will come from the house of David, as most expected the Messiah would. An adopted child was as much a child of the adoptive parents as any biological child. So, Joseph, the adoptive father, could be considered the “real” (human) father of  Jesus. Jesus’ descent from David is not “apparent” but, according to  Jewish cultural norms, actual. Two names point toward his identity.  Jesus (in Aramaic Yeshua) means “He will save,” while “Emmanuel”  indicates that he will be both the sign and the reality of God’s presence to Israel. 

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Darkness Is Not the Final Answer

John the Baptist sits in prison. He waits for the one who is to come. No angel bursts his bonds. No heavenly blast levels the stones to release him. The holy prophet expects death, for he had dared to speak out, challenging those in power. There is anticipation outside the walls, but the excitement passes him by. He waits in darkness. 

The hubbub that surrounds Christmas may pass some of us by as well. We may be praying for healing. We may ache for reconciliation.  We may dwell in deep grief or loneliness or heartache. Christmas can be a particularly painful time for some of us. Like John the Baptist,  we may feel the darkness. 

But John the Baptist was not just a reed swaying in the wind. Jesus says of him that there has been none greater. From his Jewish roots,  he knew to hold fast to the Lord who loves the just, to the Most High who sets captives free, to the One who causes the desert to bloom again. And Jesus showed him an answer to fuel his faith: Look, the lame walk! Lepers are cleansed! The dead are raised! The darkness was not the final answer.

Advent is a contemplative time, a season for quiet hopefulness.  Isaiah says, “Be strong! Fear not!” We too are waiting for the one who is to come. We know the conclusion to the story of Advent: Baby  Jesus was born. Yet we are still waiting for the final dawning, to see the glory of God. Jesus shows us answers today as well, revealing himself sometimes in very small ways—in the sparkle of snow, in the tiny toenails of a newborn child, and in the smile of a loved one. The darkness is not our final answer either. 

Consider/Discuss 

  • We have been looking at the edginess of Advent. We are looking for light.  Yet sometimes the darkness of the winter and the challenges of life can make us feel as if we are sitting with John the Baptist as he waits for one to come. Where in our lives could we use more of the Lord’s light? In what situations could we use courage? 
  • What “small ways” have we seen that give us hope? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, as the winter season grows darker, sometimes we feel as though we are trying to manufacture light. All of the Christmas hubbub does not always feel real. Give us grace to sit quietly in your blessed darkness. We appreciate that you are our only Light, our only  Savior. Stir our will to surrender all of our Christmas preparations  to you. Let us do only what is for your glory and let the rest go, and  rest in your peace.

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Scripture Study for

In the first reading, God offers a vision of Israel’s restoration after the Babylonian exile. This is conveyed first through the image  of the flowering wilderness: what is presently “lifeless” will soon  host “abundant flowers” and “joyful song.” This reversal represents  God’s ability to bring life where there is none. Thus, this affirmation  is accompanied by a general exhortation: “Be strong, fear not!” God the Redeemer comes to bring the people back home. The healing of the parched land is mirrored by the healing of the weak and infirm,  the sorrowful and grieving, who will—like the wilderness—sing joyfully.

James offers an exhortation to remain firm in belief and steadfast in moral uprightness while waiting for the coming of the Lord. The emphasis throughout is on “patience,” mentioned four times. Just as crops cannot be rushed, neither can Christ’s return, which will happen in due time. All the same, James assures his audience that “the  coming of the Lord is at hand.” So, do not allow Christ’s apparent delay to be the occasion either for losing hope or growing slack.  James particularly focuses on complaining about others, which is a form of judging. When Christ does come, he will come as Judge; it is proper for him, not for us, to judge. 

In prison, John the Baptist has heard rumors of Jesus, whom he had earlier baptized (3:13–17). Now he seeks to know if Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah (“the one who is to come”). Jesus lets John draw his own conclusions. He has proclaimed good news to the poor and he has healed, activities expected of the Messiah. Jesus, in turn, asks the crowds about John, affirming that he is indeed the prophet they went out to see, and he is the one sent to announce the Messiah.  Thus, Jesus’ identity as Messiah is confirmed both by his actions and by the fact that someone they had all recognized as a prophet had prepared the way for him. 

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Planted and Tended in the Soil of Faith

One afternoon, as I sliced a red onion to sauté in butter, the storyboard of my mind floated back to the previous January and the tiny onion seeds that I had planted. I kept the grow lights low.  One day, up popped tiny blades that looked like grass. I was so excited! I watered. They grew. Every Saturday, I trimmed back those shoots of green to five inches tall so that they would grow stocky and strong. In March, I tilled the soil and prepared the beds. In late  April, I planted small onion plants. Even when our border collie ran through the beds and trampled the tops in July, I kept weeding.  I kept watering. Then, in December, one red onion slides off the cutting board to sizzle in the pan. 

Mary of the Immaculate Conception was like that one tiny onion seed. Amid the brokenness of the human race, God spent centuries preparing the soil of the Chosen People. Born of the faithful remnant,  the anawim, Mary was planted in the rich soil of faith, graced with every spiritual blessing. She was nurtured. She was cared for. She rejoiced and bore fruit. And even after the world had trampled her heart and crucified her Son, the Holy Spirit kept nourishing her with strength. 

Do you remember your conception, before you were the size of an onion seed? I don’t either. But if I, as a gardener, can put so much care into one red onion, with how much more care does our Creator tend to us? Even though we are trampled and wounded as part of the human condition, the reading from Ephesians tells us that we too are nourished by Christ with every spiritual blessing. God is a good gardener.

Consider/Discuss 

  • Mary probably didn’t recall the moment of her conception. But imagine the elation of the angels and the saints at that moment. They were so excited—a human being immaculately conceived! In reflection and prayer,  travel back to that day when you were created. See how excited they were about you also. Perhaps not immaculately conceived, but most dearly beloved! Relish their jubilation. Be washed with their love. Be healed, and rejoice. 
  • Think about what nurtured Mary’s spiritual life—the Psalms, the stories of Moses and the prophets, the prayers of her people. As this Advent continues to unfold, how can we purposefully enrich the soil of faith in which we grow? What do we need to trim back? What will help us to flourish? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord God, Creator of the universe and our Creator, we remember  your continuing kindness and faithfulness toward us. Give us the  grace to glorify you by carefully nourishing ourselves and nurturing  all those you put into our care. You have made us for yourself. Keep  us trimmed. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, pray for our  strong and stocky spiritual growth.

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