Fourth Sunday of Advent                                  20 December 2020

HOMILY

The picture drawn for us in these scriptural passages is one of a God who moves, and who expects of his people that they move with him, that they follow God’s lead. God doesn’t sit back on top of a mountain and watch our lives with an amused disinterest.  He leaps into our lives, shakes them.  God’s Word is a creative Word, and that means that if we are open to it, it changes us.

God has done the unexpected throughout salvation history.  He took on an obscure shepherd boy, David, built from him a royal house, and promised that his dynasty would last forever.  Jesus, of that royal line, became man in order to save us.  In Jesus, God reconciled Jew and Gentile.

In our time, Jesus is there to help reconcile us all.  These days, we contemplate the unexpected spectacle of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.  Every new birth is a wonder, but the newness of this one an especial marvel.

On this last Sunday before Christmas, it makes us straighten up, square our shoulders and face our responsibility to let this newness enter and open ourselves to the possibilities of growth through God’s creative action.  Let’s create the wonder of Christmas anew by saying ‘Yes’ to God at all times and bringing Jesus to the world.