A Reflection for 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C).
Micah 5:1-4 – Hebrews 10:5-10 – Luke 1:39-45.
Dear brothers and sisters, a while ago I watched a video about a beggar on the streets who was recruited by a wealthy man for a charitable task. The beggar was tasked with distributing a total of $3000 among people whom he himself found worthy of receiving a reward for showing goodwill towards him. The plan was that when someone came to the beggar and offered him something, he would use his discretion about offering something in return from the stash of $3000. Those people who gave freely, never thinking that this poor beggar would have anything material to offer them in return, were completely taken aback! The beggar found so much joy in being able to give something to other people that by the end of the video he was shedding tears of joy. The rich man had given him the opportunity to offer people something tangible in return for their kindness. For him, it was a dream come true. In addition to dispersing the money, he had time to chat with people and to give them words of counsel. He was able to seek out people suffering in the same situation as himself, and to offer them his time and attention as well as a donation. His message to everyone was that, no matter how lowly we are or may appear to be, there is something great in each one of us, that there is always something that even the weakest person or the poorest person can offer for the good of another person or for the good of Creation.
In the 1st reading, Bethlehem Ephrathah (which means “fruitful house of bread) is identified (v.2) as the least of the clans of Judah which was the only tribe to choose David as its king. At the time of the prophecy, Bethlehem was an insignificant little settlement (Mt 2:6). No one considered that the greatest Person ever could come from such a backwater, but the prophesy had it that it was in Bethlehem that the King was to be born … that this “house of bread” (or better, “house of Bread”) would play a pivotal role in in salvation history. After the Mission, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord Jesus, Bethlehem became a symbol of hope to the lowly, to the humble, to the least of people (v.1) who – in the eyes of the world – appear to be at the bottom of the heap. The birthplace of the Christ is a beacon to the many across the world who feel (or are made to feel) they are worthless and of no account. The grace of Jesus Christ’s Nativity in that location is available to help both them and us to realize how important they and we are in the big picture of God’s universal love.
In the Gospel, Our Lady visited Elizabeth in the hill country, very near to where She herself would give birth (Mt 2:6). Elizabeth’s house was probably in or around Jerusalem, where Elizabeth’s husband was a priest of the sons of Aaron (Lk 1:5). A few months earlier, He had been afforded the honour of entering the holy of holies (Lk 1:9). Unselfishly, Our Lady went out of her way to go and help her elderly cousin through the third trimester of her pregnancy, and in bearing within her body the Holy of Holies on her four-day journey, She made the first Eucharistic Procession. As soon as Our Lady arrived at Zechariah’s house, we learn that the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy (v.41). Like King David, leaping and dancing before the ark of the Lord (2Sam 6:14ff), the unborn John the Baptist leapt with joy in Elizabeth’s womb at the presence of the unborn Christ in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, as was her unborn son (cf. Lk 1:15), and it was she who had the privilege of announcing to the world that of all women, you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (v.42). She announced that the Messiah was on His way to birth, and she rejoiced at being honoured with a visit from the Mother of my Lord (v.43). Whenever Jesus manifests Himself to us, there is a remarkable change that takes place in us too. The message for you and me, then, is that as a result of our encounter with Jesus, we are filled with the extraordinary, extravagant and exuberant joy of the Lord, and we are assured that we are worthy, precious and loved.
Brothers and sisters, you are worthy, you are precious, and you are loved because of Jesus! It is He who gives your life real meaning. Even on those days when you perceive yourself as just another speck on the planet, or as insignificant as those people out in the sticks in Bethlehem Ephrathah, or as downtrodden as the beggar in my story, or as vulnerable as the babies in the womb, Jesus singles you out as special. Like John the Baptist, you will have reason to leap for joy, and like Elizabeth you will have reason to exclaim and cry out with sheer excitement. During the lead-up to the celebration of the Lord Jesus’ Nativity, I pray that you may experience the joy of Elizabeth, who proclaimed the Good News; the joy of John who leapt with gladness at his sanctification in the womb; and the joy of Mary who proclaimed God’s greatness (Lk1:46ff), rejoiced in God her Saviour, and went to share her joy with Elizabeth.
Leap and shout for joy, because the Lord is in you, and it is He who makes you special! Amen. God bless you.