TODAY WE REFLECT ON A MYSTERY: when our lives are most barren, when possibilities are cruelly limited, and despair takes hold, when we feel most keenly the emptiness of life—it is then that God comes close to us. This is a day for those who are grieving or suffering loss during Advent, lamenting that just as we are suffering, and need to weep, the world force-feeds us merriment and cheer. But we are not without hope, for it is because we are so empty, having used the last scrap of our own resources, that God can move in. To work on us, and even to play. Even our bitter emptiness gives God room to play, as at the Creation, placing whales in the sea and humans on dry land, then bringing all the animals to Adam to see what in the world he will call them. This is not a scene of imposed merriment, but of genuine delight and joy.
Today we are reminded that God can fill us, if not with actual children, then with what they represent: a present joy, and hope for the future. We are reminded that Mary is only one of the women in Scripture who bear a child of God’s promise. Her ancestors are Sarah, Hannah, and the woman from Judges who is known only as the wife of Manoah and mother of Samson.
Just as God’s promise that Manoah’s wife would bear a son was fulfilled, God’s vow—”I will be with you”—was fulfilled in Mary. But this promise was also revealed in Joseph’s great righteousness and mercy. He was not willing to expose this young woman to public disgrace, condemning her to a lifetime of being despised and poor, a social outcast, perhaps even forced into prostitution or exile. A woman without a man to look out for her was the most vulnerable of people, as is still the case in many cultures today. But Joseph quietly took Mary as his wife, and accepted the mystery of her unborn child.
Today we thank the God who sees and is angered by the injustice and oppression that people impose on one another. And we gratefully envision what Jeremiah foresaw thousands o f years ago: “The days are surely coming, says the LORD”—let that note, surely, ring out like a bell!—when a ruler who brings justice and righteousness in his wake, will lead us not merely out of Egypt, but out of our slavery to sin. Having conquered even death, he will take us back to our true home, to live eternally in God’s presence.
The promise of Isaiah that we heard at the beginning of Advent is now closer to fruition, if we will only pay attention to the signs: “The wilderness and the dry lands shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and bloom.” Now, as the world clamors for more toys and loud festivity, is the time for us to put first things first, and seek silence, if only for a few precious minutes a day. Now is the time when, ever more intently, we are to watch and listen for God.
~From Kathleen Norris, “Fourth Monday in Advent,” in GOD WITH US: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas, edited by Greg Pennoyer & Gregory Wolfe
