Fourth Sunday of Advent
Mysteries, hidden with enigmas, cause questions to arise. This intrigue seeks a better understanding of what this “Good News” is. The Good News proclaims something profound took place. What happened is worth investigating because it promises to change life—for the better.
The mysteries within the Scriptures reveal more than what meets the eye. Scripture is not merely a book filled with mythology, poetry, history, and story, but is an encounter with another, Who claims to be the living God. This claim demands a response. God, the author of Scripture, inspired human authors to write and reveal the mission and identity of God’s plan to redeem humanity.
The Gospel, the Good News, or the Evangelion in Greek, is the story of salvation. It offers healing and hope. It proclaims an end to the old order bringing in a new creation. Justice and goodness will come, as evils and injustices end. Death will be swallowed up and new life will blossom. The old man—Adam—will be redeemed by the new man—Jesus Who is truly God and fully man. These promises intrigue listeners to delve deep into the nuances of Jesus Who claims to be God and has the power to transform my life which seems fated for failure.
Jesus, the author and source of Scripture, proclaims, “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I clothe you, though you do not know me” (Is 45:5). This is the Gospel, the Good News, the Evangelion. He comes to expose Himself completely and totally, naked, dead on a cross, asking us to discern his Good News despite the paradoxes contained within it.
The Gospels, by their nature, do not have a singular meaning, merely a literal and historical statement. They reveal mysteries from the foundation of the earth. St. Paul often compares the Gospels to a mystery—a covenantal bond—for we cannot understand the message without admitting it is beyond our natural comprehension. In his letters, he uses the word mystery often inspiring to “Make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (Eph 3:9).
Though we do not truly know Him, as He is mysterious, He reveals Himself word by word, story by story, book by book. He wants us to encounter Him personally and intimately. He wants us to fall in love with Him and follow, as He reveals this Good News, “I love you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3).
Scripture is literal. It foretells and tells Jesus’ history. Jesus, born of a woman, born in time. Yet it is also spiritual and prophetic. The Good News promised a Savior from the very beginning. Isaiah foretells a virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name will be Emmanuel, God dwells with his people. He is to be born in Bethlehem, least of the tribes of Israel, yet the birthplace of King David, the home of Jesse his father. This recalls what Isaiah prophesied, from the stump of Jesse a branch—nazir—will blossom (Is 11:1). This person, Emmanuel, is Prince of Peace, Mighty Warrior, Wonderful Counselor because the Spirit of God rests upon Him to bring glad tidings—good news—to the poor and imprisoned (Is 9:6; 11:3; 61:1).
This child is not just another babe. He is the son of David, the promised Messiah, who would be born of royal lineage. As foretold to David by Nathan, the prophet, “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sa 7:12). Jesus, as Son of David, fulfills the promise that the king of Israel will not only be raised up from David’s lineage, He will also receive the throne of David his Father and of his kingdom there will be no end. This King will establish a new and eternal covenantal bond in which God is his Father and we be our Father too.
The prophecies are true, but as mysterious as the fulfillment of the prophecies are, they do not answer the most mysterious question we have. Who is this Jesus?
What meets our eye cannot begin to reveal—unveil—Who He truly is. He has a body along with a mind and heart. Yet, as the Gospels proclaim, He heals our bodies, illumines our minds, and infuses love in our hearts. He has powers we do not possess. He performs miracles that cannot be explained. He has teachings that transcend all knowledge for He teaches with authority (Matt7:28-29). He has a love that forgives our faults, heals our broken hearts, transforms our sinful spirits, and even has the authority to drive out demons, casting them into the sea.
God’s plan unveils the mysteries contained in the whole of Scripture. God’s plan heals our sins, forgiving us and empowering us to forgive. God’s plan redeems—ransoms—us from the clutches of the Evil One by the shedding of Jesus’ blood upon the cross. This blood is the complete and total love the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has for us. Poured out, it transforms our crimson sins making our souls snow white. God’s plan sends his Holy Spirit Who gives us a new spirit. In his Spirit, we have Divine Participation.
God’s plan, the ultimate purpose of our life, gives us Divine Participation. His glory, the Shekinah comes as St. John proclaims, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father” (Jn 1:14). The inscrutable and unfathomable glory of God comes, not in a whirlwind of fire, as in the desert during the Exodus, nor as chariot of fire taking Elijah up to heaven, but as an innocent babe born in a manger. How mysterious!
God’s plan, so mysterious and inscrutable, can only be understood when we experience innocence. Transformed from what we used to be, a sinner, now we are saint. What we once were is cancelled and we have become, what we thought we could never become, glorified. God’s glory, the Shekinah better known as the Cloud of the Unknowing, becomes known, experienced. Not as a pragmatic, physical, emotional, and scientific experiment, but as a lived experience, in which I am transfigured, resurrected, freed from the passions and obsessions that corrupt me. Innocent, I am a new creation in Christ.
The Shekinah dwells not only in our universe, not only in our tabernacles, but now He dwells in our hearts, filling us with grace upon grace. God’s glory fills us with innocence; and in our innocence, we understand God’s mysterious presence. God glorifies us so we no longer live ill-fated, failed lives, but live alive, knowing we are vessels filled not only with created beauty, but now filled his uncreated, divine glory.
God’s plan reveals the bond that He wants with his people. His relationship adopts us into his life so profoundly that we participate fully, becoming more like Him as He becomes one like us. Experiencing God’s glory, as the Scriptures relate story after story is The Shekinah, Who will “Equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Heb 13;21).