Homily: December 17

Readings: Gn 49:2,8-10; Ps 72; Mt 1:1-17
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When people first turn to the New Testament, they often get discouraged because right there on the first page of the first book is Matthew's genealogy. And so they just jump ahead to the Nativity story. That's really unfortunate because this rhythmic poetic passage tells us some very important things.

Indeed, Matthew begins as Genesis begins, with the beginning, and summarizes 2,000 years of history, from Abraham all the way to Jesus Christ. In this genealogy Matthew offers the Gospel as the New Genesis, a new beginning through Jesus.

Abraham, Our Father in Faith

From this we encounter a major Gospel theme: the New Testament doesn't replace the Old; it fulfills it. And Matthew first aims this Good News directly at you and me - at sinners - by drawing our attention to Judah, Tamar, Rahab, and David.

He reminds us that the sinful relationship between Judah and Tamar led to King David and ultimately to Jesus Himself.

Nathan to King David: You Are the Man! (1 Sam 12:7)

He reminds us that Rahab, Boaz's mother, was a prostitute, and that Solomon's mother was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. We recall how David seduced her and had her husband killed so he could marry her.

Yes, Jesus' family tree is littered with sinners, just like mine and just like yours.

St. Joseph: Blessed are the Merciful

But through this revelation we come to realize the depth of God's mercy. Despite our sinfulness, we're all called into God's family. What a gift! Here too God pleads with us to extend mercy to others. For in that genealogy we encounter those who went far beyond the demands of the law: Judah, Boaz, Uriah, and especially Joseph.

It's a plea expressed explicitly a few chapters later in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy" [Mt 5:7]. Advent, then, is the perfect time to repair shattered relationships, especially family relationships, the perfect time to extend mercy to others and to yourself.

But Matthew's not finished. He also reminds us that God's ways are not man's ways. Throughout the genealogy we find God rejecting our ways, tossing aside the patterns of inheritance and choosing whom He will choose.

Jacob is "the father of Judah and his brothers" [Mt 1:2; Gen 49:8] Here and elsewhere Matthew reminds us that God will bypass first sons and choose younger brothers like Isaac, Jacob, and Judah to lead His People. This, too, is Good News, for unlike man, God is not only merciful, but His ways are just.

God continues to pile up the Good News, for Jesus' family, the family of the Kings of Israel, is not a family of ethnic purity. It's littered with Gentiles. For example, with the sole exception of Mary, the women mentioned are all Gentiles: Tamar and Rahab are Canaanites, Ruth a Moabite, Bathsheba a Hittite. God's plan of salvation, then, is universal. The entirety of humanity is called into God's family.

The Women in the Genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1)

This is the Advent message, brothers and sisters, the message of the angel: "You shall name him Jesus and he shall be called Emmanuel" [Mt 1:23; Lk 1:31], which means, "God is with us."  God is with us - not some nameless, faceless them, but us - and not some of us, but all of us. It's the message of a passionate God, of a God whose love is overpowering. This is what we celebrate: God's fierce zeal for us, His commitment not to leave us abandoned.

It comes down to this: God is unwilling to leave us in the darkness of our own sinfulness. Advent demonstrates God's terrible desire to "be with us," to be part of the human condition: God with us in our entirety. Quite simply, God won't let us alone. He wants to be Emmanuel.

Inundated by materialism, by the spiritual sickness of the world, so many forget why the Magi carried those first gifts to a newborn baby in a manger. The true Advent and Christmas message isn't Amazon dot com. It's Emmanuel, God with skin on and a human face. God became one of us to turn His face to us, to speak words of comfort, reconciliation, and redemption, words we can understand. This is what we anticipate today, an advent that heralds our salvation.

A few years ago at the soup kitchen, while schmoozing with our guests, I spotted a mother and her little baby girl. As I approached, little Alisha saw my smile and reached out her arms to me. I couldn't resist. I picked up this beautiful child and she just snuggled right up against me and buried her little head into my chest with her tiny hands gripping my shoulder.

My first thought? "Here's a little baby that needed a hug." Then I realized how wrong I was. Alisha had been perfectly happy being held by her mom, with whom I could never hope to compete. No, Alisha didn't need my hugs. But she knew that I sure needed hers.

You see, brothers and sisters, in a very real way, little Alisha is the meaning of Advent. God with us. God with Alisha. For that brief moment Alisha is God's love. She's the Advent of God reaching for us. She's God's arms; she's God's zeal; she's God's passion for each of us.

For God loves us despite our foolishness. He loves us with our broken lives, our selfishness, our tattered relationships, our foolish sins. God is two tiny arms determined to break into our lives. On Christmas Day He's a fierce little baby who makes no distinctions but embraces the least likely along with the most likely.

This is what Advent is all about: preparing us for God's unrelenting love feast. Not a sappy sentimental love, but a love as searing as any passionate romance. We celebrate God's fulfilled desire to be with us. This is His gift.

If God isn't Emmanuel, if He's not with us, if He hasn't embraced our tattered lives, then there's no hope, no light, only darkness and despair.

If God isn't with us, we're here today out of fruitless hope, or pressured routine, or empty sentimentality.

But if we're here out of love, if we're here like ragtag shepherds to kneel and rejoice and let God take us in His arms, then we've caught the meaning of this Advent: Emmanuel, the passionate God, has had his way and has hugged us fiercely.

When sin, suffering and death scatter our souls far and wide that's when we need God the most. And that's when Jesus comes to us to guide us to His Father's loving arms.

It's all grace, brothers and sisters. It's all gift. What more is there to say?