On this fourth Sunday of Advent, the Church, through the readings proposed to us for Mass, invites us to meditate on the person and mission of Jesus. Christmas is the liturgical celebration that fosters the desire and motivates the will to know Jesus better, for in him we believe, in him we hope and in him we love.
In commemorating his birth, we do not remain in childish sentimentality, but we go up spiritually and mentally to penetrate a little more into the person of Jesus and his mission.
The three readings proposed to us today in the liturgy convey complementary messages. I find the second reading particularly interesting. The author of the letter to the Hebrews imagines a dialogue in heaven between the Son of God and his eternal Father. The basis for imagining such a dialogue is Psalm 40. The letter to the Hebrews teaches that the sacrifices and worship offered in the Temple in Jerusalem have already lost their meaning and purpose since Christ offered himself on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. And if this is true for the worship of the Temple of Jerusalem, it is all the more true for the other religions of the world. All religions have found fulfillment in Christ and his Gospel, and their worship has been replaced by the death of Christ on the cross.
As far as the worship and sacrifices of the Temple of Jerusalem are concerned, we find two types of texts in the Old Testament Scriptures themselves. There are the books that describe in detail how the various offerings and sacrifices were to be made. The sin offerings usually involved the slaughter of a lamb or a goat. On the other hand, there are many other texts, also in the Old Testament, that assure that God is not pleased with these animal sacrifices, because he does not need this blood, nor can the death of an animal compensate for human sins. What pleases God is righteous conduct and obedience to his commandments. These two types of texts, somewhat contradictory, coexist peacefully in the Old Testament. Christ’s death on the cross resolved this contradiction, for that bloody death derived its value from being the extreme consequence of supreme obedience.
“You did not want victims or offerings; instead, you have given me a body. You have no pleasure in burnt offerings or sacrifices for sin; so I said, ‘Here I am.'”
In Psalm 40 (Greek version), the psalmist declares before God, “You did not want victims or offerings; instead, you have given me a body. You have no pleasure in burnt offerings or sacrifices for sin; so I said, ‘Here I am.'” But who is the speaker in the psalm? The author of the letter does not hesitate to say that the one who speaks is the Son of God to his Father in heaven. It is the moment of the incarnation, when the Son of God is going to become man.
A motive, a reason, is needed for such a far-reaching decision. Indeed, humanity is struggling in its sin and there is no way it can enable itself to receive God’s forgiveness. To receive any forgiveness, human or divine, one has to enable oneself to receive it. Normally, one becomes qualified to receive forgiveness when one repents of having committed the wrongdoing and takes upon oneself the harm caused. This repentance is demonstrated when one takes upon oneself, at least in part, the harm one has caused. The penitential system of prisons and fines works with this logic: whoever has committed a crime must suffer a penalty in order to be reintegrated into society and reconciled with it.
I like to see in that “Here I am” of the Son of God in heaven the foundation for the “Be it done unto me according to thy word” of the Virgin Mary on earth.
But how could mankind be rehabilitated before God in order to receive his forgiveness? A goat or a lamb does not have the capacity to atone for human sin, even if the animal sheds its blood; an animal cannot take responsibility for the sin of mankind. But if God himself becomes man and dies for mankind, then yes. The important thing about Christ’s sacrifice is neither the suffering nor the shedding of blood, but obedience to God’s will even unto death. For sin is disobedience to that will. With this, Christ abolishes the old sacrifices to establish a new one: the sacrifice of obedience unto death and a death on the cross. And by virtue of this will, we are all sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, made once for all. That is why the Son says to the Father: “Here I am; send me into the world as a human being to give my body and shed my blood, so that humanity may be enabled to receive the forgiveness of its sins”. And I like to see in that “Here I am” of the Son of God in heaven the foundation for the “Be it done to me according to your word” of the Virgin Mary on earth.
Christ was born to die. And here it is worth remembering the most likely reason why we celebrate Christmas on December 25. Jesus Christ died during the celebration of the Jewish Passover; this is true. But we do not know in what precise year that death occurred, nor on what day of the month according to the Roman calendar the Passover fell that year. Since in Christ everything is perfect, the ancients argued that the day of his death must have been the same day of his incarnation and that the redemption of the world had to occur on the day of creation. According to ancient calculations, some concluded that Christ’s death would have taken place on March 25 according to the ancient Roman calendar. The creation of the world was also celebrated on that date and they deduced that he must have been conceived on that day. Creation of the world, incarnation of the Son of God, and redemptive death of Jesus Christ, all would have coincided according to God’s provident design. That is why we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus on March 25 and his birth nine months later, on December 25. The Son of God was born to die for us, and his death brought about the renewal of the world.
“The greatness of him who is to be born shall fill the earth, and he himself shall be peace.”
Today’s oracle of Micah concludes with this statement of great hope: “The greatness of him who is to be born will fill the earth, and he himself will be peace”. The Jewish people and, indeed, all of humanity were walking through this world awaiting salvation. The elderly Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, represent this humanity aged in expectation. That is why, when Mary, already pregnant with Jesus, comes to visit Elizabeth, this woman, filled with the Holy Spirit and the joy of God, exclaims with joy: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Let us also receive the visit of the Virgin Mary, who brings us Jesus, and let us recognize in him our Savior.