Immanuel: God Is With Us
Introduction
When the kings of God’s people had not fulfilled their mission of guiding the people to God aright, the prophet Jeremiah announces that God would do away with them and become himself the shepherd of his people. But he will make this new beginning through a man, a virtuous shoot of the house of David. Through him, God would become his people’s integrity, the cause of our fidelity.
In the New Testament, as Matthew tells us, Jesus is this Son of David through Joseph and Mary and at the same time, God’s own Son. He is indeed “God our integrity,” and Immanuel, “God-with-us,” Jesus, whose name means “Saviour.”
1 Reading: Jeremiah 23:5-8
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give him: “The LORD our justice.” Therefore, the days will come, says the LORD, when they shall no longer say, “As the LORD lives, who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt”; but rather, “As the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the north”–and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own land.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
R. (cf. 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment. R.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save. R.
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous deeds.
And blessed forever be his glorious name;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory. R.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
Commentary
Government is a noble profession. The fact is, however, that it often disappoints. Advent points to the arrival of a new and different government, the reign of God, our heavenly king. It is repeatedly asserted that this future monarch will be just and will rule with wisdom. These characteristics appear clearly in the Jeremiah reading today. The repeated emphasis on qualities of honesty and uprightness only highlight the fact that these attributes were absent in kings of the past or what we call the worldly kings..
The era of the messiah was to be clearly God-directed. The name given to the child of Mary is Emmanuel, “God with us.” Jesus will be a king of a different kind. While presiding over a realm, he will be, as another prophet states, a king mild and humble, seated upon a donkey. This is a king who spent his life doing good while teaching what true goodness means. As our “window on God,” this is a king who avoids any form of pomp or acclaim; he is the champion of compassion, forgiveness, and concern. These qualities in God were known to Israel in the past, as Jeremiah states today, when he brought his people out of Egyptian bondage and centuries later freed them again from the captivity of Babylon. But never was the nature of God more evident than in these final days, with the Word incarnate who gave his life that we might live.
To aspire to public office is certainly highly commendable. It has its inherent dangers—compromise of principles, graft, corruption in different forms. It is becoming very difficult to have, but always heartwarming to see men and women elected to public office who maintain a posture of faith and moral principle. In the face of temptation, such men and women stay their moral course. Public office is a chance to enhance the reign of God, especially in concern for the neediest people in society. It tells us that Emmanuel is still with us.
Blessing
Do not be afraid, God is with you. We live in his hands, for he has given us Jesus, our Saviour and friend. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!