God made promises to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to David, to Moses and to many others in the course of history. All of those promises are fulfilled tonight.
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
How can one action of gain fulfill so many promises? Because in the incarnation he gives us even more than any of the promises could ever convey. It isn't just about an earthly kingdom without end or many ancestors. It is even more than victory over the ancient serpent, promised at the time of the fall. It is more than the world not being destroyed again by flood. It is more than another prophet like Moses. What could God do to fulfill all this at once? The answer is Jesus. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ heaven is wed to earth.
As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.
Here we have a union so profound that it implies a true and deeper meaning to all of the earlier promises. We see that the kingdom without end is even more than we could have guessed. The victory over sin and Satan is more complete than we could have imagined. With God united to mankind sin and darkness and death are definitively judged. They no longer hold sway. They are already on their way out. We live even now united to a new reality of eternal life with God.
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."
Yet the genealogy in the Gospel reading reminds us that this is no mere abstraction. Heaven is joined to earth, not in the abstract, but in the nitty-gritty. It is in the very details of life, unpleasant though they may be, that the victory of Christ is manifest. It is in the very midst of the darkness that the light shines, a light which the darkness cannot destroy.
Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
Let us realize that the answer to all of our deepest longings is found in the babe who is born this night. Let us join with the angels and the shepherds to adore him. With the magi let us bring our gifts and worship at his feet.
No comments:
Post a Comment