Fourth Sunday of Advent
FR. Gus Carter
12 /19 /04

Because of all the distractions surrounding Christmas, most of us have been aware of the statement, "Remember the reason for the season." Christmas is about rejoicing because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come among us. The first Christian communities, the early Church, showed us how to react to Jesus. They felt that Jesus offered them Salvation. They responded to Jesus offer by giving to him an unconditional "yes." We are inheritors of what Jesus came to signify for his disciples' and how their lives became rooted in Jesus himself, what he said and what he did.

Christian Scriptures, the New Testament, tell us of the concrete experiences of the first local communities of Christians. They felt certain that new life was present in them. They had received the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Although the religious and civil authorities of the time responded to Jesus by crucifying him, Jesus' disciples responded unreservedly and positively to him. The intimate members of Jesus' group were totally encouraged about the truth of His message through their experiences of Jesus risen from the dead. To explain the power they experienced of the risen Jesus, they used words from the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, to get some grasp of who Jesus is. Jesus is the "Son of Man," "the eschatological prophet," "Messiah" and "Son of God." They used Greek words as well, "Son of God," also, "Lord," "Word of God." These early disciples used the loftiest titles available to them to express to some degree their past and present experience of Jesus.

Jesus granted to the earliest disciples saving experiences. These consisted of actions within them of the Holy Spirit and the love and assurances they felt in their recollections of Jesus. Recollections of past experiences of Jesus were joined with the sense of Jesus Spirit to give them profound realizations of the power of Jesus' salvation. Church teaching affirms in the Eucharistic formulae of its liturgical celebration that they are carried out "in remembrance of Jesus."
What Jesus did leave was a movement, a living fellowship of believers . These people became conscious of being the new people of God. They thought of themselves as the first born of the gathering together of all Israel and eventually of all humankind, bringing them together in unity, universal peace, shalom.

The beginning of Matthew's Gospel tells of the ancestry of Jesus. This passage of the Gospel demonstrates two important things in understanding Jesus. Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, fulfills God's promise to make Abraham's descendants a great nation. The same Gospel also shows Jesus as a descendant of David who was promised that his offspring would establish an everlasting kingdom. These ancient promises were the source of Hebrew hope and consolation. Matthew proclaims Jesus as the answer to the Jewish prayers and the fulfillment of God's promises. Much of our understanding of Jesus comes in the light of Jewish hopes and values.

Matthew explains the divine origin of Jesus by telling us that he was conceived in Mary through the Holy Spirit. The prophecy of Isaiah assures us that God has always had a plan to save humankind from permanent death. Reminding us that Jesus is "Emanuel" allowed Matthew to assert that in Jesus God will always be present to every human being. Jesus confirmed this when at the end of his days on earth he promised, "I am with you always until the end of the ages."

During the Christmas season we might reflect of our personal experiences of Jesus as our savior. "How do I experience Jesus as salvation?" My parents, I think, gave me experience of Jesus in a community setting. To me their faith in Jesus guided them in fair treatment of their children and in practical day to day expressions of Christian charity. Beautiful settings in nature have conveyed to me a sense Of God's gracious presence and the lavishness of the Lord's gifts to all of us. The faith and confidence in God of individuals who were suffering intensely has spoken volumes to me of the powerfully saving presence of Jesus among us. Appreciating the remarkable goodness of Christians I meet in every day life tells me of the power of Jesus' presence in the world. Being attentive to the virtuous qualities of others becomes a precious grace in realizing Jesus as salvation. Abraham Heschel, the Jewish mystic wrote, "I do not believe in God, I know there is a God." He had experienced God's presence in his life so powerfully that he had no doubts. One of my first cousins told me, "I have experienced the presence of God so powerfully that I could never disbelieve in the existence of God." Heschel also wrote, "Do not forget your experiences of God. Keep them alive for difficult times in your life."