An Overture for Christmas – Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Back in November,
Brenda and I got to see our daughter Teresa perform
in Gonzaga Prep’s production of The Sound of Music.
I know some of you here are theater moms or dads,
and your kids have been in shows too,
shows like Ferris’ The Addams Family, Fiddler on the Roof, or Shrek.
Or maybe some of you are theater kids
and have seen your parents perform in Ham on Regal.
So you know how it is
that you end up seeing the same show multiple times.
You end up noticing things that you didn’t see
the first two or three or four times.

Well I don’t remember if it was the third or fourth time
I saw The Sound of Music,
but at one point I remember paying particular attention
to the overture that played at the beginning.
And I remember thinking how important the overture is to the whole show.
An overture sets the tone
and gives you a hint of what you’re going to be hearing later on.
So for instance, in the overture to The Sound of Music
you hear bits of “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,”
and of course, “The Sound of Music.”
The overture ties the entire show together
and prepares the audience for what’s about to happen.

Today’s gospel is like an overture.
and if we pay particular attention to it,
then we can hear several themes
that Matthew is going to come back to time and again.

Recognizing those themes will not only help us
to prepare for entering more deeply into the mystery of Christmas,
but it will also help us prepare for the coming year,
since we’ll be reading almost exclusively from the gospel of Matthew.

The first theme in this overture from Matthew hits us immediately:
“When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus’ life begins in what seems to be a scandal.
Mary was betrothed to Joseph—
solemnly promised to him in a contract
that was just as binding as marriage;
they’re not yet living together as man and wife,
but Mary becomes pregnant.

But what appears to be a scandal is revealed by the angel
to be the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is a theme that is repeated throughout the gospel of Matthew,
that what at first glance seems to be a scandal is really the work of God.

The word scandal comes from the Greek word “skandalon,”
which means “stumbling block.”
Throughout Jesus’ ministry he will be a stumbling block
to those who meet him.

He will eat with tax collectors and sinners.
He will challenge the way Pharisees understand the law.
And finally there will be the great scandal of the cross:
The Messiah will be handed over to the Roman authorities and be crucified.

These are all scandals, stumbling blocks.
But in every case,
what seems to be a scandal is revealed as the work of God.

We have no need to fear stumbling blocks
when it comes to following Jesus.
This is what the angel tells Joseph: “Do not be afraid.”

The second theme we hear in Matthew’s opening overture
is a melody that we will hear over and over again
as we read through his gospel in the coming year.
Where the first theme is full of tension and conflict,
the second theme is steady and comforting,
the kind you can hum along with:
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.”
Matthew’s gospel tells us over and over
that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.

We hear in the first reading from Isaiah a prophecy
that the virgin will conceive and bear a son.
And we see in today’s gospel
that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise.

Later in Matthew’s gospel we will read
that Jesus is born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of the prophets.
He lives in Nazareth in fulfillment of the prophets.
John the Baptist prepares his way in fulfillment of the prophets.
Jesus drives out demons and cures the sick,
he speaks in parables, he enters Jerusalem on a donkey,
he is betrayed by Judas, all in fulfillment of the prophets.

This theme reassures us that God keeps his promises.
We hear in Matthew’s gospel over and over
that all of this is part of God’s loving plan.

And that loving plan is revealed in the third theme we hear
in this overture to Matthew’s gospel:
“They shall name him Emmanuel.”
This is the joyful trumpet blast that declares
“God is with us.”
This is the theme that all of scripture has been trying to get through to us;
this is the message that the prophets spoke of;
this is the message John the Baptist prepared us for;
this is the great theme of our lives:
that God loves us so much he came down from heaven
and was born of the virgin Mary,
in order to be Emmanuel, “God with us.”

In Matthew’s gospel
he is “God with us” when he calls the disciples,
when he preaches the Sermon on the Mount,
and when he feeds the five thousand.
He is “God with us” when he walks on water
and when he is transfigured.
And he is “God with us” when he blesses the bread,
gives it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat, this is my body,”
and when he dies on the cross between two thieves.

This theme that shows up here in the overture to Matthew’s gospel
is also the theme that brings everything to a conclusion.
At the very end of Matthew’s gospel,
Jesus is risen from the dead and stands with his disciples
at the top of a mountain.
And the final line of Matthew’s gospel
expresses that theme one last time when Jesus says,
“Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

God is with us.

This is what we are about to celebrate at Christmas:
that what seems like a scandal is really the working of the Holy Spirit;
that Jesus is the fulfillment of a God who keeps his promises;
and that God’s greatest promise
is that he is with us until the end of the age.

As Christmas approaches, we need to move
from our place in the audience to the orchestra pit
where the musicians play.

Because there is one more theme in the overture from Matthew’s gospel,
and that belongs to us.
We might call it “Joseph’s Theme,” and it goes like this:

“When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.”

This is our part of the overture, our theme to play.

It is time for us to awaken,
to do as the Lord commands us,
and welcome Mary and her divine son into our homes.

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