Fourth Sunday of Advent

In Matthew’s Gospel the birth of the Son of God into human history isn’t told. The closest we come to a telling of the story is Joseph’s dream about what was happening to Mary, and that only takes eight verses, or about 200 words. The genealogy of Jesus’ family tree at least gets 17 verses, and you’ve got to really know your history to appreciate those 17 verses. My goodness, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address took 278 words, and historians tell us it was far too short a speech for the importance of the occasion.

I’m not sure what all this means but I do find it intriguing that an event so important to the human situation is more referred to than told. Apparently, we don’t need the details of the birth of Jesus. What we need is what those details reveal. And, what they reveal is that this baby is no one less than “Immanuel, which translated means, “’God with us’” (Matt. 1:23). This fact takes a few more verses and a whole lot of words to explain its meaning. It fact it takes four Gospels, a historical telling of the story of the first church, several letters and a prophetic revelation to give us understanding about what it means for God to be with us.

I am thinking that what we really do need to absorb into our lives in Advent is the meaning of the birth of Christ event and not the event itself. After all, if God really is with us this is huge. I mean, this is really huge.

I remember the day of my children’s birth. It is burned into my memory. However, time moves on and kids grow up and life unfolds. You can’t spend too much time on the birth experience because there is a whole lot of living to do after that event.

The day of Jesus’ birth means something to us only because of the years following His birth where He really did reveal that, in deed, God is with us. Now, that is a cause for outrageous celebration.