Shikrot Mpwi – Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B – Nov 24, 2023.
Readings: 2 Sam. 7-1-5.8b-12.14a.16; Ps 89:2-3.4-5.27.29(R.2a); 2 Rom. 16:25-27; Gospel Luke 1:26-38.
Theme: The Joy of Waiting!
Sunday Synopsis
Our first reading points to the remote stages of the family tree of Jesus who comes from the Davidic dynasty. In the second reading St. Paul describes Jesus as “the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages… to bring the obedience of faith. The gospel reading recounts the traditional annunciation by the angel Gabriel. In keeping with the promises of old, the Blessed Virgin Mary accepts to be the worthy mother of the saviour who comes from the Davidic line. We are charged to defy all odds by embracing the joy of waiting!
Introduction
Friends in Christ, on the fourth and the last Sunday of Advent, the Church expects that our spiritual preparation for Christmas has reached climax. At least these four Sundays have afforded us the rare opportunity of doing some introspection about our spiritual lives so as to set the records right. In her wisdom, the Church expects that by now, Christ would find a place in the Inn of our hearts.
Background and summary of the readings
Our first reading (2 Sam. 7-1-5.8b-12.14a.16) points to the remote stages of the family tree of Jesus who comes from the Davidic dynasty. By stating that “your house and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established forever,” the reading points to Jesus and suggests what would later be characterised as the Emmanuel-events.
In the second reading (2 Rom. 16:25-27) St. Paul describes Jesus as “the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages… to bring the obedience of faith.” He adds without mincing words that “this is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be.”
The gospel reading (Luke 1:26-38) recounts the traditional annunciation by the angel Gabriel. In keeping with the promises of old, the Blessed Virgin Mary accepts to be the worthy mother of the saviour who comes from the Davidic line. Mary’s willingness to undertake a divine task she knows nothing or little about strikes us deeply about her docile persona. Here was a virgin eagerly waiting for the day of her wedding to her expected spouse, Joseph.
She had defied the thought of defiling herself before marriage and prepared herself for her prospective husband. Although she was waiting for a human spouse, when the divine sought her cooperation to undertake such an important task on behalf of humanity, she obliged. Expressing “the Joy of Waiting,” she exclaimed: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done me.”
Pastoral Lessons
1. Hold firm: Since God fulfilled his promise to David of raising a saviour in his line, it reveals that the same God comes true for those who hold him in faith.
2. Be obedient: Expectedly, the fourth Sunday of advent calls our attention to the obedience of faith by developing “a lively faith animated by charity.”
3. Be patient: The Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us to appreciate and emulate the virtue of patience and pious-waiting to do that which he wills in our lives.
4. Be joyful: As we await the celebration of Christmas tomorrow, our liturgy assures that despite that our inability to meet our materials needs because of economic reasons, the joy of waiting for the Christ’s event should usher us into a new beginning in which the material becomes secondary.
5. Reach out to others: The annunciation discloses the favour God gave the Blessed Virgin Mary thus challenging us to reach out for his favour through the pious acts of chastity and waiting on him to fulfil his promises of employment, promotion, admission and spiritual elevation for us.
Summary of Lines
1. Our first reading points to the remote stages of the family tree of Jesus who comes from the Davidic dynasty.
2. In the second reading St. Paul describes Jesus as “the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages… to bring the obedience of faith.”
3. “This is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be.”
4. The gospel reading recounts the traditional annunciation by the angel Gabriel.
5. In keeping with the promises of old, the Blessed Virgin Mary accepts to be the worthy mother of the saviour who comes from the Davidic line.
Conclusion
We are called to reassess our preparation. As it is typical with every Christmas celebration, people often have three types of preparation namely, food and drink, new clothes and spiritual rejuvenation. Well, for us Christians, we have starved ourselves of singing the Gloria for about four Sundays. This is aimed at creating a spiritual hunger in us so that at tomorrow’s vigil, we would join the choirs of angles to sing the first and the best Gloria ever sang. Perhaps, this would give us some butterflies in our tummies as we await the cry of the baby Jesus in that one event which took place in a manger at the Shepherd’s field, Bethlehem over 2000 years ago.
