| Isaiah 7:10-14 View Readings | Psalm 24:1-6 | Luke 1:26-38 |
Throughout the Old Testament, we encounter the promises of
God to his chosen people: he promises to lead them out of slavery, he promises
to bring them to the Promised Land, he promises them a royal dynasty, he
promises to make them Holy, holy like He, the Lord God is Holy.
The Old Testament tells the history of salvation up to the
coming of Christ the savior—God acting in history, calling Abraham, liberating
Israel from slavery, establishing his kingdom through David. He even continues to call to his people who
are exiled from the Promised Land as a consequence of their grave idolatry.
Isaiah is sent in that period where the Kingdom had broken
down because of the people’s unfaithfulness; they stopped following God’s
commandments, and so their nation was divided, and they became vulnerable to
invasion. They had failed to keep their
promises to God; they had abandoned God, and now they were suffering the
consequences.
But Isaiah the prophet spoke the Word of God that even
though the Chosen People didn’t keep their promises, God still kept his.
One of the greatest prophecies in the history of the human
race is Isaiah's prophecy of "Emmanuel." Emmanuel means God is with us, God is among
us. In the incarnation of the Son of
God, God truly comes to dwell among us.
We hear God’s promise that Emmanuel be born of a virgin in
the Old Testament Reading, and in the Gospel, we hear that promised fulfilled—when
the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mary, the Divine Word truly became
flesh in her womb, and God truly came to dwell among us to save us from our
exile, our slavery, and to make us holy.
We live in a fallen world, much like the time when Isaiah
was sent as a prophet. People’s
unfaithfulness to the commandments is literally tearing the world apart. Yet the Incarnation remains our hope, he is
the cause of our joy, and we must be every ready to serve Him, as Mary replied,
I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be
done to me according to your word.
Will I say yes today, will I allow his life to change my
life today, will I allow Christ to become incarnate through me today, will I
unite my life with his life today, will I allow him to renew me in my
fallenness and in my weakness, will I follow Mary’s example and allow him to
use me for the building up of his kingdom, for the glory of God, and salvation
of souls.
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