Thursday of the Third Week of Advent
I have to admit, there have been times that I have asked God for a sign. Struggling with some issue, feeling alone, wondering where God is I’ve cried out for a sign, something tangible to know that God is with me, with us. We are human, we experience life through our senses, and we are relational, we need communication with other living beings. And God, our creator, knows this.
Today’s first reading from Isaiah (7: 10-14), the prophet writes of the Lord encouraging Ahaz to ask for a sign for the people who are in distress. Ahaz doesn’t want to “tempt the Lord” in this way, but the prophet tells him he will receive a sign anyhow so that they may know that God is with them who trust in God’s saving power. The sign they are given is that “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” (vs.14) (Immanuel, also spelled Emmanuel, means God with us.) We are told that biblical scholars agree that the child Isaiah is referring to here is the son of King Ahaz; but the Gospel writers later see in this passage a reference to Jesus (see Matthew 1:23) who is truly “God with us.”
We read of another sign offered by God in today’s gospel (Luke 1: 26-38). When the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary to announce that she is to conceive and bear the son of God, Mary asks how this is possible. The angel tells her that the power of the Most High will overshadow her and then tells her about her cousin, Elizabeth, having conceived in her old age (the sign), “for nothing will be impossible for God.” This added news was to confirm for Mary that God, indeed, is at work here and the angel’s announcement would be fulfilled.
Sometimes we need an outward sign, some confirmation that God is truly present and in our midst. I wonder how often signs are offered to us that we miss or dismiss as not from God. A call from a friend just when I need it; a beautiful sunset or bird singing in my tree; the gift of unexpected reconciliation; the surprise hug or “I love you” from a child. Signs of God with us.
Just as the psalmist writes of a people that “seek the face of the God of Jacob,” (Psalm 24:6) aren’t we seeking God’s face, seeking to know God’s presence in our lives? God gave us the most intimate sign of love for us: becoming like us: being born of a woman, walking as a man on this earth, eating and drinking, sleeping and talking, Jesus is the face of God. Aren’t we to be the face of God for others?
In the few days left of Advent, I pray that our senses will be more open to the signs of God in our midst. And I ask God to help us be the face of God to others. Let us prepare to celebrate the birth of God incarnate so that we may truly see him when he comes.
Eileen Miller