Emmanuel, God is with us”

Today's Mass Readings

As we approach the end of the season of Advent, we find readings that point us toward the Nativity, Jesus’ birth. In today’s first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, we find this prophetic utterance about a future king that will come from David’s line. This is important because the Babylonian exile is an important focus and context for the book of Jeremiah. It was in the Babylonian exile that the Davidic royal line was apparently cut off, even though God promised that David’s kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom.
Jeremiah asserts that indeed a king will come from David’s line, and he will rule with wisdom and justice. Furthermore, this king will be the Lord. So, already in the Old Testament, there is the hint that an heir to David, a messianic figure, will be the Lord God. This foreshadows the Incarnation and birth of Jesus, who is the Messiah (the Christ) of David’s line, and is also God. But Jeremiah goes further and mentions that God will not only be the God who saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, but also the God who brought the descendents of Israel up from the land of the north, and from all the lands. This statement refers to more than merely the Babylonian exile, it refers to all of Israel including the Israelites who were scattered to the north in the earlier Assyrian exile. The northern tribes of Israel were scattered among the Gentiles in the north and then were never heard from again since they assimilated with the Gentiles. Therefore, this passage hints at Jesus’ future mission which the apostles would carry to the Gentiles.

Indeed, this is what we find implied in Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus, part of which we find in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus is “God with us,” and He has come for all of us, Jews and Gentiles alike. Jesus is the son of David and Son of God Who has come to unite all into His one Church. All of these themes are bound up in the song we sing during Advent, “O come, o come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel.” O, come Lord Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, and unite the world, Jews and Gentiles alike, ending the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. The original Christmas, in Bethlehem, when Jesus was born, was a truly unique event. God had allowed His chosen people to be divide their kingdom, and then be scattered across the known world in exile. A remnant was taken back to Israel, awaiting God’s Messiah, the end of the Assyrian exile, the reunification of the house of Israel, and the ingathering of the Gentiles. God comes into the world as a human. He comes to bring the gift of Himself, the gift of His life.

This is the true gift we receive at Christmas, the gift of Jesus. Waiting for this special feast is what Advent is about. It’s starting the year afresh, waiting for Jesus. As we finish Advent, let us wait for Christ, but let us do so actively. As Christmas approaches, let us learn to recognize the many ways Christ comes to us in our own lives.