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How Does God Meet Humanity ? Finally, on the fourth Sunday, Advent shifts to more familiar ground. We hear Luke's breathtaking story of the annunciation. A young woman, likely of Asian and African descent, sees a vision of an angel and hears &n incredible message. God is asking her permission to use her for the fulfillment of the divine plan. She retains the presence of mind to ask a few questions, but then agrees to the request. Just as simply, the angel disappears. The story sets the scene for the birth of Jesus, which we celebrate later in the week. It's taken Advent a while to get down to this point. The season has darted from the end of the world through the ministry of John the Baptist, and now halts at the events leading up to the birth of Christ. You might say it's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. If you think of Advent's Gospels as a funnel, you can better imagine where we are. Advent starts with the biggest theme, warnings about the second coming of Christ. Then it turns to events during Jesus' life. The season ends with the prediction of Jesus' birth. Historically, the Gospels go backward in time. Angels have enjoyed a rebirth in popular culture these days. They're appearing in decorations, music and Broadway plays. In a way, this is the mother of all angel stories, in which one appears to announce God's plan for heaven and earth. If you compare this story with the one announcing the birth of John the Baptist (Lk 1:5-25) you'll see some parallels. Both relate unlikely pregnancies, one of an old woman, the other of an unmarried woman. Both are introduced by an angel. Both have characters asking how this is possible. Luke uses this device to prepare us for the role John the Baptist plays throughout the life of Jesus: the one who foreshadows what happens to Christ. The term "Messiah," we saw in last week's column, first comes from a prophecy in the book of Daniel (9:24-27). Daniel learned that an appointed prince (the Messiah) would restore Jerusalem. If we revisit that reading in the light of Luke 's annunciation story, we see something amazing. The one who revealed the message to Daniel was Gabriel, the same name as the angel who appears to Mary. Gabriel predicts to Daniel that the Messiah will come during a period of 70 weeks. OK, boys and girls, get out your calculators. Seventy weeks equals how many days? John was conceived six months (180 days) before Jesus, who then is carried nine months by Mary (270). Forty days after he's born he'll be brought to the temple. Get it? Luke plays with numbers to convey his message: Jesus is the Messiah. The other theme that Luke draws out is that Mary remained a virgin through the conception of Jesus. For Luke this miracle supports our belief that Jesus is the Son of God. The virginal conception is strictly affirmed in only two places in the Bible, here and in Matthew's version of the same story. No other stories of Jesus' life and death, no epistles make this point. In fact, when Paul writes to the Romans around 50 A.D. he says that Jesus was declared to be Son of God by his resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4). Luke, writing a few decades later, includes the tradition that must have gained universal acclaim after Paul, that Jesus is Son of God by his conception. Students of comparative religions rightly point out that Christianity is not the only religion that claims a miraculous birth from one divine and one human parent. Many pagan religions claim to have a god conceived in the same way. What is unique in Christianity is that we believe the divine parent has no specific gender. It is the gender-neutral Spirit that impregnates Mary. The virginal conception in the Christian tradition reveals a God more awesome, more powerful, and more mysterious than any known human or natural force. Further, the same Spirit that brings about his birth will raise Jesus from the dead. This Sunday's Gospel raises up one of the largest issues we face as believers -- the meeting of God and humanity. How does God talk to us? How does God reveal the divine plan? How do we discern the will of God? Interpretations of this Gospel range from the fundamental to the skeptical. Some believe it happened exactly this way: an angel appears to Mary, a virgin, who miraculously conceived the Son of God. Others find it too fanciful; they challenge the historicity of this passage because it sounds like too many other religions, and because the Bible itself doesn't back up the virgin birth when it has plenty of opportunities to do so. [Published in The Catholic Key 12/12/93 for the 4th Sunday in Advent]
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