WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:03.399 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:09.400 of the Holy Spirit, Amen. If you were asked to 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:14.080 choose the reading for this first day of the 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:18.859 pre -feast of Christmas, these five days that 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:22.500 precede the Nativity, if you were asked to choose 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:26.500 the reading for this Sunday before Christmas, 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:32.020 what would you have chosen? I think most of us 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:34.780 probably that selection from Luke because it's 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:37.460 super familiar from Charlie Brown's Christmas. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:42.000 Which is a great show. I think it's a beautiful, 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:45.159 beautiful presentation of Christmas. But that's 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:47.359 what we would have probably picked. That's what 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.079 we're most familiar with. It's got shepherds 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:52.780 abiding in the field and it's got angels singing 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:59.509 glory to God. What more could we want? we weren't 00:00:59.509 --> 00:01:01.890 asked to choose the reading for the Sunday before 00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:06.510 Christmas. The church gives us something that 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:11.489 we probably would have never chosen. With the 00:01:11.489 --> 00:01:14.930 help of our Savior and by your prayers, let me 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:19.269 offer a few remarks. I love this reading. I'm 00:01:19.269 --> 00:01:24.569 a liturgical nerd, and without this, it wouldn't 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:27.810 be Christmas for me. I need to hear that. That's 00:01:27.810 --> 00:01:30.969 a journey that I take along with those names. 00:01:31.650 --> 00:01:37.590 It's a fantastic list of names. On my little 00:01:37.590 --> 00:01:40.549 commemoration card, I'll just read a few. Adam 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:42.290 and Eve. Well, let's start at the beginning, 00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:47.109 right? Abel, Seth, Enos, Canaan, Malaliel, Jared, 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:53.030 David, Solomon, Ahaz, her who gave birth to Solomon. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:59.420 Her name's not even mentioned. Bathsheba. Aaron. 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:08.199 Jesse. Hannah. Sarah. Rebecca. Rachel. Rahab, 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:15.580 the prostitute. And on and on it goes. Holy ancestors 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:20.759 of Christ. One of the hymns says, we should ask 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:25.810 their intercessions. So let us do that. 1 ,500 00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:32.590 years, more, more than that, our ancestors had 00:02:32.590 --> 00:02:37.490 been waiting since Abraham, since Abraham, through 00:02:37.490 --> 00:02:43.229 great suffering, through difficulties, deserts, 00:02:43.229 --> 00:02:49.250 dens of the earth, being persecuted, being slandered. 00:02:49.819 --> 00:02:52.740 hungry, and all of that that you heard in the 00:02:52.740 --> 00:02:59.300 epistle to the Romans. God was working through 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:05.539 them, through their faith. And God continues 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:09.960 to work. God hasn't stopped working, not for 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.740 a moment. He works in our life. He works in our 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:18.090 world because he loves it. Let's never forget 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:21.930 his divine providence. We trust it. That's what 00:03:21.930 --> 00:03:28.629 faith is about. Our history, we know, is not 00:03:28.629 --> 00:03:32.150 one of continual moral improvement, evolution 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:37.409 of humanity, banish that idea. It's a jagged 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:44.409 history of ups and downs and falling away, repenting, 00:03:44.409 --> 00:03:48.979 falling again, repenting, all of these characters 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:52.919 whose names you heard, that's their life, just 00:03:52.919 --> 00:03:57.759 like ours. Yet, in the line of the Theotokos, 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.360 the mother of our Lord and Savior, there were 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:07.520 those who remained faithful. Period. Full stop. 00:04:07.580 --> 00:04:11.520 They remained faithful. St. Gregory Palamas describes 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.479 that line and those people as refining humanity. 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:20.350 Moving us slowly, slowly, slowly, because we 00:04:20.350 --> 00:04:24.389 humans don't learn that quickly, morally, ethically, 00:04:24.550 --> 00:04:29.250 spiritually. Slowly moving us from the original 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:33.209 rebellion of Eve and Adam to the time of the 00:04:33.209 --> 00:04:37.129 Blessed Virgin in which God would become incarnate. 00:04:38.730 --> 00:04:46.680 Breaking the dysfunction of our nature. We can 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.740 all do that. Some of you have come from very 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:53.199 dysfunctional places. You can break that, and 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.899 you have broken that, with your life in Christ. 00:04:58.259 --> 00:05:03.240 So, we say this list of names, 42 generations. 00:05:04.420 --> 00:05:09.000 Six times seven. Seven times seven would be the 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.199 Sabbath, but the new Sabbath. The Sabbath isn't 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:16.420 about a regulation about not doing things. And 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.139 rules, that's what the Pharisees were mistaken. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:24.680 The Sabbath, the seventh Sabbath would be Jesus 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:31.519 giving us the kingdom to be with God. This 42 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.279 generational line reaches its great pinnacle 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:37.959 in the Virgin Mary. Note what St. Matthew says. 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:44.060 He says, Eliud begot Eleazar. All these people. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:51.500 Eleazar begot Mathan. Mathan begot Jacob. Jacob, 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:54.899 in other words, was the father. Jacob was the 00:05:54.899 --> 00:06:00.199 father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, not the 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.160 father of Jesus, whose father dwells in heaven, 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:10.779 whom we call our father. 1 ,500 years. 42 generations 00:06:10.779 --> 00:06:14.279 since Abraham. And then the surprise of Christmas. 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:19.620 Then the miracle of the incarnation of God in 00:06:19.620 --> 00:06:24.259 the flesh. And the surprise of Christ's death 00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:30.300 on the cross. And his resurrection. And the impossible 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:34.959 surprise, the gift of the church, which makes 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.269 us members of that same family. And the generations 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:44.129 will go on and on until it is full and God comes 00:06:44.129 --> 00:06:47.250 again in glory. So you see, this Sunday is not 00:06:47.250 --> 00:06:50.610 just about keeping and looking and examining 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:52.990 about some historical line. There's much to say 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:56.910 about all of these people. It's about the faith 00:06:56.910 --> 00:07:03.629 and the promise to Abraham. Yes, those who witnessed 00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:09.019 the promise, who found something better, says 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:12.759 St. Paul. All those people were waiting for something 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:20.300 better. That's this. That's the church, whether 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:23.399 it's full with hundreds of people or only two 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:27.699 or three gathered in the name of Jesus. That's 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:31.000 what's better. We are the recipients of that 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.660 long line of people who waited for the promise. 00:07:36.649 --> 00:07:41.310 The coming of the Messiah. They endured. They 00:07:41.310 --> 00:07:45.970 had endurance, says St. Paul. They had patience, 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:49.610 something we're not too good with. They had hope. 00:07:50.149 --> 00:07:55.790 They had hope. What about us? What's the question 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:00.470 we need to examine? We are after the law of Moses. 00:08:02.089 --> 00:08:05.370 We have been recipients of that which is better. 00:08:07.470 --> 00:08:09.889 We know about the birth, the death, and the resurrection 00:08:09.889 --> 00:08:13.569 of Christ. We confess Jesus as our Lord and our 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:17.470 God, the one who became a child in Bethlehem, 00:08:17.550 --> 00:08:20.769 the one who was crucified and buried and risen 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:24.389 and was victorious over all that evil and violence 00:08:24.389 --> 00:08:29.029 and stupidity and the devil and death. We have 00:08:29.029 --> 00:08:33.429 seen the true light. We sing. We have found. 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:37.529 We have been given the true faith. We sing. We 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:42.129 have died and risen with Christ in baptism. We 00:08:42.129 --> 00:08:45.370 receive the Holy Spirit. We have the witness 00:08:45.370 --> 00:08:50.590 of the saints after Christ. Our hope, our endurance, 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:56.149 our faith is not just something we have to find 00:08:56.149 --> 00:08:58.970 somehow deep within us and just get on with it. 00:09:02.210 --> 00:09:08.759 We have this treasure in earthen vessels. That 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:12.259 the excellency of the power may be of God and 00:09:12.259 --> 00:09:17.000 not of us. We have no ability to show endurance 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:21.120 and strength and hope and faith without God's 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:27.879 grace. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:33.899 Why else would we wear a cross if it wasn't the 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:37.759 demonstration of God's weakness? and his power 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:41.580 through that. This is our condition. Why else 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:44.960 would Jesus come as a child, completely helpless? 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:49.779 God's strength is shown in that weakness. When 00:09:49.779 --> 00:09:53.259 we try to have faith, we're not just trying harder, 00:09:53.379 --> 00:09:56.419 we're praying that God grants us the gift, because 00:09:56.419 --> 00:09:59.720 we cannot do it when we're frustrated, when we're 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:03.080 losing hope with our life. We don't just look 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:05.019 back at the prophets and say, well, they did 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:11.279 it. how did they do it we have all this that 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:16.639 they didn't have we're weak brothers and sisters 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.500 let's accept that and then we stop fighting the 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:24.120 idea that somehow we need to be strong and tough 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:30.070 let God's grace be powerful within you Look at 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.230 the example of the saints, the prophets, all 00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:35.850 those forefathers and ancestors and righteous 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:39.889 women, and see that they had hope, which was 00:10:39.889 --> 00:10:47.110 founded on a vision of something far away. But 00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:52.070 for us, it's not far. It's here. We have it in 00:10:52.070 --> 00:10:55.509 our midst, and we gather together with Christ 00:10:55.509 --> 00:11:01.820 present with us. To our Lord be glory and honor 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:04.299 now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.