Advent 4
Dear friends in Christ. One of the beautiful parts of Advent is that it puts us in the shoes of the OT faithful who were looking with eager anticipation for the long promised and awaited Messiah. We can feel/ sense their longing and we get a sense of that in today’s Gospel where we hear of the people coming out to hear St. John the Baptizer and to be baptized by him. There’s something in the air. The religious leaders ask him who he is—if perhaps he is the Messiah; St. John, of course, strongly denies it. Then they ask him if he is Elijah or one of the prophets, which St. John of course denies. But St. John does say that he is the one the prophets prophesied who would prepare the way of the Savior. But then the Baptizer says something interesting: “Among you stands one you do not know. He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” The point? The Savior, the Messiah the faithful were longing for was already there among them.
How blessed we are! We live in the time that the Savior, Jesus Christ, has already come. The salvation of the world—our salvation—has already been won for us by Christ. But we Christians are like the OT faithful; we are advent people—people waiting for Jesus to come. Whereas the OT believers looked ahead to the Savior who was to come and now has come and has carried out/ completed the work of saving the world from sin, we look forward with longing and await Jesus to return —this time in glory; this time to bring His dear Christians, both the living and the dead, soul and body with Him into the glories of heaven eternally.
This longing, looking for, yearning for Jesus’ return puts us in the same shoes of the OT faithful: a people waiting for their Savior. It’s no wonder that one of the most popular Advent hymns is Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel. Each stanza takes us back in time and places us alongside the OT faithful to await God’s promised Savior. And in our hearts we, too, are praying Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel for Jesus to come on the Last Day. This hymn of the Church traces its roots to the 8th century to a collection of refrains chanted before and after the Magnificat during the Vespers liturgy from 17-23 December. They are called the “O Antiphons” because they begin with the call “O”. Following the “O,” Jesus is addressed using a name drawn from the OT imagery of the Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment not only of OT hopes but ours as well. The Church prays: Come!
Today’s O Antiphon that the Church prays is: O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. As we look at this O Antiphon, we see two OT references—the first is to the burning bush and the second is the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.
1. First we meet St. Moses at the burning bush: Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. Here notice that the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the angel of the LORD. This is not just any angel—even an exalted angel like Gabriel; He is the angel of the LORD. Here is the pre-incarnate Christ, Jesus before He took on human flesh and blood in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. He appears in the OT; He is the angel [or messenger] of the LORD. And who better to reveal the will of God, of the Father, than the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who together with Him and the Holy Spirit is one God? To make it crystal clear that the angel of the LORD is the very God Himself, St. Moses after writing the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush then writes two verses later: God called to [Moses] out of the bush. The Angel of the Lord is truly God—here, the Son/ the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
And again at the end of this account, when Moses asks God His name, God/ the Angel of the Lord/ the Second Person of the Holy Trinity/ the pre-incarnate Christ answers: God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The “I AM”—that’s the Lord’s personal name. And whenever the Jews would come to our Lord’s personal name, they wouldn’t pronounce it but say the Hebrew word meaning Lord: “Adonai.” That’s why today’s O Antiphon, addressed to Jesus, begins O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Jesus is the true God and as the OT saints prayed for His first coming, so too do we pray for His return on the Last Day: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.
What was it that the angel of the LORD, the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity said to Moses? Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey… The Son of God came down to rescue the people from their affliction. Notice: He had seen their affliction in Egypt; He heard their cry in their distress; He knew their sufferings there. Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. That’s why He came down and led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. He knew exactly their hurt and pain and His knowing brought a result. He came down to visit His people in His grace and blessing.
To be sure, we are not in slavery in Egypt but we Christians still pray and yearn: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us because we are in slavery to sin; the devil is our torment leading us into sin; he is attacking us and our faith to try to destroy that faith; he is always trying to lead us back into his kingdom of sin, death and damnation. That’s why we yearn and long for the Last Day, the day of Jesus’ return when we will be with Him soul and body in heaven, free from the attacks of the devil, the world and our own sinful nature. Then we will be together with Him, the holy angels and all the saints forever.
What a glorious comfort and assurance we have when we pray: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. Not only did Jesus answer their prayer and come down and rescue the Israelites from the miseries of their slavery in Egypt, but by that He also gave a glorious example of His true saving work, the salvation of the world. Jesus heard and answered the Israelites’ and all people’s greatest longing and wish—to be free from sin and its effects, death and damnation.
I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them. As Christians, we know that Jesus brought us the greatest deliverance from sin, guilt, death, devil and hell. Knowing our sufferings and sorrows—Jesus came to rescue us, in an even grander way than He did the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He, the true God, came to this world and became one of us, true man. The remedy for all our sorrows and pain is His incarnation—true God becoming true man. That’s what Christmas is all about—God coming down, becoming true man to be our Savior to rescue us from our sin, death, and devil. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them.
We even have a picture/ a foreshadowing of this in the account of the burning bush. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. Here is true God, showing His glory with that fire. But that fire was not burning up the bush. Here is a picture/ foreshadow of the incarnation. Jesus’ divine glory and majesty did not consume/ burn up His humanity. Instead, His humanity concealed His divinity so that St. John the Baptizer could say: Among you stands one you do not know. No one could tell walking down the street that Jesus is the true God, coming down/ visiting us in grace. His divinity did not consume His humanity. To be sure through His miracles and teaching, Jesus let that glory shine forth. But, precisely by letting His humanity “cover”/ “conceal” His divinity, that He is true God, Jesus brought about for us our salvation. He placed Himself under God’s holy Law to obey it for us; He took all of our sins upon Himself to the cross where He suffered and died for them—the true eternal God dying because He is also true man. His divinity did not consume His humanity. The bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
Jesus is the God-man. That’s the mystery of Christmas. The burning bush gives us a picture/ foreshadowing of the mystery of the Person of Jesus: He is both true God and true man—the divinity does not consume the humanity.
We get a marvelous reminder of this each week in the Blessed Sacrament when Jesus comes to us, joins His body and blood to the bread and wine, not destroying/ burning them up with His divinity, but gives Himself completely to us in the bread and wine so that we receive Him totally with all His graces and gifts.
2. Today’s O Antiphon continues: O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai. This second image of Jesus is of the Lawgiver on Mt. Sinai giving St. Moses the holy Ten Commandments. This, too, is an image of fire and smoke but all very different. The image of the burning bush is one of a great mystery—how does the bush not burn; this image of the Lawgiver is an image of power and wrath, fear and terror:
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
When we pray: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us, we are looking forward to the Last Day, the day of His judgment and wrath. The picture of Jesus at Sinai, giving the Law is a picture of Jesus power and majesty. Although He is both true God and true man and although He humbled Himself and as man did not, during His earthly ministry, always use His power and majesty, now Jesus as man makes full use of His power and majesty. And come the Last Day Jesus, the God-man, will come in all His glory, majesty and might.
And that’s what we’re praying for now: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. Thinking of that scene of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai to Moses, how terrifying it was for the people: all the people in the camp trembled.
And, yes, on the Last Day He will come to judge—how did we keep His holy Law. And we see here how serious He is about sin. Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly, there the Lord showing His glory and His consuming intolerance of sin. Yes, we are sinners with sins too numerable to list, sinning against His divine will and Law and we have greatly offended His divine holiness. But our Lord’s dear Christian will look forward to Jesus’ return on the Last Day. We have no reason to cower in fear. That’s our Savior who’s coming! That’s our Savior who is bringing us with Him soul and body into heaven for all eternity. On the Last Day His wrath will be poured out on all His/ our spiritual enemies. O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. INJ Amen