Faith in a word

In the 8th century BC, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah faced a major problem. The greatest power in the Middle East, what we now know as the Neo-Assyrian Empire, had a new leader, Tiglath-Pileser III, who had successfully reformed their army, and was conquering everything in the region. The Northern Kingdom of Israel, whose destruction had been prophesied by Amos and Hosea, would be one of the first on his list. They formed an alliance with the kingdom of Aram-Damascus, immediately to the north of them, to defend themselves together when Assyria invaded. However, even together, they knew they would not be strong enough. So, they went to Judah, where Ahaz was the king in Jerusalem, and threatened the heir to David’s throne. They told him he could either join their alliance against Assyria, or they would attack Judah, to replace him with a new ruler who would join their alliance.

A few years before this, in the year the previous king, Uzziah, had died, a man named Isaiah, probably an advisor to the king, had gone into the temple, where he saw a spectacular vision: the Lord sitting on a throne, surrounded by angels singing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts.” The angels took a coal from the altar, touched it to Isaiah’s tongue to cleanse his lips, and forgive his sins, and he was then sent to be a prophet for the people of Judah.

The book of Isaiah fast forwards directly from Isaiah’s call to the pending invasion of Judah by the kings of Israel and Aram a few years later. God comes to Isaiah, and tells him to go to the king, to Ahaz, to tell him not to worry about the invasion by Israel and Aram, because they will both soon be conquered by the Assyrians. This moment is narrated in today’s first reading. The Lord, through Isaiah, tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, anything that can show that he is safe to ignore the threats of Israel and Aram. Ahaz, a descendent of David, but not a king who imitates David’s faith and trust in God, refuses, out of fake piety. He is given a sign anyway.

Ahaz, King of Judah
 

In the version we have of the reading, based on the Greek translation of the Old Testament done about 500 years after the story it is narrating, and about 200 years before the birth of Christ, the sign he is given is that a virgin will conceive and bear a son, Emmanuel, God is with us. The Hebrew, however, says a young woman will conceive and bear a son, Emmanuel. This seems to indicate Isaiah’s son, whose birth is narrated in the next chapter of the book of Isaiah.

In the end, Ahaz both refuses to join the kings of Israel and Aram, and also refuses to trust in God’s plan. Instead, he sends tribute to Tiglath-Pileser, and asks for the Assyrians to come and destroy the kingdoms of Israel and Aram for him. He accepts a position as a vassal to the Assyrians, which saves him from his immediate plight, but sets up an even worse situation. Eventually, much of the countryside of Judah will be destroyed by the Assyrians during the reign of Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, with only the city of Jerusalem spared after a lengthy siege by the miraculous defeat and retreat of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, the grandson of Tiglath-Pileser. The Babylonian Empire, a successor state to the Neo-Assyrian Empire, would destroy Jerusalem and deport the people of Judah about 100 years later.

On the most literal level, this is the story narrated by the first reading. Judah is embattled, and the king refuses to trust in God, leading to destruction. However, there is a second meaning to this passage that was initially hidden, a meaning brought out by the Greek translation that used “virgin” instead of “young woman.” This passage is not merely talking about a sign that the kings of Israel and Aram will be defeated, not just a sign that God could have preserved all of Judah from the Assyrians if Ahaz had put his trust in God, rather than in his own alliance with the Assyrians. Instead, it points forward to the fulfillment of the name Emmanuel, God with us. It points to God coming to us, and freeing us from the forces that terrorize us in this world: sin and death. It points to God definitively defeating the ruler of this world.

Our Gospel takes us 18 generations later, to Joseph, a descendent of Ahaz. Joseph was betrothed to Mary, who we know as the Virgin Mother of God. Joseph did not know all of that yet. All he knew is that his betrothed was with child. Joseph was a righteous man, and did not want to humiliate her, so he decided to quietly divorce her. This is a big deal: the engagement they had was already a legal marriage, unlike engagements in our world today. They just didn’t live together yet as husband and wife: their marriage hadn’t been completed.

As he was pondering this, an angel, a messenger from God, appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him to accept Mary into his house, to complete their marriage. For her son has been conceived through the Holy Spirit. This son will be named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Joseph is in a similar position to his ancestor Ahaz in the first reading. He has been given an instruction from God through an intermediary. Both instructions amount to “stay the course and trust in God’s plan. Have faith.” Ahaz is instructed to trust that God will deliver the people of Judah from the invading armies of Israel and Aram. Joseph is instructed to trust in God and accept Mary as his wife. They are both given a sign: the birth of a child, of Emmanuel, God-with-us. Unlike Ahaz, Joseph responds in faith: when he awakes, he does as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and takes Mary into his house. He becomes the foster father of God, fulfilling the promise made to his ancestor David 27 generations earlier. Unlike Ahaz, who rejects the sign he is given and tries to save Judah through his own schemes, Joseph recognizes the sign he is given.

One week from today, we will commemorate this same sign. We will celebrate Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We will proclaim that a Virgin, Mary, has conceived and borne a son, as Isaiah prophesied. We will commemorate God-with-us, the Incarnation of the Word of God. This is a truth so central to our faith, we bow whenever we profess it in the Creed, and kneel when we profess it during Christmas, or on the Annunciation. This external action: the slight bow when we say “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man” should serve as a regular reminder of this sign that we have been given.

Our response to that sign can follow either the pattern of Ahaz or the pattern of Joseph. We can ignore the sign, reject the grace of apostleship, and the obedience of faith, and trust in ourselves, as Ahaz did. We may have some small successes, as Ahaz did, but we will set ourselves up for failure: we will deliver ourselves to sin and death, as Ahaz delivered the people of Judah to subjugation to the Assyrians. Or, we can accept the sign, trust in God, and receive the grace of apostleship that brings about the obedience of faith through Jesus Christ our Lord, as St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints have. This will not eliminate hardships, at least in this world. St. Joseph had to flee with his family to Egypt because Herod sought to kill the new-born king. Nevertheless, he finished the race, and kept the faith. Cooperating with Christ’s grace conquered sin and death for him, and he now sees God face-to-face.

This same grace is available to us, but only through Christ. Only by accepting the sign we have been given, the Virgin Birth. Let us use the next week to prepare ourselves spiritually by prayer and penance to receive this sign, to welcome Christ, as we complete the Advent season, and move on to Christmas.