Emmanuel: God is with us

Today, while the Philippines suffers from the recent tragic calamities from a thousand and one setbacks in our peace and order situation, from the hopelessness and helplessness we are facing on account of rampant moral and spiritual decadence on all levels of human society, let us ask ourselves whether we can carry on in spite of it all.

In a few days, we celebrate the feast of Christmas, the birth of Christ, Savior of the world. In the Philippines, no matter what the situation is, rich and poor manage to keep tradition of the Christmas celebration, maybe, as no other nation does. There is the Christmas shopping a couple or more months before December. You would think that people would get ahead of the best buys as if there would be no more of these if they are not first in Divisoria, Baclaran, the markets, the malls and other private sellers out to do a sideline opportunity to earn at least something for the Christmas celebration. Well, I begin with the shopping; but there is the ensuing flurry for Christmas decors, lights, to make Christmas all bright and illuminated. The simbang gabi and the bibingka/puto-bumbong that have to be there nine days before the feast, the round of Christmas parties in offices and workplaces, gift-wrappings. We in the Philippines prepare for the Christmas feast with so much glitter and excitement. That’s well and good; they go with the joy that is the birthday of Jesus.

These external joys, however, should not really make the whole of our Christmas. Its central meaning comes from a deeper truth about God and His absolute self-giving. How wonderful it is that God so loved the world He gave us His only begotten Son to redeem us. How God the Son was given to us is well written in Scriptures: That before Joseph and Mary came together, Mary was found with child. Joseph was troubled, but the angel of the Lord assured him: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child is conceived in her. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet, ‘Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name Him, Emmanuel, which means, God is with us’ " (Mt 1:20-23).

Jesus manifests the essential activity of God on the human level. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. He announces that in Himself, the Son of the Father, the definitive reign of God is at hand which redeems lost and sinful men if they believe in Him and are converted. At the same time, the national religion which God established in the Old Testament is to be fulfilled and superseded by His Church which is open to all men. Within the framework of His summons to the radical conversion of faith, He demands a morality which must be the gift of God’s grace, which while quite realistic about the concrete moral achievement human beings are capable of (as compared with unlimited truthfulness, purity, humility, self-denial and love of neighbor) breaks through all ethical and religious formalism and establishes a personal relationship between a man and the living God (Sermon on the Mount, Mt. 5:1-12).

Jesus teaches that though God is infinitely exalted He can be loved; that morality is what it should be, only when it rises above itself – when the human being who has received the message of God’s love in faith loves God with his whole heart. Jesus makes this possible for us by humbling Himself, accept the "form of a servant" and joining the company of sinners so as to become a brother to man, like Him in all but sin (Heb. 2:17; 4-15). This message is addressed to each of us, to each individual, because in each of us Jesus sees a person absolutely distinct and valid before God, freely deciding his eternal destiny in this one life that is his.

Jesus confirms His doctrine by His own life. With a pure heart and as a matter of course, He humbly loves every human being who encounters Him. Jesus grounds the credibility of His witness to Himself on the fact of His passion, death and resurrection. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Love confirmed for the whole humanity till the end of time and forever.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Matthew 1:18-24.