December 21, 2025 ☩ The Fourth Sunday of Advent
on
Isaiah 7:10-16; Romans 1:1-7; & Matthew 1:18-25
“Are We Ready?”
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I once heard a comedian comment that he was so bad at knowing history that every time he watched a movie based on historical events, he was always on the edge of his seat, wondering what was going to happen.
The comedian, Nate Bargatze, spoke of a sort of comedic ignorance that provided a new sense of suspense in approaching the coming events. We, in the Christian faith, approach Christmas knowing full well what is to take place. Even in this wisdom and understanding, we still are on the edge of our seats. I believe we recognize that the Incarnation of our God in Christ Jesus is an event that both once took place more than two thousand years ago AND is also an event unfolding before us as we await the Second Coming of Christ.
Surely God has made God’s-self known to us in a powerful way through Jesus, walking beside us in the challenges of life. Certainly, God has stepped beside us in the fragility, the delicacy, the strength, the joy, and the sadness of humanity so that we could never question: “But how could you ever understand without having experienced?!” God, in all the glory and power of divinity, became empathy and compassion in, through, and as Jesus – who appears to us first in the fragility of an infant.
We are on the brink of Jesus’ arrival, not just in this season, but in each new day. In each day beyond Christmas, we should retain this feeling of joyous anticipation, this feeling of finding peace and love for the world through a delicate child, this feeling of hope delivered through holy and faithful people in unexpected places.
Are we truly ready to receive Christ? Have we prepared enough? In the hustle and bustle of our family traditions and festal preparations, have we pressed ourselves to the brink of time limits to face and address those things most crucial to this season? Have we reached a place of prioritizing such that we can peacefully embrace the true meaning of this season – to be present as Christ was and is present?
Let us expand upon our preparations, that they become daily preparations to provide a place for Christ to be born within us, the spirit of hope, joy, and love. Let us daily make room in our hearts, keeping Christ’s presence ever before us, with the same joy and hope all the year round. Our Collect of the Day for this Fourth Sunday in Advent speaks to that daily preparation and purification of our minds such that Christ is not just given the servants’ quarters of our hearts, but rather we prepare a mansion for our Lord within us, giving of the best of ourselves dedicated to Christ.
In Isaiah’s reading, our Old Testament reading appointed today, the prophet points out signs are before us to recognize God at work in the world. In fact, Isaiah identifies the Savior who is to come as “Immanuel.” Names in the Old Testament were obviously meaningful and this name meant: “God is with us.”
We, too, have signs to remind us of Christ’s immanent coming. The most powerful sign is this yearly observance and embrace of joy and hope in its various forms that we experience in family gatherings, gift-giving, and even in spreading this joy-filled generosity to those we do not know through Adopt-a-Family. This season is established to remind us of a love so deeply shared by our God that we are to join into and continue to share. God is with us and this season is a poignant opportunity to show others that God is with them through the care we show them.
Are we prepared? Another depth to preparations is this sharing of God’s Word and Revelation to the world through simple interactions of neighbors. To do so in the best fashion possible, we can take a lesson from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans. Saint Paul acknowledge he was called to be an apostle and he engaged in the work to which God beckoned him. In these opening versus of his epistle, or pastoral letter, that he wrote to the Romans, Paul writes to people “who are called to be saints.” [Romans 1:7] We are here today because we have felt this call toward sainthood, a holy way of life. Thus, our preparations for Christ should duly take the form of faithfully embracing the call we have felt to serve Christ in all its particular forms of saintly work.
In our preparations, we should make enough space for silence. In any valuable conversation, we must pause our own thoughts to truly hear the person before us. In the same way, providing space for God to speak to us is critical to hearing God. Saint Joseph, a devout and faithful person in the Jewish traditions, knew the common cultural paths. He knew a life lived married to a woman who was to bear a child not of his own blood might bring him ridicule and stigmatization. Joseph leaned into the cultural expectation with firm resolve to quietly abandon his betrothal to Mary, so as not to bring embarrassment to either. Though firmly resolved, he kept space to receive the message that the angel brought forth to him. Joseph boldly put down the firm decisive path he thought was best, to heed a call by God. Despite having a set path in his mind, he fully changed paths to faithfully serve at God’s calling and take Mary in marriage and raise Jesus.
Joseph was not asked for a favor that would just take a few minutes. Joseph was given his saintly path toward God’s will which required years and changed the course of his life forever.
Are we ready to do the same? May we embrace the hope Christ brings to us each and every day hereafter. May we cherish those changes in our life that are necessary to better follow our calling toward sainthood. The more ready we are to receive Christ this day, the more likely we are to find our Savior present, with us, in unexpected moments. Cherish them as Joseph cherished ministry.
Amen.
