December 20th

December 20, 2022
Tuesday of the 4th Week of Advent
Readings: Is 7:10-14/Lk 1:26-38 (196)
Elijah Chavarria: Freshman
In our first reading today, we hear the prophet Isaiah prophecy that God
would show His people a sign. A sign that Isaiah connects to a stern rebuke against
King Ahaz who misleads and misguides the people of Israel and leads them down
the wrong path. In fact, prophet Isaiah condemns King Ahaz as a hypocrite who
misleads his people and leads them to disobedience of God. The same warning is
going out to all of us this Tuesday of the fourth week of Advent, especially those
who use their positions in life to lead other people to sin and to disobedience
against God’s law.
But that rebuke also comes with a sharp contrast that God’s Sign would
indeed one day come, when all those who eventually witnessed it, would believe
that indeed, God is the one and only True God, and not all the false idols that Ahaz
and the people of Judah had worshipped.
Moreso, the first reading is contrasted with the message of the Annunciation
in today’s Gospel. The great Sign which God promised in the first reading is
fulfilled in the Gospel of today. God choses Mary to be the instrument to bring
God’s Sign into the world. This Child of the great sign would be called
Emmanuel, ‘God is with us.” This alone has already shown us that the Child that
Mary bore within her, is truly not just like any other ordinary children. The child
would also be a contradiction because instead of leading his people in hypocrisy
and in disobedience to God, Jesus leads us on the path of faithfulness, obedience to
God’s commandments and to eternal life.
As we draw closer to Christmas, it is pertinent that we truly need to ask
ourselves, are we like King Ahaz, who refused to obey the Lord and chose to walk
his own path? Or are we more like Mary, whose obedience and commitment to the
Lord brought forth the Savior into this world? We do not have to look far but to
our own way of preparing ourselves for the upcoming celebration of Christmas as
well as our actions and works in life. We should see if we have allowed our
hypocrisy, pride, and ego to come between us and our obligations to God, just as
King Ahaz had done. His hypocrisy, pride, ego, and worldly desires become
stumbling blocks preventing him from admitting his errors and that he was in need
of God’s guidance and help, and hence instead leading the people of God further
and further into the path of sin. Hence, we should be more like Mary, in her faith in
God and love for Him, and for the humility that she had in embracing and
accepting what the Lord willed to do through her. Above all, we should be more

like Jesus who is the epitome of faithfulness, love, obedience and the Truth, Way,
and Life.