Credit: Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\nYesterday marked the first Sunday of Advent.<\/p>\n
That time of the year when the Church prepares for the coming of God in the most unusual and\u00a0humble\u00a0of ways: as a mere baby, whose first bed was\u00a0a food trough.<\/p>\n
As much as Advent is and should be a time of preparation, God\u2019s\u00a0humble entrance into the world should remind us that the Advent season also marks a moment in time when God needed us.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean that there was some deficiency on the part of God that only we could fix or help God with. I mean that God demonstrated His divine\u00a0power by\u00a0choosing to become enfleshed in the baby Jesus.<\/p>\n
God chose to become vulnerable.<\/p>\n
And in so doing, God<\/em>\u00a0chose<\/em> to need us<\/em>.<\/p>\nGod chose to rely on us to accomplish the miracle of the Incarnation.<\/p>\n
I know that might sound strange, perhaps even a bit blasphemous depending on your theological tradition, but think back on the story of Jesus\u2019 birth in the Gospels.<\/p>\n
Mary was the woman God needed<\/em> to say \u201cyes\u201d to the daunting task of carrying God in her womb.<\/p>\nElizabeth was the person God needed<\/em> to comfort and console the mother of His Son.<\/p>\nJoseph was the man God needed<\/em> to stand between Mary and her persecutors, to protect her and care for her needs.<\/p>\nAnd as a couple, Mary and Joseph were the people God needed<\/em> to ensure the survival of the infant Jesus, providing the\u00a0food,\u00a0shelter, clothing, protection, and love a helpless infant needs to live.<\/p>\nIn other words, even the Good Shepherd needed<\/em> good shepherds to watch over him.<\/p>\nI suppose\u00a0we could conceivably argue that God could have somehow miraculously done all of this without the help of people. But God didn\u2019t<\/em>. And that should tell us something both about the nature of God and our calling as His people.<\/p>\nWhile God may not intrinsically have a need us, God has chosen to need our help. God has chosen to invite us into the divine drama of redemption and to trust us to be more than just audience members, more than just scenery filling up the background.<\/p>\n
We see this clearly\u00a0in the season of Advent, a time that reminds us of the audacity of an infinite God who chose wrap Himself in the finite.<\/p>\n
As much as Advent\u00a0invites us to sing about the Godhead veiled in flesh, it also reminds us that the Incarnation was a collective effort that required both a Holy Spirit and<\/em> human hands to see it through. That ancient drama is an everlasting declaration that God has faith in us, faith that those whom God called \u201cgood\u201d in the Garden could be the same ones to help bring\u00a0paradise to earth once more.<\/p>\nBy\u00a0preparing for the coming of God, Advent is in many ways a prophetic moment in which we declare a second coming of God when the work that began in a manger will finally be brought to completion.<\/p>\n
This means that as people who live between the sound of an infant\u2019s cry and the trumpets\u2019 blast, we, like Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth, and all the other anonymous actors in the drama of Jesus\u2019 birth, have a calling to care for the great gift we have been entrusted with \u2013\u00a0the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n
We do this in much the same way that Mary and Joseph cared for the baby Jesus.<\/p>\n
When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give the thirsty something to drink, tend to the sick, or care for those in prison, we are loving the least of these, the helpless who depend on others for their survival.<\/p>\n
The infant Jesus was helpless. He depended on others to be fed, to be clothed, to be given something to drink, and to be cared for when he was sick. For a time, Jesus was the least of these.\u00a0Which is why\u00a0in a very real way, whatever we do for the least of these we are doing for Jesus.<\/p>\n
When we do that, when we\u00a0care for the least of these we are very literally incarnating the past and future hope of the Advent season \u2013 the coming of God. By incarnating the Advent season through humble acts of love, we become participants in a prophetic reenactment of the nativity story\u00a0as we ourselves make the necessary preparations for the One who has come and is coming again.<\/p>\n
This year during Advent, remember that God still needs your help.<\/p>\n
So, don\u2019t just sit back and wait for the arrival of the King.<\/p>\n
Go out and prepare the way for His return.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
FROM THE VAULT: A slightly different version of this post originally appeared a couple of years ago, but it felt like a good time to revisit it.<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Credit: Wikipedia) Yesterday marked the first Sunday of Advent. That time of the year when the Church prepares for the coming of God in the most unusual and\u00a0humble\u00a0of ways: as a mere baby, whose first bed was\u00a0a food trough. As much as Advent is and should be a time of preparation, God\u2019s\u00a0humble entrance into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"birth](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/birth-of-jesus-1024x874.jpg\")
(Credit: Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n