Advent 4-A ’16
“The Inverted Glove”
Fr. Jeff Nicolas
Our season of Advent is drawing to a close… a time to prepare for Jesus… and understanding the centerpiece of Christmas is integral to this preparation, for at Christmas we celebrate God’s Incarnation.
Incarnation is a big word, but here is what it means in a nutshell: When humanity was created we enjoyed a unity with God and embraced our dependency on God. God’s will and humanity’s will were hand in glove. (Put on glove.) Sin entered our existence when we tried to exist independently from God, as if we were not dependent on God, as if we were “the center of the universe” instead of God.
This turned us “inside-out” so to speak (take off glove and replace it inside-out). All of our struggles stem from our trying to live in this “inside-out” state. We couldn’t fix this on our own… as it has always been, we were dependent on God (in this case to save us).
So God, through Jesus Christ, became one of us! Incarnation! (Turn the glove back right-side-out.) Our task to this day as disciples is to live “right-side out” through Jesus.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to our doing this successfully is not realizing we need to! Perhaps this is where some in our company have an edge on the rest of us according to the wisdom of scripture which teaches that the first shall be last and the last shall be first…
Many are struggling right now because of the holidays. Television specials, store windows, commercials, and cards all tell us we should be happy, but this just isn’t the reality for many. Maybe its your first Christmas alone, maybe your health is failing, maybe you are in the middle of a big fight with someone, maybe you have lost your job, etc… Compared to the images of people displayed all around us which say that the happy people are first, those among us struggling can feel like they are last.
Yet listen to this, as Louisville Deacon Denny Nash recently shared with me, the Jesuit theologian, Gustavo Gutierrez, writes ”When we think everything is occurring normally we are not capable of perceiving what is new.” Gutierrez suggests that Joseph in today’s Gospel needed to be shaken up in order to realize the miracle that was really taking place. As human beings….it is when we are vulnerable, beaten down, when life seems out of control….it is those moments that we are most receptive to God’s plan for us and can be open to his redemptive grace….
Those among us who are struggling know first hand that we need God. (They can feel that the glove is inside-out so to speak.) The cross they bear actually opens them uniquely to our God who comes to save us…they know they need saving! In this way the Last (those hurting among us) become the First and the First (as far as the world’s perception goes) can become the Last.
This final week before Christmas I urge everyone to be mindful of all those among us who are struggling; lift them up in prayer. And remember in your Christmas preparations why God comes to us in the first place… TO SAVE US.
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