First Saturday in Advent

First Saturday in Advent

Isaiah 30:19-21,23-26; Psalm 147:1-12; Matthew 9:35-10:1,5-8

When I read this Gospel passage, I'm so grateful for the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-28)!  I hear Jesus at the beginning of his ministry telling the disciples not to talk to Gentiles or Samaritans, and I cringe.  I want to cry, "Jesus, I'm over here!  Don't ignore me!" But he's not ready.

This is one of the hard truths of the Incarnation.  Jesus became human - fully human.  Not just God in a suit, omniscient and omnipotent and invulnerable.  Jesus became human, not just embodied.  That means he appeared as a specific person in a specific time.  He grew up with specific beliefs and opinions and prejudices, like all humans.  And he had to grow in understanding, like all humans.

Some people need to defend Jesus against his humanity.  When we see places where he reflects the values and assumptions of his culture, especially values we don’t share, it’s tempting to believe that really he didn’t mean it - he was just testing others.  Or, we might insist that if he said it, it’s true and commanded for all time, for after all, he is the Son of God.

Those defenses deny the Incarnation.  If Jesus had a body like mine but not a mind and soul like mine, how does the Incarnation save me?  If he didn’t really suffer limitation all the way down, how does he redeem my limitations?

Jesus humbled himself and shared in our human condition.  He sent out the disciples on a mission that continues today, but it only continues because he learned to expand its scope.  By the end of the Gospel he will tell them to make all nations disciples.  His ability to hear another, to change his mind, is part of the divine spark in him and in us.

As you prepare for the Feast of the Incarnation this year, ask yourself whether you are prepared to let Jesus be fully human as well as fully divine.  As you reflect, remember: only that which Jesus took on has been redeemed.  Don’t, in your rush to protect Jesus, leave yourself (and the rest of us) out in the cold.