God Gives His Wisdom Even To Sinners Series

Novena pre-Christmas Dec 17

Today we begin what is known as the pre-Christmas novena, nine days of celebration that ends with the Nativity of Jesus celebration on December 25. In our Vespers celebration this evening, the Divine Office prescribes the use of the first of the “O” antiphons when we sing Mary’s Magnificat. In each of these antiphon prayers, the Church focuses on a name that sums up one of the many attributes of the Messiah, longed for during thousands of years of sin and spiritual frustration by the Jews, and really, by all of humankind. In the Mass, these prayers are also used during the Gospel Acclamation. Today’s addresses Jesus as “Wisdom, holy Word of God, who governs all creation with strong and tender care. O come and show your people the way to salvation.”

Consider the Scriptures we just heard in proclamation: the patriarch Jacob, or Israel, the legendary father of the Hebrew people, is giving his blessings and prophecies to his twelve heirs before his death in Egypt. Judah is here anointed as the leader of all the other tribes. All of them had months before, on their first journey from famine-ridden Palestine to Egypt, bowed down to their brother Joseph. But Jacob prophecies that in the future, his brothers will bow down to Judah, symbolically standing in for his descendant, King David. Moreover, there is in this passage a hazy prediction of yet another descendant of Judah, one who will receive the obedience and achieve the salvation of all peoples over the wide earth. Christians have for two thousand years seen that kingship and conquest to belong to the Risen Jesus. And to Him we must all pledge obedience and honor, and trust in Him for our salvation.

Matthew shows how this happened for us. God certainly writes strait with crooked lines. Here in the Gospel is all of salvation history from Abraham through David to Jesus through his earthly father, Joseph. Look at all the sinners in the line. Abraham himself was a liar; Jacob a cheat. Even the “ideal king,” David, was an adulterer and a murderer, and for a long time an outlaw bandit. Among his descendants there were only two or three worth the ink to write their names. Manasseh is known in Jewish history as the one who ordered the prophet Isaiah stuffed into a tree and sawed in half. The Son of God worked a wonder of salvation through them, despite their hard hearts, and can do so through sinners like you and me in our day, if we simply follow Him and trust in His grace and guidance.