That We Might Choose Life (Advent IV)

This week there is a totally different tone to Advent for most of us.

Last Sunday we celebrated Gaudete and our liturgy focused on the joy that the fulfilment of God's promise in the incarnation of Jesus brings us. In my own parish Church on Sunday morning this joy was incarnate in the form of a toddler, arrayed in Gaudete pink, climbing the steps of the sanctuary and dancing throughout the sacred silence after communion.

In that same spirit of joy the Jewish community gathered together to celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah - the festival of light. A festival that was once described to me by a Jewish friend as one of the light striving to drive darkness form the world. Of the embodiment of the words of Deuteronomy that

“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live."

And then the events of Bondi unfolded.

And amidst the outpouring of grief, for the victims (may their memory be a blessing), for their families, and for ourselves as a nation that does not see Australia as a place where this happens, came the first mutterings of outrage and blame.

In the Gospel this Sunday we encounter Joseph, the good man with every reason to be outraged. The woman to whom he is betrothed, to whom he has already made a public commitment, is found to be with child. This is an affront to his honour, and the custom of his time allows for it to be repaid with blood. But Joseph doesn't choose vengeance, or public outrage. He chooses life - for Mary and for her child.

And it is when he in this place of compassion that God is able to reach him. To quiet his fears. And bring him peace.

The way the opening lines of this story are structured, Joseph is placed as a supporting character - they begin with Jesus the Christ, then with his mother, and only then does it name Joseph. But as the story unfolds, we see that Joseph's decision to choose life is just as consequential as Mary's.

As we hear the Gospel proclaimed this Sunday, and as our Jewish sisters and brothers light the eighth and final candle of Hanukkah, may we be inspired to choose life and not vengeance as Joseph did. And may this fragile but persistent light continue to drive darkness from the world, one heart at a time.

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