Fourth Sunday of Advent (2023-2024)

One of the most beautiful speeches i ever heard was given by Martin Luther King Jr. (1963) - I have a dream!

Do we know it?

On this Sunday, we could borrow this title, and say about God’s dream.

Yes, you heard me well, God’s greatest dream!

Does God have dreams?

I do not know it, but definitely He had a one dream to fulfill.

Today’s Gospel reveals it to us.

The moment when Mary was asked to bear God’s son.

And what is very touching that God was waiting on Mary’s yes.

Without her Yes, God’s dream of communion with us would not have come real.

Only because of her response Jesus was born, Son of God and son of Mary.

You know we have heard that story a few times already, and because of that it is so easy to still get it deeper meaning.

Many images or paintings of the angels shows them as cute and cuddly creatures, the baroque art presenting them as little children a little bit chubby.

Some known painting to us presenting the children being guided by an angel or holding their hands, so they do not fall off cliffs or tumble into rivers.

But our Gospel reading does not tell us about that cute and cuddly angel.

Look, after showing up, one the first things the angel says is, “Do not be afraid.”

Before that our story today, there is another one, when an angel appears to Zechariah in the Temple, and the story of Jesus’ birth, when an angel appears to the shepherd, prove the point.

So how they start out: “Do not be afraid.”

This story fits the pattern.

After the angel’s greeting, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you,” we are told that Mary was troubled, “greatly troubled.”

So the angel says, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

It is a nice follow up, but after a shocking appearance

The Angel got right to the point.

“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

There is a lovely painting Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting of the Annunciation, which you can find in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

A young Mary is sitting on a bed, and there is this light in front of her.

It must be right after the angel has said these words, and Mary is just sitting there, looking at the light with her mouth open, suprised.

In our language today we would say: “What! You are kidding me?”

We heard Mary responding to the Angel : “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”

The next part is the words of the excitement of the Angel, saying that the Child will be holy, will be the Son of God.

Which seems impossible, so then the Angel is adding the news about Elizabeth, a person who could not become a mom, yet she was already expecting.

“For nothing will be impossible for God.” and that Impossible becoming Possible - became also a sign for Mary.

That Gospel Reading today is one of the most important one we can read.

A young Mary, a nobody from a nowhere town, is needed to make God’s deepest dreams true

MARY said "yes" to God's dream.

But what would be God's dream for you?

What if God were to say today, "I have a dream!"? What do you think it would mean for you?

"Will you bear Jesus in your body and bring Him into the world?"

"Will you bring the kindness of God into the world?"

"Will you bring the peace of God into the world?"

"Will you bring the mercy of God into the world?"

"Will you do what I will?" Maybe this coming Christmas would be a great opportunity to give God our answer.