Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: 21 December 2025

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Fourth Sunday in Advent

This Sunday we come to the turning point of our year when the shortest day lifts its head to face the mid-winter darkness down, and we count the days to longer light and the coming of hope in the new life that will appear. The readings of this last Advent Sunday echo that yearning. Isaiah tells us of God's gift to the despondent King Ahaz, that Ephraim and Syria will not destroy Jerusalem, and in promise of this he is given a sign :

'Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel".(Is 7:14)

In the gospel we see through the main story of Joseph how that ancient prophecy was interpreted by the gospel writer, Matthew, as a sign of hope and redemption for us all!

Dual fulfilment

There is a slight problem here because the initial prophecy given to King Ahaz concerns something immediate, the saving of Jerusalem in his time, 700 years before the birth of Jesus! The key lies in the use of Isaiah as a prophecy that has multiple fulfilment, one of the child named Emmanuel, 'God is with us' who does occur in Ahaz's time and is recorded in Isaiah 8. There we have the initial prophecy fulfilled, but with a warning, for though Jerusalem has been saved this time, a far worse event will take place when the Assyrians invade"The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah-the king of Assyria."(Is 7:17) It is a test King Ahaz will have to face, the fulfilment of one prophecy does not negate further issues that need to be dealt with.

Some of you may ask, what is dual fulfilment prophecy, does it occurs elsewhere in the Scriptures? The answer is yes, for there is the situation in the prophets own time and then a recognition of another future event to the oracle itself. The biblical scholar Craig Bloomberg points this out "Sound theology, undergirds the idea of such multiple fulfillments-belief that God rules all human history and can bring about both". We find it in the words of Jesus found in Luke 21:5-9, where scholars suggest Jesus predicts both the destruction of the temple in 70 CE and the end of the age, immediately prior to the parousia. I find this rather helpful to see the richness of the Scriptural accounts and perhaps the multiple ways in which the workings out of God's plan occur in different circumstances and times.

Of Joseph

Our gospel links us to that second fulfilment, the coming of Jesus as Emmanuel, God-is-with-us! Here the focus is on the dialogue of the Angel with Joseph in the context of a dream, an oracle of God in the depths of the darkness of sleep. But it is good to note the context for it takes away any overlay of saccharine sentimentality about the coming into earth of the Son of God. The circumstances of Mary's pregnancy trouble Joseph, as they should. But he is an honourable person, a point that many of us would do well to emulate, no finger of suspicion pointing here, nor emotional scenes, just a troubled man wondering what to do in a harsh religious and social environment about a woman he obviously respects and cares about. This little dialogue tells us much about the characters of Mary and Joseph, neither of them are children of the lie, but persons of truth. In the acceptance of this dream-oracle by the angel, Joseph plays his great part in the story of the Incarnation and birth of the Christ, for without him and his honourable action things could have been very different indeed-how humble the Holy One is, to entrust to us the presence of a fragile saviour, the child Emmanuel! . But Joseph acted in fulfilment of God's request, one good person in a very real sense enabled the story of salvation to unfold:

' When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home". (Mt 1:24) May we learn to find the voice of the angels in our dreams and act like Joseph!

Lectio

Two carols about St Joseph

The Cherry Tree Carol

Joseph was an old man, an old man was he,
When he married Virgin Mary, the Queen of Galilee.

As Mary and Joseph were walking one day
To an orchard of cherry trees they happened to stray.

Then Mary said to Joseph, so meek and so mild,
"Pick me some cherries, Joseph, for I am with child."

Then Joseph flew angry, so angry flew he,
"Let the father of your baby gather cherries for thee."

The up spoke Lord Jesus from in his mother's womb,
"Bow low down, cherry trees, bow down to the ground."

And the cherry trees bowed down, bowed low to the ground,
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood round.

Then Joseph he kneeled down and a question gave he,
"Come tell me, pretty baby, when your birthday shall be."

"On the fifth day of January my birthday shall be,
And the stars in the heaven shall all bow down to me."

Joseph Was A-Walking

As Joseph was a-walking he heard an Angel sing:
"This night there shall be born our gracious Heav'nly King;
He neither shall be born in housen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise, but in an ox's stall.

"He neither shall be clothed in purple nor in pall;
But all in fair white linen as wear sweet babies all.
He neither shall be rocked in silver nor in gold;
But in a wooden cradle that rocks upon the mould.

"He neither shall be christen'd in white wine nor in red;
But with the fair spring water with which we were christ'ned."
As Joseph was a-walking, thus did the Angel sing;
And Mary's Child at midnight was born to be our King.

The shepherds heard these tidings, rejoicing much in mind;
And went to Bethlem straightway, the Son of God to find.
Then, Christians, be ye merry, rejoice, give thanks, and sing;
For on this blessed morning is born our Heav'nly King.

A wish

May I wish all of you who read my reflections that the blessings of the great Nativity feasts may come upon you and all you love, that Emmanuel may truly be with you wherever you are.

May I also take this opportunity to wish Cardinal Vincent a peaceful but productive retirement, with grateful thanks for his ministry with and for us in Westminster, and to warmly welcome his successor, Archbishop elect Richard Moth. Ad multos annos!