December 24, 2023（Fourth Sunday in Advent ）

Father Ken’s Message:

Good afternoon, everyone and happy Christmas Eve. Welcome to the Cathedral of Sapporo! So, what kind of present are you expecting for Christmas? When I was a little boy (you can see my child picture on the front page) every Advent my Mom and Dad who take us 7 kids to one of the big Department Stores to visit Santa Claus in order to tell him our wish list for Christmas. I really liked trains so I always asked for new models of electric trains. How about you guys? What would be the thing you most want in all the world? Some perfume? Jewelry? Bicycle? Game? Or, something more spiritual like a healing for yourself or for your family or friend? This is the topic of the readings from the Bible for today’s Christmas Eve Mass.

The thing the Jews most wanted was a King, a messiah who would lead them to a life of love and peace. There were three Kings in the history of Israel. Today is a good day to review the history of the kings of Israel history. The first was King Saul (1050-930 B.C.) who God chose and the prophet Samuel (1070-1012 B.C.) anointed him King with oil, but he disobeyed God’s will three times so God requested Samuel to find a new King. The next King was the young man David (1035-970 B.C.), who was also anointed King by the prophet Samuel. He was a son of Jesse from Bethlehem and a shepherd. He was deeply in love with God and wrote him songs which are called the Psalms. David was courageous and knocked down the giant Goliath with just a few pebbles and his sling-shot. David was King for 40 years then gave control of Israel to his son Solomon (1010-931). Solomon as you know built the first Temple to worship God and as a shrine for the Ark of the Covenant which had been passed down from Moses. David his father had wanted to build a Temple of God, but his advisor Nathan as explained in the First Reading claimed that God did not want to a house of stone, but a real person to house his presence. This of course is an early prophecy about Jesus. The period of the Kings in the history of Israel lasted for about 500 years but after the death of Solomon the citizens were unsatisfied with the quality of their lives. They claimed King Solomon had used all the money of the country to build the Temple in Jerusalem leaving the country impoverished. Israel split into 2 new Kingdoms of the North called “Israel” made up of 10 tribes, and a Kingdom of the south was called “Judea,” made up of 2 tribes of ancient Israel. The golden days of Israel.

Eventually, the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians (modern day Iraq) in 732 B.C, with its ten tribes exiled. The southern Kingdom of Judea was destroyed in 597 B.C and the citizens brought to Babylon to be slaves for King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.). But, in 538 B.C. a coup by a kind King Cyrus (590-529 B.C.) released the Jews from slavery and sent them back to their home country, and helped them to rebuild Jerusalem and the Second Temple, which existed at the time of Jesus’ life. Because Cyrus was so kind to the Jewish people many thought he was the messiah. Even the prophet Isaiah in chapter 45 verse 1 refers to King Cyrus as the “messiah.” Unfortunately, their freedom was brief. In 330 B.C. Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) invaded Israel and converted the culture and language to everything Greek. Even the Bible was translated into Greek and was the version read at the time of Jesus (3 B.C. – 30 A.D.). The Romans conquered the Jewish Kingdom in 63 B.C. creating the sequence of events leading up to the birth of Jesus, including importing King Herod to be the new King of Israel from neighboring Jordan who played an instrumental role in the beginning of Jesus’ life story.

Jesus’ mother Mary changed this dark world history of international violence, hate and selfishness into a world of light, joy, hope, love and peace. Mary is the first disciple of Jesus. Mary by her consent to be the mother of Jesus in the Gospel this morning, she became the first tabernacle with the body of Jesus. Therefore, Mary is the first Church. King David and King Solomon wanted to build a big and strong stone temple to show where God is but the story of Jesus shows us that God does not want to be confined inside a building. God likes to keep moving and wants us to move with him. This is the beautiful story of Christmas; everybody is moving! Joseph and Mary moved from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. One kind Innkeeper was emotionally moved by the plea of Joseph to find a place for his wife Mary to deliver the baby Jesus that he gave them space in his manger. The shepherds moved from their fields and flocks of sheep to visit the manger. The angels moved from heaven to inform the shepherds of where to find the newborn King Jesus. The wise men moved from countries in the East to visit the new King Jesus. And all of us have moved this morning from the comfort of our warm homes and hotel rooms on this cold Hokkaido morning to come to the manger here at the Catholic Cathedral of Sapporo to await the arrival of our little King Jesus Christ. He is the present we all

What we learn from the First Reading and the Gospel on this Christmas Eve is that it is not our job to try to control God. God can control himself. We are part of God’s team. King David and King Solomon tried to control God’s presence by putting him into a Temple. Mary had expected herself to become a carpenter’s wife in the typical manner, but God had different plans for her. The words of Gabriel to Mary were not a command. She had the freedom to choose and could have said no. But Mary said “yes.” And with that “yes,” she was changed, and so were we. From then and forever, a new openness to God, a new movement of God’s power, was to be a part of our human experience. That may be for us, as it was for Mary, a troubling thing from time to time. The answer that Gabriel will give us when we express our fears and doubts, will be the same answer he gave to Mary, “Do not worry. Simply do as God has asked you to do. God will take care of the rest.” Our Advent should end today repeating the same words that Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your will.” Mary’s heart is unselfish. When Gabriel told her the news, she did not ask him, “why me,” but “how can this happen?” For most of us, it is so often easy to get stuck in the “why” about life. “Why this?” “Why now?” “Why me?” I think God loves the “how” questions. If we read the Bible looking at the lives of the famous characters in it, we see the ones who asked this question “how” also received the instructions what to do to accomplish the work at hand. I am talking about Noah, Abraham, Joseph of Egypt, Moses, Joseph the husband of Mary, the disciples of Jesus, etc.

So, my brothers and sisters of Jesus, let us on this Christmas Eve not be conquered by fear or control by other people. Let us turn our difficult situations of darkness into situations of hope by asking our Father in heaven “how” each of us can be a light in the darkness to help guide others like beautiful Mary. Thank you, very much and Merry Christmas.