Expect the unexpected: Homily for Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Do we expect the unexpected? Do we expect to encounter God? Do we expect to have an experience of Jesus? Do we expect that the Spirit will become real in our own experience, in our own life?

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In the gospel Zechariah has an unexpected encounter with the angel Gabriel. The first reading describes the unexpected encounter of Samson’s mother with an angel.

Expect the unexpected

Do we expect to encounter God? Do we expect to have an experience of Jesus? Do we expect that the Spirit will become real in our own experience, in our own life?

I suspect that, at least for many of us, it is not a regular occurrence that we are going to have some kind of miraculous encounter with the divine. Even Zechariah, who we hear had been observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly, who was righteous before God, even Zechariah is caught off guard. And he is a person of his own faith, because like Mary, who was afraid when the angel comes, so too is Zechariah.

Now why? Because to see God meant you died. No one sees the face of God and lives. That is the core of this belief. And he really struggles. He doesn’t immediately say, oh, that’s so clear. Thank you very much. I’m so glad that you’ve come to see me. Isn’t this wonderful?

He doubts. How can this be? I’m old. My wife is old. We haven’t had any children at this point, and we’re not of the age of childbearing. How can this be?

Now what’s interesting is that both the Gospel we hear in the first reading are against the backdrop of what was known as the Nazarite Vowel. The Nazarite Vowel was a vow that was taken sometimes for a period of time, sometimes for a lifetime.

But what the Nazarite Vowel meant was that you didn’t take strong drink and you didn’t shave your head. It was a sign of deeper dedication to God. It was an outward sign of deeper dedication to God. In fact, the word Nazareth comes from this notion of a Nazarite Vowel.

In the first reading, this vow comes through to Samson. And we know the story. He’s got long hair and amazing strength until he doesn’t. John the Baptist, very similar, not surprising. He looked a little bit crazy. But what was the purpose? To remember that the power to do what we needed to do comes from God.

When Samson remembered this, he was strong and could do many things. When he didn’t think it was a big deal, he couldn’t. John the Baptist is able to do amazing things because he trusts in God right to the end, really. In this kind of miraculous, divine, tremendous moment that are these days before Christmas, do we anticipate something really spiritually deep? Do we anticipate that the Lord Jesus will come into our hearts in a special way for this Christmas?

unexpected — Photo by Dhemer Gonçalves on Pexels.com

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