Today is Dec. 20, Friday of the Third Week of Advent.
We read in Scripture at today’s Mass, “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 Bethlehem, the promise of Emmanuel — which means “God with us” — was fulfilled in the most unexpected and profound way. The eternal Word of God became flesh, entering our world. But this act of God was not just a gesture of nearness; it was a declaration of war against sin and death. In taking on human nature, God transformed what had been a weapon of the enemy into the very means of our salvation.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem explains this mystery beautifully in his “Catechetical Lectures.” He writes: “The Devil had used the flesh as an instrument against us; and Paul, knowing this, says, ‘But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity’ (Rom 7:23). By the very same weapons, therefore, wherewith the Devil used to vanquish us, have we been saved. The Lord took on Him from us our likeness, that He might save man’s nature: He took our likeness, that He might give greater grace to that which lacked; that sinful humanity might become partaker of God.”
Jesus ‘saves us from within’
Bethlehem is where this extraordinary exchange began. God became man so that man might become like God. Jesus took on our fragile human nature — the very nature that had fallen into sin — so that He might redeem and elevate it. By becoming one of us, He entered into the very battle waged within our flesh, not to condemn us, but to save us from within.
The name Emmanuel, “God is with us,” underscores this reality. In Bethlehem, God did not remain distant or aloof; He came into the very heart of human frailty, embracing it fully in order to transform it. The eternal king was born as a helpless child, placed in a manger, and surrounded by the simplicity of shepherds and the humility of a forgotten town. It is here, in the midst of poverty and smallness, that God chose to reveal His glory and nearness to His people.
Bethlehem teaches us that God does not run from our brokenness. On the contrary, He enters into it to bring healing through His grace. As St. Cyril reminds us, the very flesh that was once a tool of sin became the means by which God saved us, making us partakers of His divine life.
Let us pray,
O God, eternal majesty, whose ineffable Word the immaculate Virgin received through the message of an angel and so became the dwelling-place of divinity, filled with the light of the Holy Spirit, grant, we pray, that by her example we may in humility hold fast to your will. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
