The Time is Fulfilled

“And do this because you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11

Christmas is just about here. We have been waiting with eager anticipation. Time seems to have crawled while also seeming to fly by, thus pointing out one of the lessons of Advent – patience.

We often hear of Christ’s coming described as happening in the fullness of time or, in other words, when the time was fulfilled. The word “fulfil” is used often in the New Testament, especially in Matthew’s gospel. This is because Jesus came to fulfil the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. What was predicted in the Old is fulfilled in the New. In fact, in Mark’s gospel Jesus’s words echo this, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mk 1:14-15

And, relating to the Nativity and Jesus’s coming in general, St. Paul says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

We often have difficulty understanding this. Why does God wait so long? We tend to be impatient. “Oh God, give me the grace of patience, and I want it now!” Too often we think that God works the same way we do, one minute at a time. We don’t understand that God is outside of time. As Ecclesiastes notes, “God ... has appointed a time for every matter, for every work.” (Ecclesiastes 3:17) We often neglect this, wanting things to happen in our time.

“A person who believes in nothing beyond this world is very impatient, because he only has a limited time in which to satisfy his wants.” (Bishop Sheen, Way to Inner Peace) Patience is also a characteristic of humility. We recognize that there is a power greater than us. This doesn’t mean we just stand by and let things happen, but it means we know that without God, we can do nothing. Our job is to cooperate with His plan, be obedient to God’s laws.

But time is different where God is concerned. St. Peter, echoing Psalm 90 verse 4 tells us, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) We have to be constantly reminded of the words of Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Is 55:8-9) We cannot put ourselves in the place of God or His plan, although many try.

And when Gabriel announced to Zechariah that he will have a son (John the Baptist) the angel noted these things “will be fulfilled at their proper time.” (Luke 1: 20) One of our problems that we should realize as we bring Advent to a close is that we don’t really know what is the “proper time.” We think we do, and we have all of these elites in government, academia, and the media who think they know better than anyone, but the truth is, only God knows.

And this brings us back to the message of The Divine Mercy, “Jesus, I trust in You.” We have to trust in God and that He will do what’s best for us and when it is best for us. We heard of this trust during the Fourth Sunday of Advent, when Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit, declares Mary’s faith and trust in God: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And so we are called to follow Mary’s example of trust and faith.

God is fulfilling His plan according to His will. “... he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.” (Ephesians 1:9-10) Having reflected upon the recurring themes taught during Advent, in particular, repentance, redemption, humility, and joy, we should be prepared now to greet our Savior, come to earth in one of the most unlikely of places, a manger in a small town, there being no room at the inn. “Divinity is always where one least expects to find it.” (Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ) The beginning of Jesus’s time on earth reminds us of His later words, “the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” (Matthew 8:20)

Hopefully Advent has not tried our patience too much. Throughout we have been encouraged to repent, be humble, seek redemption, and to rejoice. Soon we will be able to shout with joy, especially with the words of the Christmas Carol, “Joy to the World,” which is a staple at Christmas masses around the world, and, according to Wikipedia, was, as of December 2009, “the most-published Christmas hymn in North America.”

And so, in just a few days, we will realize the words of St. John, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) “[T]o fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” (Matthew 22-23) As the angels declared when announcing His birth to the shepherds watching their flocks, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)

I wish you all a merry and love filled Christmas and a blessed and hope-filled New Year.