O Come, Emmanuel!
This Sunday’s title is Emmanuel, and so we add our voices to generations of God’s people who cry out, “O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear.” Through the generations, as people waited for the Messiah, they hoped for a sign from God. The prophet Isaiah offers this sign: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and name him Immanuel” (7:14). After the angel Gabriel visits Mary to announce the birth of Jesus, she sings The Magnificat, pointing to God’s promise of a baby’s birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5). For Christians, Jesus is this long-awaited Emmanuel born to “rule in Israel.” His incarnation is a visible sign that God is indeed with us. This Advent season, we live in the promise of the song’s refrain: “Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel,” knowing that Emmanuel shall come – has come – to us too.
The Great Antiphons are ancient advent prayers that we know today as the verses to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. Using the many titles for Jesus prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures, the antiphons count down to the incarnation of Christ at Christmas and help us understand what the birth of this child truly means.