4th Sunday of Advent (Cycle B)

2Sam 7:1-5,8-12,14,16                  Rom 16:25-27                  Lk 1:26-38

The legend of the exquisitely beautiful girl Shakuntala and the mighty king Dushyant is a thrilling love story from the epic Mahabharata, which the great ancient poet Kalidasa retold in his immortal play ‘Abhijnanashakuntalam’.

While on a hunting trip, King Dushyant of the Puru dynasty meets the hermit-girl Shakuntala. They fall in love with each other at first sight and, in the absence of her father, Shakuntala weds the king in a ceremony of ‘Ghandharva’ - a form of marriage by mutual consent with mother Nature as the witness. When the time comes for Dushyant to return to his palace, he promises to send an envoy to escort her to his castle. As a fond remembrance he gives her a signet ring. One day when hermit Durvasa stops at her hut for hospitality, Shakuntala, lost in her love thoughts, fails to hear his calls. The angry sage turns back and curses her: “He whose thoughts have engrossed you, would not remember you anymore.” On the plea of her companions, the enraged sage relents and adds a condition to his curse-statement: “He can only recall you upon producing some significant souvenir.” Days roll by and nobody from the palace comes to fetch her. Her father sends her to the royal court for their reunion, as she was pregnant with Dushyant’s child. While travelling, Shakuntala’s signet-ring accidentally drops into the river and gets lost. When Shakuntala presents herself before the king, Dushyant, under the spell of the curse, fails to acknowledge her as his wife. Heart-broken, she pleads to the gods for help. Meanwhile, a fisherman finds the signet ring in the stomach of a fish and hands it over to king Dushyant. On seeing it, the king recollects the past and suffers from an intense feeling of guilt and injustice. Then, Shakuntala forgives Dushyant and they are reunited happily. She gives birth to a male child. He is called Bharat, after whom India gets her name.

This legendary story tells us how a promise was made, forgotten and then, fulfilled. But today’s story from the gospel tells us how a promise was never forgotten, unfailed, unbroken and fulfilled.

Today’s gospel is a passage we have heard on different occasions and feasts, like the feast of the annunciation of the Lord and on various Marian feasts throughout the annual liturgical period. But, in the context of advent season, this conveys to us that God has been faithful, is faithful and will be faithful to the promises He has made. The announcement about the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary is a sign of God unfailing to keep His promises. God promised a Messiah and a Saviour to the Israelites and the humankind at large, to liberate them eternally from the clutches which manifested in various forms. The long awaited coming of the Messiah was ensured during the moment of annunciation.

This element of God fulfilling His promises and never failing on that is a great lesson for us today, because as humans, we face the challenge of how hard we struggle to fulfill the promises we have made. Quickly our promises are relaxed due to its incompatibility with our struggles of life. Even otherwise, when we face with a profit or benefit to our end, we are prone to give up the promises we make to others. The priority of our promise shifts pushing the self-benefit to the first position. Such an unpromising behaviour is unjust. A promise is always a promise. A vow is always a vow and cannot be revoked. The integrity of a person is revealed through the promise one makes and fulfills it.

We are not without the practice of promises in our human life. Trust is built on a person, when that person shows himself or herself to be promising in character. Our blessed mother, Mary whom we encounter in today’s gospel proved her to be promising throughout her life, without ever going back on her promise. From the human community, she stands as the epitome of a promising character. From the divine side, God projects Himself to be of promising nature. We see an exchange of promise between God and Mary.

There are different areas of life, in which people make their promises. During the sacrament of matrimony, the couples exchange their promise of fidelity and love to each other. In the life of priestly and religious vocation, the concerned candidate gives the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. In the contract between two parties, they sign the agreement. In receiving loans, we sign the surety paper. Life is filled with promises but only a few are fulfilled.

Broken promises are always a source of mental agony and suffering. We know the pain when one of the spouse betrays the partner in a marital relationship. That is the most agonizing pain a person could encounter in a human life than the pain a chronic physical ailment could offer. That is the effect of a broken promise.

When looked at from the perspective of promises, the salvation history is nothing but another version of God’s unfailed promises interwoven with Israelites’ broken promises. The life of Israelites is a recurring story of broken promises at different times, but still God had sustained to be faithful to His promises. It is ironical to note that a single promise of God continued to be alive amidst an atmosphere of human dead promises. The embodiment of God in the human form of Jesus Christ became the pinnacle of God’s promise actualized. The embodiment of God is celebrated as Christmas.

Even now, if we fail to fulfill the promises we make to God or to others in the name of God, He continues to be faithful to his promises He gave to us. We read in Mt 20:28, the last promise made by Jesus before he ascended into heaven, which is, also the last verse in the Gospel of St Matthew: Look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. Here, we note that ‘Emmanuel’ which means ‘God is with us’ (Mt 1:23) closed his earth’s journey with a similar note. To consider this promise of Jesus as fulfilling or as failed is a matter of our faith.

The parable of the two sons (Mt 21:28-32) said by Jesus exposes the second son to be failing on his promise. While the first son, who refuses to his father’s instruction, later changes his mind and does what his father wants, the second son, who says, “I go,” makes a promise that he never fulfills—and possibly never intends to fulfill. His word contradicts his performance. To his father, he conceals his determination to disobey. The warning to us is not to be a son who promises to work, then neglects to keep his word. God has called us, and we have accepted that calling, during the renewal of our baptismal commitment on every Easter vigil service, promising we would do what God expects. Now we must perform what we have promised.

Only a person, promising in small things would be entrusted with great things. Lord Jesus said: “Anyone who is trustworthy in little things is trustworthy in great” (Lk 16:10). Let us introspect, whether we are promising in little things. If yes, there are greater responsibilities awaiting us!