THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT – B
Filed under: Messages |
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
We are not the first generation to forget who is in charge. In the first reading today, it isn’t exactly that David forgot the omnipotence of God. But he was giving himself a great deal of credit for all that had happened as he looked about him and saw the splendor of his palace. Amazing what he had accomplished. Was it after a pre-prandial drink as he gazed into the fireplace that it dawned on David that while he lived in cedar-walled magnificence God dwelled in a tent? How unseemly must that have seemed to God’s anointed one. What will the foreign tribes think? Hence his declaration to the prophet Nathan that he would build God a proper dwelling and put an end to this embarrassment. At first, the idea sounded good to Nathan who encouraged David in his plan. But then God reminded Nathan who was the builder. Remember the wonderful hymn? Abba, Abba Father, you are the potter, we are the clay. God chose the people of Israel. God selected the unseemly David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, to be king. David may have been the commander of the armies but God was the real warrior who mowed down the enemies and established David where he was then.
Comes the promise. God will see to the spread of David’s reputation and allow the Israelites to live in peace. Wonder of wonders, God will build a house for David that will come to be after David has gone to rest with his ancestors. That house will be a people. From among David’s descendents God will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me. And God puts perpetuity into this. The kingdom will endure. The throne shall stand firm forever.
We are four days away from Christmas and the celebration of the birth of the fulfillment of the promise that has to do with presence. Our Jewish brothers and sisters are recipients of the promise as God chooses to dwell among the chosen people. I will be your God. You will be my people. Christians celebrate the fulfillment of the promise in the Word becoming Flesh, i.e., God’s taking on human flesh in the birth of Jesus. One flows from the other. One does not end as the other begins.
We are reminded of the continuance during most Liturgical celebrations. Most Sundays, there are exceptions, the first reading is from the Hebrew Scriptures. Today is a case in point. And in the second reading today from Paul’s Letter to the Church at Rome, Paul reminds us that the mystery we will celebrate on Christmas Day is the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the mystery begun eons ago, kept secret for long ages, manifested through the writings of the prophets. In the birth of Christ, we see the realization of God’s will and the birth of the possibility that all nations, that is, even Gentiles will come to faith in the only wise God, through Jesus Christ. God is glorified forever through Jesus Christ and those believers in Christ.
Our God is an awesome God, the hymn sings. When the gospel is proclaimed on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we hear that the fulfillment of God’s plan depended on the cooperation of a young woman. In order for the Word to become flesh, Mary has to say: Let it be. She is engaged to marry Joseph, of the house of David. Hear that God sent the angel Gabriel to do God’s bidding. There are those who say that everything we believe about Mary, the total reason for her veneration, is contained in Gabriel’s salutation. Hail, full of grace. Full of grace. Highly favored of God. Nothing of sin in her. Yes, her perpetual posture before God.
Gabriel spells out the God’s proposal. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. We’re used to hearing the message. We imagine the scene clearly in our minds because we have seen so many paintings recreating the moment. And notice how serene it always is. I wonder. The young girl is at most 13 years old. She thinks her life will imitate the countless generations of women who have gone before her. She’ll be a wife and a mother and will be faithful to God’s call. But this? Far from serene, what the gospel proclaims is the total upending of this girl’s world. Surely a wind blew through similar to the one of Pentecost. Don’t you think? Why else would her first word be, How? After all, while we are used to the scene and it’s outcome, what we are witnessing is something completely new. The like hasn’t happened before. How?
The Wind. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The conception will begin with the outpouring of the Spirit. And the Spirit will be with the son the woman will name Jesus from his first moment as a conceptus and every day of his life. Is this God’s will, she wants to know. She needs a sign. That sign will convince her that nothing is impossible with God. Even one thought to be barren is also pregnant. Amazing grace. Let it be, she says. And it begins.
Do we get the magnitude of his moment? Do we understand what God has begun. Remember God’s promise to David to be the house-builder? One of Mary’s titles is Ark of the Covenant. She is the promised house, if you will. And in perpetuity she will bring forth Christ, presenting Christ to the world in every age. In being the mother of Christ, she is also the Mother of the Church, the perfect replica of the Church, the sign of everything the Church is to do and to be.
Follow me. The Church is born when the Spirit is poured out on her. The Church is the People of God, each one born to it when the Spirit rushes on in Baptism. And so, individually and collectively, everything we say about the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word’s taking on of flesh, applies. As a baptized person, Christ dwells in your heart. And where Christ is so too are the other two persons of the Trinity. You are God’s house. Of course, as did Mary, you have to say, Let it be. That union with Christ is not for you alone. No graced gift is for the recipient alone. You are called by name and asked to serve. Your roll is to do what the Church must do, and what Mary does, constantly bring forth Christ. How? By doing what Christ does. Adopt Christ’s will that is always to do the will of the Father. That will? Be such palpable lovers of the unlovable, that God is the only possible explanation for how you live and what you do.
On this last Sunday of Advent see why the Eucharist must be at the center of your life. There is a word that explains the mystery of Eucharist. That word is Epiclesis. The word means the outpouring of the Spirit effecting the change in the elements prepared and placed on the table as they become the sacramental presence of Christ. Epiclesis happens also to those gathered around the table effecting their change into the Body of Christ. The Spirit’s work is ongoing. So, must be your cooperation. All that remains is the sending. And God in Christ will continue to work through you until all are drawn into Mystery.
Now, I think you are ready to celebrate Christmas. My sisters and brothers in Christ, let the celebration begin!
Sincerely, Didymus
