Skip to main content

4th Sunday of Advent

This 4th Sunday of Advent we focus on the Incarnation… God made manifest through the birth of Jesus.  Nothing captures this moment better than our Gospel, but as we will see, our other readings would suggest that this meeting between God and his people has been coming for some time…


2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27-29
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

To better understand our readings for this week, I think we should first look at our Gospel.  In a story that is unique to Luke’s Gospel, we here the of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary to announce God’s plan for the birth of his Son.  It’s not hard for us to imagine Mary’s amazement in this moment.  Not only is this humble girl from Nazareth (already likely anxious over her betrothal to Joseph) being approached by an angel, a messenger for the Lord, but the angel’s message is almost unbelievable:  God has chosen her to bear his Son.  Mary isn’t naive, however, and challenges Gabriel about this plan, but after some further explanation Mary agrees and says “yes.” (“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”).  Every Christian is familiar with this story, but I often wonder if our familiarity with it drowns out the shear amazement of the moment.  Not only has God concocted this incredible plan for reconciling with his creation, but the whole scheme depends on whether this young unwed peasant girl from Nazareth is willing to go along with it.  The miracle is two-fold… First,. God’s plan, and second, Mary’s “yes” to this plan.

As for the first part, God’s plan, we see this has been in the works for some time.  This is evident in our first reading from the 2nd book of Samuel.  David, God’s chosen, is now king of Israel… settled into his new palace.  But David is troubled… he now has his palace, but what of God?  Should the arc still be in a tent?  David wants to build a palace (temple) for God, but God wants David to dismiss this idea.  Instead God has Nathan remind David about the greater mission… where they’ve been, and where they are going, and the goal to establish a house, a son and a kingdom dedicated to the Lord.  This was the promise God made, and though it took some time, it’s the promise he fulfilled in our Gospel.  Our Psalm echoes that covenant as we sing, “Fer ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”  We offer the Lord our praise, while he offers us his protection.

Our second reading comes from the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Romans.  In this short passage we hear echoes of our Psalm… that it is through Christ we find strength, and from that grace we continue to bring the nations to give praise to God.

This then has us circling back to our Gospel from Luke.  As we can see now, this miracle of the Annunciation is part of a plan that’s been a long time coming.  God wanted David to establish a kingdom that would draw all nations to the Lord.  But over the generations David’s successors lost their way, so God must step in once again, and through Mary delivers us the King of Kings, his son, Jesus.

Final Thoughts:
These readings from Samuel and Paul lead us to think of kings and thrones and majesty, which are all valid images for Christ.  But let us not forget that like David himself, Jesus was born of humble, ordinary means… just like David… just like us.  That is the miracle of Christmas.  If a shepherd like David, or a carpenter’s son like Jesus can bring entire nations to the Lord, so can we.  Not through battles or revolutions, but by loving God and sharing that love with our neighbors.  Merry Christmas indeed!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle A

For anyone who is a parent, or anyone who’s had to mediate a dispute among children, you likely have confronted the phrase “But that’s not fair!”  How many times in your life have you uttered that phrase?  Even as adults we have a tendency to equate “justice” with “fairness.”  But here’s the thing – what is “just” may not always be “fair,” and what is “fair” to one person may not always be “fair” to the other.  Our readings this week deal with just that problem, the difference between what we think is fair and what God thinks is both fair and just. The Word for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time Isaiah 55:6-9 Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18 Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a Matthew 20-1-16a We open with a reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah, in this case from the closing chapter of Deutero or “second” Isaiah.  This comes from a point in Israelite history where the people have been released from their Exile in Babylon.  The Lord has shown them great mercy and forgiveness by freeing them from th

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Our readings this week focus on a core theme that runs through Jesus’ ministry – repentance.  There is no sin so grave that cannot be forgiven with true contrition and a return to God.  This was the message that John the Baptist proclaimed, and the message Jesus continued to proclaim as he took up his own ministry.  This theme not only runs through the gospels but is one of the major themes that binds the entire Bible into a cohesive volume.   The Word for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20 Our first reading comes from the book of Jonah.  The story of Jonah is well known in both Jewish and Christian circles, yet for all its popularity, we only hear it in the Sunday Liturgy this once.  For this reason, many Catholics only have a passing familiarity with Jonah’s story.  They know his name and that he was swallowed by a large fish (or whale), but that’s about it.  In our passage this week, God asks Jonah to go through

33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Cycle A

God the Father has endowed us with many gifts.  Not only does scripture recommend that we give thanks for these gifts (as in our readings from Proverbs and Psalms), but it recommends that these gifts must be put to use for the greater good and the love of God. The Word for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 Matthew 25:14-30 or 25:14-15, 19-21 We open with a reading from the book of Proverbs.  This book falls within the category of “wisdom literature” in the Bible.  Like its other wisdom book counterparts, it is a collection of wise sayings used as a type of “catechism” to teach right living in the eyes of God.  Proverbs is thought to originate during the period of the Israelite monarchy but doesn’t reach its final form until the post-exilic period.  Our passage for this coming Sunday gives us the example of the value of a “worthy wife,” and how we should honor that value.  “Wisdom” in this period is considered mo