2 Samuel 7:1-11,16
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Rom 16:25-27
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Luke 1:26-38
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In the
first reading (2 Sam 7), David the great, great grandfather of Jesus, after he
had fought and consolidated power in Jerusalem, had wanted to build a house for
the Lord, where he could place the Ark of the Covenant, a physical divine
presence in the community. David went to bed. But that night, as God would do His
things mysteriously, he reverses David’s plan through Nathan, the prophet. God
would rather build a house for David. He promised David, an everlasting
dynasty. Note, an everlasting dynasty here, is much more than a physical house.
It
is an everlasting promise of love, kindness, peace, joy, goodness, good-health
of mind and body, faithfulness, acknowledged in the responsorial psalm of
today; “forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord… the promise of the
lord I will sing forever”!
In
the 2nd reading, Romans 16, Saint Paul testifies to the
fulfillment of this promise in the person of Christ, whose Gospel he
preaches. Paul says, “to him who can strengthen you, according to my
gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery kept secret for long ages, but now manifested through the prophetic writings, and according to the command of eternal God..” (Rom 16:25-27).
the mystery kept secret for long ages, but now manifested through the prophetic writings, and according to the command of eternal God..” (Rom 16:25-27).
The
Gospel makes it clearer that those promises made us in the beginning through
David would be fulfilled, through Mary! A young Jewish woman,
betrothed to Joseph, still a virgin, is miraculously visited by the Angel
Gabriel, who promised her a child: “behold you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus” Mary said how can this be since I am
still a virgin? The Angel explains to her that “God is in control,” the story
we are familiar with. At the end of her encounter with the
Angel, Mary humbly surrenders herself to the divine providence,
saying, “I am the Handmaid of the Lord (your servant) be it done to me
according to your word.”
Sometimes we think that the
difference between Mary and us is that she was chosen while we are not. But
that is not true. The difference is that
she fully responded to be chosen for her role while we remain hesitant and half
hearted about responding to what God asks of us. God has chosen all of us. This great truth was expressed by St. Paul when he wrote: “God chose us, chose us
in Christ, to be holy and spotless and to live through love in his presence”
(Eph.1).
When Mary was called she
believed but when we are called we cling to our reason and refuse to take the
risk involved in faith. The story is
told of a man who was dangerously hanging unto a single branch on the top of a
tree from where he could not climb down.
He cried out to God. “Oh God save
me; you know I believe in you. All that
I ask of you is to save me and I shall proclaim your name to the ends of the
earth.” Very well, said the voice of
God, I shall save you. Let go of that
branch. The man yelled out, “let go of
this branch?” Do you think I am crazy?
That is how most of us adamantly cling to our reason even if God
calls. We have a lot to learn from the
response of Mary.
In the Angel’s word to Mary we
hear that the holy offspring to be born will be called Son of God because “the
power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
The word “overshadow” is an important word in this sentence. It is a word, which is rarely used in the
Bible. In fact, we find it in only one
place in the Bible: in the Book of Exodus.
There, it describes the mysterious cloud that “overshadowed” or covered
the tent in which Israel kept the Ark of the Covenant. Exodus 40.34 says that as soon as the cloud
overshadowed the tent, “the Lord’s presence filled it.”
It is this rare word that Luke
chooses in the Gospel passage proposed for our meditation this Sunday. In choosing it, he compares Mary’s body to
the tent in which the ark was kept. He
compares Mary’s womb, in which Jesus is to be housed, to the ark in which the
tablets of the Ten Commandments were housed.
Therefore, when God’s power overshadowed Mary, the “Lord’s presence
filled her.” The Lord’s presence in Mary is the flesh-and-blood presence of
Jesus.
When we look at the sentence
following the angel’s reference to God’s power overshadowing Mary, it says
“Know that Elizabeth, your kinswoman, has conceived a son in her old age; she
who was thought to be sterile is now in her sixth month, for nothing is
impossible with God.” The important
words in this sentence are the words “nothing is impossible with God.” How beautifully today’s Gospel illustrates
this “nothing is impossible with God.”
Before God overshadowed Mary, the world had no hope. Sin and violence were everywhere. Before God’s power overshadowed Mary, she had
no hope of bearing a child. She was a
virgin. Before God’s power overshadowed
Elizabeth, she too had no hope of giving birth. She was old and sterile. And finally, before god’s power overshadowed
Mary, the human race and no hope of salvation.
It was held in slavery by Satan. The poser of God overshadowed Mary and
changed all that.
What does this mean to us
today? It means that our world may be
messed up, our family may be messed up, our own lives may be messed up but
there is hope, because God’s power, in the person of Jesus, has entered our
world.
Granted
that the spirit of Advent reminds us of the need to be close to Mary during
this time when she is carrying her child, Jesus; Mary, like David is a good example
to us in many ways; especially to us today, who have heard this story over and
over again. She is an example of an ideal disciple. We can think of
our Christian life as a longer Advent. Mary is a disciple, willing to love,
willing to forgive, willing to serve. She is a gift to us. She becomes
that simple vehicle through which historic royal theology and God’s mysteries
and promises are fulfilled in Christ, come Christmas.
She
listens and accepts the message of the Angel Gabriel sent by God. She dialogues
freely with Gabriel. She is not violent. She is not argumentative, but ponders.
She is reflective. She is not arrogant. She does not claim to know more than
God and the Angel. She is opened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, over the
mysteries of the one who will rule over the house of David. Even though David
had plans to build a house for the Lord, eventually built by his son, Solomon,
David lived through the mysteries of God communicated to him through Nathan!
David,
and especially Mary, I believe are great examples of how we can, in our
different life-situations, respond to God’s mysteries and divine command.
David was attentive to Prophet Nathan. He gave up his plan of building a
physical house. Mary on the other hand responded with complete humility, trust
and faith in whatever God had in stock for her. How we respond to Scriptures,
what the Church teaches, our parents, teachers and God-fearing leaders, counts.
Our
Christian life, sometimes could be seen as a longer Advent, hoping and trusting,
all the way, in the promises made to us by the Lord. Even
though we may have our own plans, Advent, particularly the Bible Lessons
of today allow us to follow God's final plan. Therefore, as Christmas
approaches, we are invited to imitate Mary’s gifts, and renew our trust in the
Lord. We are invited to contemplate the virtues of Mary, her dialogue and reactions
to Angel Gabriel. We are encouraged to make our homes,
churches, dioceses, schools, seminaries, religious communities,
offices, places of work “Schools of Mary” and “Colleges of Virtues”, where
we sing God’s promises, and trust at all times in the love,
joy, security, and peace which the Lord had promised us,
in the beginning, since the time of David.
As we wait for the coming of our Saviour into our
hearts in few days, it will be very appropriate for us to put into focus all
that we have been told in the preceding Sundays of Advent bothering on
preparation, active and joyful waiting and creating room for him in our hearts.
The message of advent among other things is challenging us to respond to God’s
selection of your heart and mine as the birthplaces of our Saviour. David
responded with a yes by kneeling before Samuel to be anointed. Mary responded
with a very resounding “let it be done to me as you have said”. What would be
your own response?
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