Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. In a few hours we will celebrate Christmas. For us, it has happened so quickly. However, the historical lead up to the birth of Christ took thousands of years. Our readings for today span about one thousand years of that history. We hear the story from the perspective of two very unlikely people, King David and the Virgin Mary. Although David was the King of Israel, he had humble beginnings. He was the youngest son of Jesse from Bethlehem – an obscure village. David was a shepherd, which was the lowliest job possible. Yet David became a great King and through the Prophet Nathan God promised David an eternal dynasty, that reached its’ pinnacle in the birth of Jesus. God promised David an heir, “I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever" (2 Samuel 7:13-16).
In today’s Gospel, Luke 1:26-38, we meet Mary the person who made Christmas possible. Like David, Mary was of humble origins and from a village even more obscure than Bethlehem; Nazareth. Mary probably was only fourteen or fifteen years old when the Angel appeared to her at the Annunciation. Yet her openness to God, her willingness to say yes, “may it be done to me according to your word,” set in motion a monumental series of events that changed the world forever. God promised Mary that her son “will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end "(Luke 1:32-33). Through Mary’s humble obedience and acceptance, God became Incarnate. He came to us in human form. He became Emanuel, God with us. Emanuel, God with us is here now. Emanuel, God with us was here yesterday and will be here tomorrow. God is present in our world working through each of us every day.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ. And every day of the year we should celebrate the birth of Christ in us. St Paul tell us in 2 COR 6:16 that “we are the temple of the living God; as God said: ‘I will live with them and move among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people’.”
May the peace of Christ be with you this Holy Season and throughout the year.
Almighty God and Father of light,
a child is born to us and a Son is given to us.
Your eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night,
and now your Church is filled with wonder at the nearness of her God.
Open our hearts to receive His life and increase our vision with the rising of dawn,
that our lives may be filled with His glory and His peace,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen
