ADVENT IV: II Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a,16; Rom 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38

Three stonecutters were involved in building work. When asked what they were doing, the first one replied, “I’m breaking stones!” The second answered, “I’m earning a living!” The third exclaimed, “I’m building a house for God!” Like the third stone-cutter, in today’s first reading King David desires to build God’s House.

The focus of today’s liturgy is the Davidic covenant, the promise of a throne that will last forever.

David succeeded Saul in 1010. David’s first step was to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites and make it the political capital of his kingdom. Once David had completed the building of his palace, he wanted a more beautiful house to accommodate the Ark of the Covenant representing God’s presence in the midst of His chosen people. For over 200 years, the Ark of the Covenant had been a "mobile shrine," kept in a tent so that it could be easily carried to any place to which the people moved or where Yahweh's special presence was needed. David wanted to build a special Temple in Jerusalem to house the Ark. He hoped that making Jerusalem the religious center of Israel would ensure the continued loyalty of all twelve tribes.

Though prophet Nathan initially accepted the plan, as we heard in the first reading, he eventually returned to inform the king that Yahweh was more concerned with turning David's family into "His House" than with residing in a “house” Himself. In other words, God's presence in families is more important than is His presence in buildings. God said that David was not to build a house for God; rather God would build a” House” for David. ” The Son of God, born of David’s lineage, is that house. The kingly line of David’s lineage finds its everlasting fulfillment in Christ.  God allowed the descendants of David to serve as kings of Israel in unbroken succession. But in the 6th century BC, the Babylonians conquered Judah and ended the succession of Davidic kings, prompting Israel to look for a different kind of fulfillment of God's promise to David. In other words, Israel began to look for the Messiah, a descendant of David who would come at the end of time to eradicate evil from the world.  We find the beginning of the fulfillment of this hope in today’s  Gospel  where  the angel tells Mary that the son she is about to conceive will sit on "the throne of his father David, and reign over the house of Jacob forever" (Lk. 1: 32-33).

The child Mary would bear would not only be a distant grandson of David -- he would be God's own Son. How will Jesus inherit the throne of David? It did not happen in his earthly lifetime. It happened in his death and resurrection. 

The complete fulfillment of the promise was not to be found in Solomon but in Jesus, since   Solomon built a Temple that stood for only 379 years (966 BC – August, 578 BC), whereas   Christ will build "a House not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor 5:1).  For Jesus to be the” Son of David” in a real sense—for the royal blood to flow in His veins—it was necessary that His mother be personally descended from the family of that ruler, because Jesus had no father according to the flesh. St. Paul implies it in Romans 1:3; II Timothy 2:8 and Hebrews 7:14. Seventeen verses in the New Testament describe Jesus as the “son of David.” Christ (the Messiah) was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the seed of David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Jesus is the promised Messiah, which means He had to be of the lineage of David. Matthew 1 gives the genealogical proof that Jesus, in His humanity, was a direct descendant of Abraham and David through Joseph, Jesus’ legal father. The genealogy in Luke 3 traces Jesus’ lineage through His mother, Mary. Jesus is a descendant of David by adoption through Joseph and by blood through Mary. Now we know what feelings went in to the addresses when the people shouted Hosana to the Son of David and the blind man's request, Jesus son of David have mercy on me. God’s promises are everlasting. They will be fulfilled no matter what. Christmas proclaims to us loud and clear, that God is faithful in his promises.

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus as the Son of God and son of Mary: God made man. The purpose of his this coming was to save us, to be Emmanuel, to be on our side. As Mary was privileged to be the biological mother of Jesus we are also called to be spiritual mother of Jesus.

St. Francis said, "We are the mother of Christ when we carry him in our heart… and we give birth to him through our holy works which ought to shine on others by our example.”

As we move into the very proximate preparation of Christmas, let’s like Mary open our hearts to God and say: Let it be done to me according to thy word.