DECEMBER 24TH, 2017: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT II Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38
I presume we’re all doing a lot of gawking at Christmas decorations on this last day before Christmas. Places that were rather plain a couple days ago have been beautifully gussied up for our annual celebration. Of course, we’d better “look quick;” some decorations – especially the commercial ones - will be gone in less than 48 hours. That’s what happens when one gets involved only with the externals of things. Fortunately our faith revolves around internals, especially our own internals. In a sense, David discovers this in today’s first reading. As king, he can change a lot of things. One thing he’s planning to change is the place where the Ark of the Covenant resides. Over 3,000 years ago that famous mobile shrine was housed in a tent. That wasn’t by accident. As I just mentioned, the Ark was built to be moveable, available at a moment’s notice to be carried wherever needed. Sporting poles along each side for easy transporting, it never was intended to be “put in concrete.” Yet, until Nathan the prophet shows up, that’s precisely what David plans to do. Nathan informs him that Yahweh’s more intent on building David and his family into a “house” than in dealing with the externals of where God’s shrine resides. Yahweh wants to change people not buildings, no matter how easy it is to measure one’s faith by the number and size of the latter. Paul, convinced the “obedience of faith” is why Jesus originally came among us, certainly didn’t have buildings in mind when he ended his letter to the Romans with today’s well-known doxology. The faith of the risen Jesus revolves around how we remake ourselves, not our physical environment. No gospel person, except Jesus, does this better than Mary of Nazareth. Through the centuries we’ve created apocryphal gospels that have made her a saint from birth, and even proclaimed doctrines which have her immaculately conceived. Yet our evangelists never attach such a pre-existing personality to her. Luke gives her just one unique characteristic: she hears God’s word and carries it out. That characteristic doesn’t seem to have been something she perfectly had from her conception. I presume, like all of us, she had to grow into such a frame of mind. But she certainly developed that quality deeply enough that she was open to God working in her life even in the unique situation of discovering she was virginally pregnant. Of course, we presume after Gabriel’s visit, who wouldn’t do what God wanted? She didn’t have a choice. Just one problem: I don’t know any Scripture scholar who takes angelic annunciations literally. Every serious student of Scripture realizes angelic encounters are literary devices which our sacred authors employ to help us understand the meaning of certain events. Annunciations are for our sake, not for the sake of the biblical people who receive them. We presume it took the historical Mary – and Joseph - a long time to understand her pregnancy’s significance. The actual realization of that event most probably didn’t happen until years down the road. Perhaps only after Jesus’ resurrection! (In the meantime, I can only imagine the pair’s table talk!) It’s easy to focus on externals; much more difficult and complicated to alter what’s down deep inside us. Jesus of Nazareth’s ministry taught us that faith revolves around the latter. Nothing else is worth our time and effort. The late Cardinal John Wright once asked, “What would happen if we simultaneously destroyed every church-owned building? What would we do? What would become of our faith?” At that point we might actually discover in what listening to God’s word and carrying it out really consists. If nothing else, it would certainly hasten the process.
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