This is the fourth instalment of the ADVENT SERIES with the Department of Sacred Scriptures, Hebrew and Greek
He had recently conquered the city of Jerusalem without bloodshed or destruction... just controlling the Gihon, the main water source buried in the Kidron Valley. Yet he was King David... fit to begin a building spree of royal palaces and dwellings, and, yes, why not... a Temple for the Lord of Hosts to enclose His presence in the heart of the city. Centralising power over the twelve biblical tribes with one capital city, building one centre for religious cult and maybe dreaming of controlling and delimiting divine influence?
It was God who was to continue once again his creative building spree! (See First Reading: 2Sam 7) “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in?’” The Lord reminds David that it was always He himself who took the creative and salvific initiative even in his the King’s personal past and ascent to guide His people. So it would be the Lord himself who would build a house: His divine presence expressed in His faithfulness to the House of David: “I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. I will be a father to him and a son to me. Your House and your sovereignity will always stand secure before me and your throne established forever.”
The biblical text guides us to the heart of the Gospel reading (Lk 1:26-38) that takes place in the backwater insignificant hamlet of Nazareth. God is on his greatest creative building spree: “He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.”
Powerful words directed to Mary, daughter of Sion, who through the power of the Holy Spirit who would overshadow her, would not only conceive the Christ, but would become the true Temple of God’s presence manifested in the Christ, the definite fullness of God’s presence. God’s building spree is tremendously new! Mary’s assent to the Divine proposal – “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me” – would make her the true Temple, the Temple of divine flesh: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us!”... ”built his tent amongst us!” (Jn 1:14)
A tremendous building spree! Paul (see Second Reading: Rom 16:25-27) would define all this as the Good News – “the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast” to all.
It was God who was to continue once again his creative building spree! (See First Reading: 2Sam 7) “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in?’” The Lord reminds David that it was always He himself who took the creative and salvific initiative even in his the King’s personal past and ascent to guide His people. So it would be the Lord himself who would build a house: His divine presence expressed in His faithfulness to the House of David: “I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. I will be a father to him and a son to me. Your House and your sovereignity will always stand secure before me and your throne established forever.”
The biblical text guides us to the heart of the Gospel reading (Lk 1:26-38) that takes place in the backwater insignificant hamlet of Nazareth. God is on his greatest creative building spree: “He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end.”
Powerful words directed to Mary, daughter of Sion, who through the power of the Holy Spirit who would overshadow her, would not only conceive the Christ, but would become the true Temple of God’s presence manifested in the Christ, the definite fullness of God’s presence. God’s building spree is tremendously new! Mary’s assent to the Divine proposal – “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me” – would make her the true Temple, the Temple of divine flesh: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us!”... ”built his tent amongst us!” (Jn 1:14)
A tremendous building spree! Paul (see Second Reading: Rom 16:25-27) would define all this as the Good News – “the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast” to all.
God's creative building spree continues. The acceptance of the good news of God’s love in Christ, incarnated into daily living, makes us temples of the divine presence, small, albeit living signs of His love and wisdom. It is with this presence and power that we too go on a building spree – enkindling the warmth of divine love, shown in the humble flesh of the Lord Jesus.
