The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary on Christmas Eve invite us to contemplate the Covenant that God has with people and the planet.
Wrapping Up our preparations
The reading from the Second Book of Samuel describes God’s Covenant with David.
* [7:8–16] The message Nathan delivers to David, called the Dynastic Oracle, is prompted by David’s intention to build a house (i.e., a temple) for the Lord, like David’s own house (i.e., palace) of cedar. David is told, in effect, not to bother building a house for the Lord; rather, the Lord will make a house for him—a dynasty, the House of David. Not only will he have descendants (v. 12) who will sit upon the throne of Israel (v. 13), their rule will last forever (vv. 13, 16); and even if they transgress the Lord’s commands, the line of David will never be removed from kingship as Saul was (cf. 1 Sm 13; 15). The oracle establishes the Davidic king as standing in relationship to the Lord as a son to a father (v. 14; cf. Ps 2:7; 89:27). The Dynastic Oracle, with cognate texts in the Scriptures, is the basis for Jewish expectations of an anointed king (1 Sm 12:3, 5), son of David (Mt 21:9); cf. Acts 2:30; Heb 1:5.1
Psalm 89 praises God’s Covenant with David.
* [89:3–5] David’s dynasty is to be as long-lasting as the heavens, a statement reinforced by using the same verbs (establish, stand) both of the divine love and loyalty and of the Davidic dynasty and throne, cf. Ps 89:29–30.2
The Gospel of Luke declares Zechariah’s Prophecy.
* [1:68–79] Like the canticle of Mary (Lk 1:46–55) the canticle of Zechariah is only loosely connected with its context. Apart from Lk 1:76–77, the hymn in speaking of a horn for our salvation (Lk 1:69) and the daybreak from on high (Lk 1:78) applies more closely to Jesus and his work than to John. Again like Mary’s canticle, it is largely composed of phrases taken from the Greek Old Testament and may have been a Jewish Christian hymn of praise that Luke adapted to fit the present context by inserting Lk 1:76–77 to give Zechariah’s reply to the question asked in Lk 1:66.3
Barbara Dilly comments that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist and a Jewish priest, knew this covenant of God’s mercy well. He too told it to his son and Luke retold it again for us. It keeps getting more special in its meaning for the people of God. On this night, the night of Jesus’s birth, the covenant took on even more compassion and tenderness.
The ancient covenant becomes more than protection from our enemies and freedom to worship without fear. There are too many people around the world who still do not have that. What we celebrate tonight is a new covenant that gives us knowledge of salvation and forgiveness of our sins. We can all have that. No enemy, no illness, no pestilence, and no storm can take that away from us. We can sing the praises of a God who gives us a new covenant that shines light on us in the darkness of our sin and guides us in the way of peace. This knowledge of salvation is indeed a very great light. I pray that it shines into each of our souls tonight and always and gives us the strength and compassion to share hope and tenderness with those who walk in darkness for a wide variety of reasons. That is how we keep Christmas alive.4
Don Schwager quotes “My words will not pass away,” by an anonymous early author from the Greek church.
"'O forerunner of Christ!... O Baptist inspired by God! We glorify Christ who bowed his head before you in the Jordan and sanctified the nature of mortal humankind... O wise John the forerunner, you have looked down from the bank of the river upon the glory of the Father's Word, even the Son as he stood in the waters; and you have seen the Spirit descend as a dove, cleansing and enlightening the ends of the earth. To you the mystery of the Trinity was revealed; and to you we sing, honoring your divine festival. "O Baptist and forerunner, strengthened by the divine grace of Christ you have shown us the lamb that takes away all the sins of the world (John 1:29,35-36), and with joy you have this day brought two disciples to him (John 1:35-42). Entreat him that peace and great mercy may be given to our souls." (excerpt from SYNAXIS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 1:67-79 notes that even a quick glance at a newspaper will tell us that we still wait for injustice to give way to his law of love and his gospel of peace, despite Jesus’ birth. Sin, death, division, and injustice continue to haunt the human race, even as they haunt those places in our hearts that we keep hidden. Like Zechariah, we are still looking forward to the day of our full redemption, the real “tomorrow” when Jesus finally returns in glory. Until then, we remain in this in-between space of having already tasted his salvation but not yet experiencing it in fullness.
And so we wait, just as Zechariah did, for the “dawn from on high” to break upon us and upon the whole world. And as we wait, we watch for Jesus, the Son of God who will set us free. “Jesus, thank you for coming to break the power of sin and death. Fill me with great expectation for the day when your victory will be fully revealed.”6
Friar Jude Winkler fleshes out the transition from charismatically chosen leaders of Israel to the dynasty of King David. Samuel notes the arrogance of David and Chronicles relates his blood shedding as prohibitions to his building a house for the Lord. Friar Jude highlights the message at the centre of The Benedictus that “God is merciful.”
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that when we feel separate, when we feel disconnected, when we feel split from ourselves, from our family, from reality, from the Earth, from God, we will be angry and depressed people. Because we know we weren’t created for that separateness; we were created for union. So God sent into the world one who would personify that union—who would put human and divine together; who would put spirit and matter together. That’s what we spend our whole life trying to believe: that this ordinary earthly sojourn means something. Sometimes we wake up in the morning wondering, what does it all mean? What’s it all for? What was I put here for? Where is it all heading?
I believe it’s all a school. And it’s all a school of love. And everything is a lesson—everything. Every day, every moment, every visit to the grocery store, every moment of our so-ordinary life is meant to reveal, “My God, I’m a daughter of God! I’m a son of the Lord! I’m a sibling of Christ! It’s all okay. I’m already home free! There’s no place I have to go. I’m already here!” But if we don’t enjoy that, if we don’t allow that, basically we fall into meaninglessness. Friends, we need to surrender to some kind of ultimate meaning. We need to desire it, seek it, want it, and need it. I know no one likes to hear this, but we even need to suffer for it. And what is suffering? Suffering is the emptying out of the soul so there’s room for love, so there’s room for the Christ, so there’s room for God.7
As we wrap up our Advent preparation for Christmas let us celebrate the new Covenant of compassion and mercy praised in the Canticle of Zechariah.
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