In our first reading today from Samuel we hear how King David comes to realize that while he rests in his house of cedar the ark of God is still to be found in a tent. The ark as we know contained the two tablets of the ten commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It also contained Aaron’s rod and some of the manna that had come down from heaven as food for the Israelites. Most significantly though this ark was the presence of God that accompanied the Israelites as they traveled towards the promised land. So, King David quite rightly wanted a more fitting house for the Ark of the Covenant.
But in the night God speaks to King David’s prophet Nathan and says, “would you really build a house for me to dwell in?” For God is not to be limited or contained by any building or by the thoughts, ideas, or notions that man can come up with. God says he will build a house but this one will not be one made of wood but one that is forged in kinship and family. And this house will become a kingdom – a kingdom that will endure forever. How far little David had come. From being a shepherd who played upon a harp, to the one who faced and killed Goliath, to becoming a great commander and then the king of Israel, and now chosen to be the seed from which an eternal kingdom would grow.
A thousand years later, what was said to Nathan would come to pass when an angel appears to Mary. To little Mary the angel speaks and asks for her consent to become the new ark now made of flesh and blood. The angel would ask for her yes. A yes to the undoing of all sin. A yes to the restoration of relationship between God and every man, woman, and child, a yes to a profound mystery that even Mary could not entirely understand. A yes to bring to pass the promise of God spoken to King David by way of the prophet Nathan all those years before. If we truly come into this moment when the angel asks for Mary’s yes then we too experience a moment of profundity, a stillness, as it were, as if all nature waits, as if on a precipice. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux says it for us, “O Virgin, the angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion. The price of our salvation is offered to you. Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet.” And Mary says, “let it be done”. This her fiat, this is her consent given once but to be repeated so many times throughout her life and especially at the trial, judgement, and execution of her son.
Today we stand on the edge of Christmas. With bated breath we await the silent night when we can join in the holy celebration of the birth of our Lord. We gather and prepare with family and friends in love and with a new spirit of life knowing this joyful time is almost upon us.
Mary, the mother of God, is our example of how we can and should respond fully to this season of birth, life, and healing. In this final day of preparation, we ask the Spirit to show us where we still say no and to guide us to a more complete yes to our God. Lord, I give you my consent to be, with me, in me, and so through me your will may be done.
You and I are already living in the promised Kingdom of God. The God of Infinity has diminished himself to be with us – not in an Ark or a house of cedar, but in our hearts and souls, and here on the altar. As we receive the gifts and graces of this season we prepare our gift back to the Lord – which is to love him only more perfectly.
Mary, we love you and truly thank you for your yes to our Lord. Guide us and give us strength to say yes as you once did, and by means of this may we too change the world in ways big and small.
Deacon Peter, Arlington, Massachusetts
December 24, 2023
Lectionary: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14c-16, Psalm 89:2-5, 26, 28, Romans
16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38
