Word to the Wise
Monday, December 24, 2007 - Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
[2 Samuel 7:1-5,8B-12,14A,16 and Luke 1:67-79]Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David.
Every morning in the Liturgy of the Hours, in Morning Prayer, the Church recites or sings the "Canticle of Zechariah." Although this hymn of praise is put in the mouth of Zechariah, the priest, the father of John the Baptist, as a thanksgiving for his son, it is clearly a reference to what God has done by sending Jesus. There is reference to the covenant with David and with Abraham, a reference to the role of John the Baptist, and finally the blessing that has come as a result ("In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.") Scripture scholarship shows that almost all the canticle has direct reference to lines from the Old Testament. It's as if someone were to take familiar music from several well-known songs and re-arrange it into a completely new composition which seems familiar but is a new reality. This, in fact, is what the early Christian community tried to do in its preaching. Jesus is a fulfillment of the ancient promise but he brings a completely new way of life. We who live through the telling of the story year after year can get into the habit of simply relegating that story to the background - preferring to put up the "crib scene" and concentrate on taking care of the social duties of the occasion. At best all our Christian history begins with that scene (so we think) and all the meaning that comes from the fulfillment of Old Testament expectations is lost. The crib scene is a composite of the two gospel accounts and the fact that both gospels (Matthew and Luke) tell the story differently and tell it in such a way that all of Jesus life is "prefigured" or "preached" is also, unfortunately, lost. If we are only celebrating a birthday and forgetting how God has kept and continues to keep promises, we are losing much of the true meaning of Christmas. A good way to get back to it is to pay closer attention to Zechariah's song and less to the conventional Christmas carols for at least a little while! If Santa's coming is more important than Jesus' coming, we really have lost our way! AMEN
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