RBWords

     One of the spiritual and scriptural challenges of Advent and the Christmas/Epiphany season is keeping track of all the important people in the story that underlies the whole season.  The human drama of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus in a stable is compelling enough, but we also have John the Baptist and his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah and their drama.  Add to that the shepherds and the Magi and Herod, and one has quite a cast of characters to contend with.  Another character is added to the mix today, lurking in the historical and theological background:  King David!  

     The first scripture for today relates the promise made by God to David through the prophet Nathan that David's lineage and kingdom would endure forever.  This prophecy served as a basis for some strands of messianic hope in Jewish minds in Jesus' time.  The "infancy narratives" of the gospels according to Matthew and Luke both have genealogies that are designed to connect Jesus with David.  The announcement of the angel Gabriel contains an echo of Nathan's words.

     What difference does David make?  He is part of the story of God's promise, a story that surrounds that stable and later on would surround the ministry of Jesus and his preaching of the "kingdom."  The gospels are making sure we grasp this part of the narrative, even if David was not always a righteous person!  To understand our own lives we need to know our history.  To understand how God keeps God's promise in Jesus, we need to know the history of God's promises.  When we look at the manger scene, we are looking at a promise that has been kept.  In our faith in the Word Made Flesh, we experience the continual keeping of that promise.  King David, like us, was not perfect by any means.  Neither are we, but God still keeps the promise.  AMEN