Fourth Sunday of Advent

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s first reading, David wants to build a house for God. David was the second King of Israel. Under him the kingdom of Israel has expanded and stabilized. David even moved the capital of his kingdom to Jerusalem. To his credit, even in the peak of his reign, he did not forget that the reason for the relative peace and stability that the kingdom was experiencing was in the final analysis, God’s work on behalf of the people of Israel. The second factor is the Ark. The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets on which God inscribed the Ten Commandments, was the sign of the real presence of God in the midst of the people. So far because of all the battles, and the instability of the Kingdom, the ark was merely housed in a tent and it travelled with the people wherever they went. But now, since the capital had been shifted to Jerusalem, and because there was stability, David plans to build a house where he can house the Ark.

David’s intentions were excellent but the irony is not avoidable. In one sense, does God need a house to dwell in? God is the one who made the world. The whole wide world is his. David is made to realize that it is not God who needs David but David who needs God. And so God promises David that God would build a house for David. God was intending to make the dynasty of David an everlasting dynasty. And so, when in today’s Gospel reading the angel appears to Mary, we are told that the angel appeared to Mary, betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David, it is no accident. God is building a dynasty as he promised David. And Jesus himself and Son of God is the King of the Dynasty. God’s Kingdom is forever.

Today we ask ourselves, where is God’s house? Where does he dwell? We look at the many beautiful Cathedrals and mansions that Kingdoms and peoples have built over the centuries and we marvel at their architecture and grandeur. None of them can match the temple that Solomon David’s son finally built for God. Sometimes we are like David. We wish to build God a house. Just like David wanted to preserve and protect the Ark we wish to preserve and protect the Blessed Sacrament. But as Christmas draws near the story of the annunciation reminds us that the house that God promises us instead a much more beautiful and grandiose that something we can ever build for God.

God in today’s Gospel passage is not some building, not in some empty place; God takes root in the human person—in Mary. When time came for God to choose his house, he not chose Capitol Hill, or Buckingham Palace or even the Taj Mahal. He chose the human heart; he chose your heart and mine—your life and mine. Each one of us is God’s house personally.

This Christmas more that anything else what God wants from us is our heart; our life. He wishes to dwell in us, like he came to rest in Mary. I hope, that we will not just have room for him. I hope we will let him build his home in us.

Fr. Satish Joseph