Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

Today's Scripture

3rd Week Advent Thursday 17 December 2009 An Everlasting Kingdom Today we continue our Advent reading with a passage from Genesis. Here Jacob, also called Israel, is addressing his sons. There is a special honor for Judah described here: the scepter shall never depart from Judah. In other words, through him there will be an everlasting kingdom. The great king David was of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus was known as the Son of David.

The gospel passage from Matthew contains the geneaology that supports the idea that Jesus is of the Davidic dynasty and hence the tribe of Judah. At first glance, this passage strikes us as a boring compilation of names. But these names contain within them an immense history. They are the summary of the story of our salvation. When our God entered the world as a baby at Bethlehem, he entered into a long line of descendants. Although the Incarnation and Nativity happened at specific points in history, the preparation for Jesus’ coming began long before his birth. Each person in this long list of names can be seen as bringing us one step closer to God dwelling among us. 

Israel’s words in the first reading are directed toward his son Judah, and Judah’s power was manifested in the Davidic Kingdom. But, great as King David was, his kingdom was a temporal, earthly kingdom. It had its problems and weaknesses, and it is no longer here on earth. There is, however, an everlasting kingdom that comes to us through Jacob, through Judah, through David, and through Jesus, namely, the kingdom of God. This is a kingdom that will never pass away, and in it we see Jacob’s words fulfilled.

We belong to this kingdom, regardless of our earthly citizenship. In this time of Advent, we look forward to the coming of Jesus. Now, in these late days of Advent, we especially anticipate his birth in a humble stable of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But this is not simply the coming of a cute baby boy; it is the coming of our king. In his great mercy, God sends his son to us, a man like us in all things but sin. He reigns for us as our eternal king, but his throne is a cross, and his ultimate power is shown in the resurrection and defeat of death.

It is amazing and wonderful that God uses our own human structures to come among us. Jesus does not come to us as an isolated and free-standing individual who descends from the heavens, but as a person who is intimately connected to family, including a long line of ancestors, many of whom were known for their faith in God and fidelity to God.

If we want to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ birth at Christmas, we must prepare for the coming of a kingdom and not just a baby. For it is through this child that we, too, enter into the story of the geneaology; it is because of him that we can take our place in the everlasting kingdom. With Jesus our brother, and God our father, we may truly live as children of God and as citizens of the kingdom of God.

Today, let us pray that these final days of Advent may be for us a time of joyful preparation. Let us humble our hearts that we may receive our king when he comes to us as a babe. Let us gladly enter into his kingdom, regardless of the cost to ourselves.

- Maria Morrow