Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent
So here we are on the very, very last day of Advent. We've been preparing for Jesus' coming, and for the great feast of Christmas in all kinds of ways. One of my favorite parts of the season is the way people really do a lot of giving to those who are less fortunate, whether it's an angel tree gift, or work at a soup kitchen, or donation of canned goods. The giving at this time of year has gotten to the point that most charities expect to receive a small windfall at Christmas, partly so that they can make it through the next year. Children tend to expect presents, and adults tend to expect the pleasure of eating a large meal and watching football afterward. We also come to expect those traditions year after year. In my own family, for instance, it wouldn't quite feel like Christmas unless we watch Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" or eat homemade hot chocolate with thick slices of Christmas bread while my dad reads from the gospel of Luke. There'd be a letdown - like we hadn't quite celebrated the feast enough. In other words, we expect a lot from Christmas - emotionally, spiritually, and physically - and we hope that our preparations will live up to the expectations we've placed on them.
So we have lots of expectations - and I love the play on words that gives us - for of course, Mary "expected" Jesus all those years ago, but in a different kind of way than our own Christmas expectations usually happen. Christmas preparations and celebrations often involve our own expectations for the feast, but Mary's expectation was for something she couldn't quite plan for in the ways we plan our Christmases, with lists, and calendared events.
The message for us in today's scriptures is to expect the unexpected, because by expecting the unexpected we can make room for God in our lives, even as we set about celebrating Christmas well. In today's first reading (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16), we read about how David wanted to build God a temple, a permanent resting place. Up to this point in history, ever since the days of wandering in the desert with Moses, God had been physically present with the Israelites in the Ark of the Covenant, which was housed in a tent. Everywhere the Israelites travelled, they carried the Ark with them, and set up the tent again and again. So David wants to give God a beautiful, more permanent home. He was probably surprised to get God's answer: thanks, but no thanks. David had a human expectation about how beautiful the temple would look (and therefore, how envious the neighboring kings would be!) but God's view is different. God is the one who cares for the people, and God is the one who will establish a house, for his people, rather than the other way around.
What, or rather who, is this house? The second reading (Luke 1:67-79) gives us the familiar song Zechariah sings when his son John is born and he recovers his voice. His words are full of praise, not primarily for his own son, but for the fact that God is sending HIS own Son from the House of David. In this passage, we see more fully what this house is that God builds for his people: this is a house that saves us from our enemies and allows us to live without fear. This house is not the temple David expected, but it IS the gracious, loving, and merciful house that God wants for us. God wants us to rest in Jesus, find our ground in Jesus, have our foundation in Jesus.
So, this Christmas, admid all the expectations that we ourselves place on the holiday, let us also take the time to make room for the unexpected ways in which God might still be communicating to us through his expected, but yet unexpected, Son.
- Jana M. Bennett