Christmas Novena
December 24
There is no special “O” antiphon today, because this evening the Church kind of stops its Advent preparation and sings “when the sun rises” we will see the Lord coming forth like a bridegroom from His chamber. So we heard the ancient tale from the days of the flawed king David, who God called “a man after my own heart.” In other words, he was a man who recognized his sinful actions and knew how to repent of them, turning back to the true King, who is Lord and God. David feels pretty embarrassed that he and his family are living in a cedar-paneled palace, while the sanctuary of the Lord is, well, just an elaborate tent. He asks Nathan if he should build the Lord a house, a great temple, and Nathan–without discerning God’s will–tells him to go for it. But the prophet has a vision that night. God does not need a temple. God lives everywhere, and can’t be tied down to one place. But because of David’s fidelity, God promises him that he will have a house. His offspring will rule God’s people, one after another after David dies. The key words are “your throne shall be established forever.”
Our psalmist today sings of this promise. God’s steadfast love is as firm as the heavens. He has made a covenant with David, and will not turn away from it. God would be as a father to all the kings who followed David.
But wait. Don’t we know that almost all of David’s descendant-kings were faithless, really bad guys? Don’t we know that ultimately God turned His back on Jerusalem and let it be destroyed by Babylon, with the people of worth driven into Babylonian captivity? Wasn’t the covenant overturned? The covenant was not with the city or the land. It was with the house of David, his heirs. And we know from Matthew that Joseph, husband of Mary and human father of Jesus, was of the house of David. The covenant was with the faithful of that family. Jesus was the one promised, the final king of the House of David, and king of the universe. This was the reality that priest Zechariah was celebrating at the birth of his son, John. The orient, the rising sun, Jesus, would dawn on Israel, giving light and life and peace to all who would believe in Him, giving right praise and living lives of justice.
