LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 88(89):2-5, 27, 29
Second reading: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
Link to readings
COMMENTARY
On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we are at last brought before the events leading directly up to the Christmas celebration of Jesus' birth, notably through the account in the Gospel of the Annunciation to Mary. Appropriately, the First Reading, from 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8-11, 16, sets the birth of Jesus within a wider arc of expectation by describing the promise to David alluded to in the Gospel. Everything turns around the idea of "house". After many years of campaigning, David has finally conquered Jerusalem and established himself there in his permanent palace ("house of cedar"). But the symbol of the Lord's presence, the Ark of the Covenant, still resides in the impermanent home ("tent") in which it accompanied the Israelites in their years of wandering. David determines to remedy the situation by building a fitting "house" (temple) for the Lord.
But, as so often when human beings plan to do something for God, the Lord has other ideas. Instead of David building a house for the Lord, the Lord will build a "house" for him-not a house of bricks and mortar but a "house" in the sense of a royal dynasty that will stand forever and be the guarantee of Israel's security and peace. This is the famous "throne oracle" on which rested the legitimacy of the Davidic monarchy in Israel.
TEMPLE FOR THE LORD
David's son, Solomon, would indeed build a Temple for the Lord, one destined in due course to be destroyed. The reign of the Davidic dynasty would also come to an end with the Exile. For centuries after that, it would live on simply as the object of the hope for a Messiah.
But, as we arrive at the Christian perspective with the Gospel, Luke 1:26-38, we discover that the Lord's promise to build David an everlasting "house" is to be realised in a way that will surpass all previous expectation.
The story of the Annunciation to Mary takes us, of course, into the world of the infancy stories of Matthew and Luke where angels come and go in a way seen elsewhere in only in scenes associated with the risen life of Jesus. As in those later episodes, what is being signalled here (in imagery and form taken from Old Testament annunciations of birth – especially those of Samson and Samuel) is a sudden intervention of the divine into human affairs, something that cannot be told literally and realistically. This is what we must hold on to, even if we can - and perhaps should – relieve the more critically-minded in our congregations of the need to take it all literally.
GABRIEL'S ANNOUNCEMENT
Gabriel's announcement to Mary comes in two distinct stages, separated by a query on her part. After the opening greeting and assurance, Mary is told that she is to be the mother of a child, whose titles ("Son of the Most High") and role indicate that he will be the long-awaited Messiah. In conventional Jewish expectation, the Messiah was not a divine figure but a virtuous and just ruler of David's line who would restore freedom, justice and prosperity to Israel. Mary asks how in her current situation this birth is to occur. She is married (the NRSV translation "engaged" is too weak; "betrothed", though archaic, is more accurate) but, per the custom of the time when women married very young, she is still living in her parental home and not yet having relations with her husband.
The angel's majestic explanation lifts everything to a new, transcendent level. The birth will not come about through Mary's having relations with her husband but through her being "overshadowed" by the creative power of God's Holy Spirit. Thus the child to be born from her will be God's Son in a unique way, vastly outstripping conventional messianic expectation. The God who did not wish to dwell in a house built by David will come to dwell among us in the person of a son of David whose reign will not end.
MARY'S FAITH
Central in all of this is Mary's faith – as her cousin Elizabeth will later remark: "Blessed is she who believed that the promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled" (1:45). Unlike Zechariah in connection with the birth of John the Baptist (1:11-19), Mary does not simply have to believe that God will overcome barrenness and old age in order to bring about the promised new life; she has to believe that God's power will take the place of the male parent in a completely unparalleled way.
At the angel's bidding, her faith will go in search of the "sign" that Elizabeth's pregnancy will disclose; it does not rest upon it. Supremely here, in the person of Mary, we learn that it is people of faith who channel God's presence and power into the world.
Brendan Byrne, SJ, FAHA, taught New Testament at Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Vic., for almost 40 years. He is now Emeritus Professor at the University of Divinity (Melbourne). His commentaries on the Gospels can be found at Pauline Books and Media