24 December – Gospel
Commentary on Luke 1:67-79
The Gospel is the great Benedictus hymn (meaning ‘Blessed’ from its opening word in Latin), which is sung or said every day in the Divine Office at the end of Morning Prayer or Lauds.
Luke puts it into the mouth of Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth and father of the newly born John the Baptist. Because he doubted the word of the angel, Zechariah had been struck dumb, but when—at the circumcision of his son—he confirmed that the boy’s name would be John, he recovered his speech and broke out into this song of praise.
God is praised and blessed because:
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his child David…
This is a clear reference to Jesus.
Zechariah thanks God for having—in the person of Jesus—visited his people “and redeemed them”, just as he had promised through the mouths of the prophets down the ages:
…he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies…
Our ‘enemies’ are not those to whom we are hostile, for there should be no such people. Rather, they are those who wish us harm, simply because of our adherence to the vision of life that Jesus has given us.
What was the purpose of this deliverance? Was it so that we could gloat over the defeat of those who wish us harm? No, it was that we:
…might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness
in his presence all our days.
There is enough there already for us to reflect on with deep gratitude.
But Zechariah goes on to speak of his newly-born son:
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…
That will be John’s special role, to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus our Saviour. He will do that by giving:
…his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
This will be a salvation that will come through Jesus giving his people the experience of being reconciled and reunited with their God.
It is clear that what is said by Zechariah of his son John applies very much to us also. For it is our calling to “go before the Lord to prepare his ways” for others.
All this will happen because of:
…the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us…
That “dawn” of course, is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.
Jesus will give light:
…to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death…
That surely includes all of us in some way. In the brightness of that light, he will:
…guide our feet into the way of peace.
The realisation of that peace and harmony in each one, in every community and throughout every society, is a sign that the Kingdom has come.
We all realise how much that peace is needed in our world, in our own society, in our own communities, in our homes and in our own selves. May the Prince of Peace come and dwell among us this Christmas.
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24 December – First Reading
Commentary on 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16
The reading from the Second Book of Samuel speaks of David’s concern to build a fitting house for the Lord. David has just settled into his new palace and it is becoming a source of embarrassment to him that, while he lives in such comfort, the Lord—whose presence is represented by the “ark of God” (Ark of the Covenant)—is still housed in a tent, as it was during the long years of wandering in the desert. This was the case from the time the Law was given on Mount Sinai up to the present situation, where David now rules as king in Jerusalem.
When David tells the prophet Nathan about this, the prophet seems to agree:
Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.
Nathan seems to have made this statement on his own initiative, because:
…that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”
The Lord then goes on to say (not part of today’s reading):
I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. (2 Sam 7:6)
What is more, the Lord never once complained about this arrangement; he never once was heard to say:
Why have you not built me a house of cedar? (2 Sam 7:7)
There is some conjecture that here we have an echo of an opinion that was opposed to having a temple, which seemed to make Israel follow the religious practice of some of its hostile enemies, especially the Canaanites. And, of course, with the death of Jesus, the Temple came to an end for his followers, and the Lord’s presence was henceforth found in his people.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?….For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Cor 3:16-17)
The new and enduring temple is the Christian community, which is the Body of the Risen Christ, his visible presence on earth.
But the Lord goes on to say that David had been taken “from the pasture” (where he was a shepherd boy) and made prince over his people Israel. God has been with David and his people, has protected them from their enemies, and will make David’s name great. It is a new development in the people’s relationship with Yahweh. From Moses’ time, Israel was a people of twelve tribes. Now it will be a nation organised in their own land, with a central and stable authority—David and his successor kings.
In due course, the Lord will give his people a house where he will dwell. It will not be built by David, but by his offspring, specifically, his son Solomon. Eventually a magnificent temple will be built, one of the wonders of the ancient world. It would be rebuilt even more magnificently by Herod the Great and, in fact, the construction was not yet finished in the lifetime of Jesus.
Today’s passage ends with the words:
Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
The key to understanding the whole of this passage (and there are verses omitted in our reading) is to be aware of the meanings given to the word ‘house’. It refers to the palace that David has built for himself, the temple that Solomon will build and the dynasty which David will inaugurate. David will not be the one to build a house for the Lord in the sense of a temple building, but he will lay the foundations for a different kind of house, the House of David, the dynasty and long line of kings who will come after him—some of them good men and others utter scoundrels. Nor, in fact, did David’s dynasty last for ever. It fell in the year 587 BC, probably after these words were written.
Nevertheless, in the New Testament the line of David is seen reaching down to Jesus, who in the Gospel is often referred to as “Son of David”. And the Gospel for today is the Benedictus, the hymn of praise sung by Zechariah after the birth and circumcision of his son, John the Baptist. There we read:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people
and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his child David… (Luke 1:68-69)
The implication of this passage for us in today’s Mass is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the new temple where God lives. We call her the new ‘Ark of the Covenant’. She is a fitting place, a place of perfection without any trace of sin or evil. But later on, Paul will remind Christians that each one of them too is now a temple of God, of the Spirit of Jesus. In the New Covenant there is no longer any temple building, but “you are God’s temple”, a temple of which each one is a constitutive part.
And so we could well remember that what pleases God is not so much the beautiful churches we build for him, but the spiritual temple he wants us to build in people themselves. Once again, we ask the Prince of Peace to come and take up his abode in each one of us and let us radiate that peace to all we meet.
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