Homily
for December 24, 2024
Morning
Mass
2
Sam 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16
Luke
1: 67-79
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Res., N.R.
“The Lord reveals
to you that he will establish a house for you” (1 Sam 7: 11).
It’s been said that God answers prayers in 3 ways. He may say “yes” to our request. He may say, “Not now. Later.” Or he may say, “I’ve got something better for you.”
The Lord wasn’t
fielding a direct request from David.
Since the king had spoken to his court prophet—by the way, this is
Nathan’s 1st appearance in David’s story, and he’ll turn out to be far more
than a minor player in the story—we may suppose he was seeking an opinion, from
the Lord or at least from the Lord’s spokesman.
The Lord’s answer
turned out to be close to that 3d form of answering a prayer. David’s intention was upended, reversed in
fact: he wouldn’t be the house builder,
but God would. The house wouldn’t be
granite, marble, cedar wood, ivory, and precious metals, but flesh and blood.
And the flesh and
blood would be more than a single son of David or even a whole line of
sons. One of his sons would be the
Son of David who would see that David’s dynasty “endured forever” in God’s
presence (7:16).
We begin to see
that promise, that ultimate promise, carried out in Zechariah’s hymn. Zechariah sings of knowledge of salvation,
forgiveness of sins, tender divine compassion, dawn overtaking darkness, an end
to death, God-given peace (Luke 1:77-79).
A mighty Savior comes from the house of David (1:69).
So David’s plan
for God’s house is set aside for the time being: “Not now.
Later.” God has a better plan in
mind.
We can keep that
story in mind whenever
The
best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang
aft a-gley,
An’
lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For
promised joy.[1]
We don’t need a
poet Burns or a prophet Nathan to spell out God’s mind for us. The Scriptures, the lives of the saints
(including your own founder’s life story) certainly can help us seek
understanding of where God has brought us, from whatever pastures to whatever
flocks (cf. 2 Sam 7:8), and where he’s still leading us, to whatever promises
of mercy and remembrance of his holy covenant (cf. Luke 1:72).
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