Almost at the threshold of Christ's birth, the Church takes us back nine months to the moment of the Incarnation, that day in Nazareth when the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived in her womb the God-made-man. And in today's first reading, the Church takes us even further back, more than nine hundred years before this event, to that moment when God, through the prophet Nathan, promised David an eternal dynasty of his lineage: "Your house and your kingdom will always stand firm before me, your throne will last forever.".
That promise was fulfilled when Mary conceived, and in a matter of hours the son of David's line, the son of Mary, Jesus Christ, will be born again through the liturgy of the Church. As God said to David: "I will raise up your offspring after you. I will establish his kingdom for him who comes forth from your womb. It shall be he who builds a house for my name, and I will consolidate the throne of his kingship forever.". This is Jesus, the child to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. And this child was announced by the angel Gabriel, sent by God to Mary: "The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father; he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.". God's promise to David, made all those centuries before, is now fulfilled in the conception and birth of Jesus.
For this reason, the Church encourages us today, with her readings, to trust in God, who always keeps his promises. They may take time to be fulfilled, but they may be kept. "in secret for eternal centuries"As St. Paul says in the second reading, but at the end we can sing along with today's psalm: "I will sing forever of the mercies of the Lord, I will proclaim your faithfulness throughout all ages. Because you said, 'Mercy is an everlasting building,' more than heaven you have established your faithfulness.".
For this promise to become a reality, history had to take many turns. Israel's repeated unfaithfulness caused great suffering, the collapse of the kingdom and the exile and humiliation of the nation. But while Israel was unfaithful, God was faithful to his word. God does not save us because of our faithfulness. Rather, he saves us from our unfaithfulness. As we celebrate Christmas this year, with so much suffering in our world as a result of human sin, we would do well to remember this truth.
Homily on the readings of the Fourth Sunday of Advent (B)
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.
