12.19.2020 Homily

There are so many characters, so many figures, so many people, associated with this season--Advent and the Christmas season--and they all have a different role to play. One of those characters, one of those personalities though, that I don't think we very often spend time reflecting on, is the one who is spoken about in the first reading. And that is King David. David is incredibly important for the story of the birth of Jesus.

David was a remarkable human being. He was a charismatic individual. He was able to claim the great loyalty of his people and the great affection that they had for him. He was a wonderful leader. Never before and never again, had the nation of Israel been as wide and broad in its geography and as rich in its economy as during the time of David. And it was very clear that God was blessing this man, that God had lifted him up, that God had chosen him. As the scripture reading said this afternoon, chosen him from among the flock as a shepherd to now lead the people of Israel.

And so David goes to Nathan, the prophet, and he says to him,"I just don't feel comfortable living in my house." And then, "The presence of God is found in a tent, in canvas, on the floor of the desert. I will build a temple for our God, a temple that would enshrine God's presence. And Nathan says to him, "Well, you go and do whatever you want. God has always blessed what you have done. So just do what you choose." But that night God said to Nathan, "You go back and you tell him, 'I have built a house for you--you will not build a house for me.'”

“That from the very beginning. As Moses led the people of Israel across the Red Sea, in search of the promised land that I have traveled with you in the tent, whenever you moved, I moved, I will not be held tight in a building of stone. I must be free. And the tent provides me with that.”

So the tent becomes a, a sign of the Lord's constant presence to Israel, that, no matter where that people goes, God goes with them. That they are never left alone, that they are never abandoned. That they're never forgotten. There's nothing about them that God is not intimately connected with. In St. John's gospel he says at the very beginning that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Well, really what the Greek text says is the word became flesh and pitched His tent among us, established Himself among us, became one with us.

So at the very beginning of the story, we're told that this Jesus of Nazareth is the son of David. And we're also told in the gospel today that he is also the Son of God. And that mystery, that mystery of his divinity and his humanity, that fuses together, that's really what we come to celebrate in the Christmas feast. In every way that God has been present to the people of Israel, He's been present in a humble, ordinary, garden-variety way. He's been present in their daily lives. And that same is true in His Incarnation and his coming among us as Jesus of Nazareth. He is present to us in the ordinariness of life.

He's present to us in the dailiness of my life, of your life. Our lives are not spectacular, our lives do not make headlines, but that's not what attracts God to us. What attracts God to us is that He has chosen to be with us. He has chosen to pitch His tent among us. And so every time we come to the altar, every time we celebrate the Eucharist, what we celebrate is the continual abiding presence of God.

You know, we talk about the Eucharist as being the real presence, the true presence of Christ among us. That in this gift of the Eucharist, once again, He plants Himself among us. And whether that is celebrated in a large place with tens of thousands of people, or whether that Eucharist is celebrated in a very small gathering; whether it's celebrated with great festivity or whether it's celebrated with very humble surroundings, that's not what the importance is. The importance is that whenever we gather at the table, He is present among us. He is present with us. So as we pray today, as we come within just days of the Christmas feast, as we pray this fourth Sunday of advent, let us pray strongly that we might have a deeper sense, a deeper appreciation, a deeper awareness that God is present in my life. He walks with me. He never leaves me alone. I am never abandoned. I am never left alone.

And as we come to receive the Eucharist, that is the sacrament that ratifies and makes sure of God's presence among us in Jesus Christ.