POWER FOR SALVATION IN DAVID'S HOUSE


24 DECEMBER

2 Sam 7:1-5,8-12,14,16; Ps 89:2-5,27,2; Lk 1:67-79

Salvation Power in the House David

As we await the Christmas dawn, the Church puts these readings before us to meditate on the tradition of kingship that God initiated through his choice of David. When the people of Israel came back from their slavery in Egypt, and God settled them in the land he promised their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God guided them through the judges he appointed for them. The judges were intermediaries appointed by God through whom he revealed his divine will to his people. But the people of Israel, noticing that the surrounding nations have kings ruling over them, demanded for a king instead of the judges. God acceded to their request and gave them Saul to rule over them. Because the will of God is sacrosanct for his people, the chosen king stands or falls based on his obedience to the divine will. Saul's failure and rejection were due to his disobedience to God’s expressed will. God saw in David the needed faith, humility, and obedience that he desired and appointed David the king to rule his people.

The success of David as the king of Israel came from his faith in God, sincere love, and trust in the God of Israel, which made him put God first in all that he did. David held God’s will sacrosanct and gave his best to accomplish it. As a weak human being, he sinned against God many times but was truly remorseful each time in his plea for God’s mercy and forgiveness. So, God confirmed him as a foundation for the salvation he planned for all peoples and nations, which took a dynastic turn in David. The prophetic utterance of Nathan was God’s confirmation of his choice of David for the dynastic tradition of salvation. “The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.” The will of God to establish a lasting dynasty for his faithful people is not new; it is the same promise made to Abraham but without the specification of kingship. Jacob prophesied it for the first time when blessing his children, and God earmarked Judah for this blessing; God gave it a definite specification and established it with David.

God realises his divine plan through his word that endures forever, despite the variations of human feelings and desires, weaknesses, and sinfulness. We enter the plan of God by paying attention to his word in faith. David’s success was his constant meditation and contemplation of the Law of the Lord. The many psalms attributed to him demonstrate his faithful and prayerful attention to the presence of God. He developed this faithful and prayerful attention to God during his solitary life as the shepherd of his father’s flock. God called him to shepherd his people after forming him in the wilderness in solitude. Zechariah praised God in the Gospel for fulfilling his promise to David by establishing a power for salvation in the House of David. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel for he has visited his people, he has come to their rescue and he has raised up for us a power for salvation in the House of his servant David, even as he proclaimed, by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times, that he would save us from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us.” The salvation of God is real to those who have faith in the word of God, which expresses God’s eternal and immutable will. The immutable will of God for our salvation took human flesh and became man. This is what we are preparing to celebrate on Christmas day. As we behold the child tomorrow, let us prepare to sing forever of God’s love and mercy.

Let us pray: Come quickly, we pray, Lord Jesus, and do not delay, that those who trust in your compassion may find solace and relief in your coming. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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