Fourth Sunday of Advent

Lectionary: 11

"The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever."


There are several references to King David in the Gospel of Saint Luke. Indeed, if you wanted Jesus' attention your best bet was to shout, "Son of David, have pity on me!" -- like the blind man of Jericho.
If the prophecies concerning the once and future king were to be fulfilled, the Messiah would be a direct descendent of Jesse's youngest and least promising son.
By any standards, David is a fascinating character. I doubt he'd past muster as a saint. A warrior, tactician, politician and philanderer; a father of twenty children by several wives, he loved the Lord who had chosen him from the sheepfolds to depose King Saul, rout the Philistines, unify the disparate Hebrew tribes and create a new kingdom. Fun-loving, handsome, loyal: David was as good a king as he was a shepherd, with the same courage and open-hearted affection.
Unfortunately, as he built his kingdom, David paid little attention to the conflicts among his several wives and their children. That oversight would erupt in civil war and the death of his preferred son, Absalom.

Nor was he to build a temple for the Lord; there was blood on his hands. That project was left to his son Solomon, a clever bureaucrat with a weakness for foreign affairs.
Whatever may be said against King David, he was charismatic; loved by his soldiers and his people -- who forgave him much. He did not forget his humble origins and could always be reminded that God had rejected Saul and elected him to lead God's chosen people.
Today's first reading recalls the gratuitous promise God made to David, a promise that seems almost impossible to keep:

Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever."

Forever is a long time; it must include a lot of history. David's historical "house" -- the dynasty that ruled in Jerusalem -- actually survived intact for more than four centuries. Though his kingdom split into two parts, his descendants ruled in Judah until the Babylonians demolished the capital Jerusalem in 586 bce.
By the time the Angel Gabriel arrived in Mary's house even more history had passed. Several empires had conquered Jerusalem and then collapsed. Oppressed under layers of Roman occupation, Herodian quislings, pompous Pharisees and sanctimonious Essenes, the anawim (the faithful poor) could only hope the "once and future king" -- the Son of David -- would appear.
When a certain young woman prayed, asking the Lord to send his Messiah, she could not have imagined that the Lord had heard her prayer or that she had found favor with God. ​But when the Angel told her "the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father..." she knew exactly what he meant.
These readings from Second Samuel and the Gospel of Luke remind us of who is coming -- the Son of David. That's not a title we often hear, but if we would welcome Jesus we should understand this name.
It invokes the historical dimension of all reality, and of our faith in particular; a history that remains even before those who ignore or deny it. Our historical faith means nothing to those who believe history began the day they were born; or that Christianity began the day they were baptized. Our historical faith means nothing to those who ignore the nineteen centuries between the first and twenty-first. They create a Jesus according to their own fancies without reference to his Davidic lineage or Jewish history. They dismiss the "organized religion" which has kept his memory, the communion which has survived only by the Holy Spirit. "Son of David" reminds us that Jesus, like every child born of woman, comes to us with baggage. He cannot be idealized to fit our theories of what or who the God-Man should be.
The name reminds us that everyone has baggage that cannot be shucked off because it's a bit unseemly. If we welcome that person in whatever form -- as entertainer, pro athlete, politician, lover, spouse -- we must come to terms with their past.
Jesus redeemed his ancient ancestor, the flawed King David. As we welcome the Son of David we invite him to redeem our past as well.