My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the time!!! And all the time!!! God is Good!!!
In our first reading, King David finds it disconcerting that he resides in a beautiful palace with aromatic cedar paneling while God’s Ark of the Covenant rests in a simple tent. David’s prophet encourages the king to take whatever steps he has in mind. But God corrects David’s thinking. Despite all the resources he now has at his disposal, David is in no position to do God any favors. Such thinking could lead to serious missteps. And, in fact, it does as later chapters make clear (see 2 Sm 10–12).
Birth announcements were part of the royal culture of ancient times. The purpose of a birth announcement was to declare something very significant about the identity of the newborn child. Mary and Joseph, however, are not part of royal culture. They come from the peasantry. No one expected anything exceptional to come from the peasantry. But, as the angel Gabriel will remind Mary toward the end of this Gospel, “Nothing will be impossible for God.”
The birth announcement. Birth announcements are found not only in ancient secular cultures. They are present in the Old Testament (Gen 16:11–12; Jgs 13:5, 7; Is 7:14). Their purpose is to show that God is at work unfolding salvation history. The one receiving the announcement is urged not to be afraid. The name of the newborn is often given and the mother is declared to be in God’s favor. The actual birth is announced and the important future role of the child is described. Luke has taken those basic ingredients and shaped them into the birth announcement of Jesus.
Mary’s response. Keeping in mind that Mary is a peasant girl, it is easy to understand just how overwhelming the angel Gabriel’s message must have been. There is nothing in her experience that provides Mary with any clues for making sense of what she has been told. She finds it troubling as she ponders its possible meaning. Throughout all of this, it is important to keep in mind who the main character of this narrative really is. God is the main character. Mary has found favor with God and it is God who will bring about this most extraordinary event in and through a very ordinary person.
The identity of Jesus. Key to this birth announcement is the disclosure of who this newborn child is. The angel Gabriel carefully unfolds this identity. His name is Jesus which means God saves. He will be called Son of the Most High, which means that he is the Son of God. He will carry on the great Davidic dynasty of king David. He will rule this dynasty forever. He will be the anointed one, the Messiah. He will be conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit reemphasizing that he will be God’s Son. Mary is indeed the handmaid of the Lord who has the courage to believe that nothing is impossible for God.
Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius