Advent
4B 14
“The Lord God will give to him the
throne of his ancestor David.”
Scripture is clear that Jesus’ descent
from David was important to the early church. But that descent does not seem as
important to us. What does the angel’s word to Mary means to us? How do we
understand Gabriel’s promise, “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David.”
An answer includes two points, one personal
and one political.
David’s personal relationship with God
was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus’ personal
relationship with God the Father is a relationship of love, trust, and
truthfulness. And Jesus offers us a personal relationship of love, trust, and
truthfulness with him and the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus’ time the people looked back to
David’ rule as a political golden age. As they reflected on David’s reign they
came to faith that the Messiah would restore political freedom and social unity. As we await Christ’s final coming to judge
the world and to establish his eternal rule, we also seek both political
freedom and social unity.
But our political history has taught us not
to confuse some particular political situation with God’s perfect rule. The kingdom
of God in our time is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of this world. God
rules in human hearts and wills, regardless of the political situation.
The New Testament has many references to
Jesus as son of David. Both the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke begin with
the list of Jesus’ descent – from Abraham through David and Solomon in St.
Matthew (1:1-14), from Adam through
David and Nathan in St. Luke (3:23-35)
Jesus cites David’s eating the Bread of
the Presence in the house of the Lord in his teaching that the Son of Man is
Lord of the sabbath. (St. Mark 2:23-28,
St. Luke 6:1-5). St. John (7:40-44) cites the tradition that the
Messiah is to be a descendant of David. Two blind men followed Jesus in Galilee
crying loudly, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” (St. Matthew 9:27-31) The
Canaanite woman (St. Matthew 15:21-28 and
St. Mark 7:24-30) shouts to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,
my daughter is tormented by a demon.” When a blind and mute demoniac is healed the
crowd says, “Can this be the Son of David?” (St. Matthew 12:22, St. Mark 3:20-30, and St. Luke 11:14-23, 12:10) Leaving
Jericho Jesus and the disciples hear blind men crying, “Lord, have mercy on us,
Son of David.” [St. Matthew 20:29-34 two
men, St. Mark 10:46-52 blind Bartimaeus, St. Luke 18:35-43 one blind man) The crowds at the Palm Sunday
Triumphal Entry cried out “Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of
the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” (St. Mark 11:9, St. Matthew 21:9 – St. Luke
19:39 has “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” The
account of Jesus putting the Pharisees to silence in three gospels (St. Matthew 22:41-45, St. Mark 12:35-37, St. Luke 20:41-44) depends on the tradition
that the Messiah is David’s son. And in 2 Timothy (2:8) we read, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a
descendant of David – this is my gospel.”
David’s relationship with God was a
relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus shows the same love,
trust, and truthfulness in his relationship with God the Father, and in Jesus
we can have the same relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness with him and
the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.
David loved God, trusted in God, and was
truthful with God. David trusted in God when he defeated the Philistine giant
Goliath with stones thrown from a sling. He and Saul’s son Jonathan became
friends, and he married Saul’s younger daughter Michal. But Saul was jealous
and David fled for his life to Hebron in the south while Saul ruled in the
north. David trusted in God and refused to fight God’s anointed king Saul even
though Saul several times sought David’s life. After Saul died David captured
Jerusalem, and made it the capital of a reunited kingdom, bringing to the city
the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Meeting. He defeated the Philistines
who had controlled the seacoast and the trade route between Egypt and Syria and
ruled all the tribes. David was remembered as a great and just ruler.
But David’s personal life was a mess. He
took Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, and when her husband Uriah the
Hittite refused to condone David’s behavior David had him killed in battle. But
then when the prophet Nathan charged him with his sin, David recognized the
truth and repented. David was an
over-indulgent parent. He did not punish his firstborn son Amnon when he raped
his half-sister Tamar. He did not punish his second son Absalom, Tamar’s full
brother, when Absalom murdered Amnon, and later rose in rebellion against
David. Absalom died in that rebellion When Absalom’s brother Adonijah sought
the throne. David arranged for Bathsheba’s son Solomon to succeed as king.
Politically things went downhill from then on. After Solomon the kingdom
divided and the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah fought for 200 years until
Assyria conquered Israel in 722, and Babylonia took Judah in 586.
David was the standard by whom the
people judged all succeeding rulers. They came to believe that only the Messiah
could restore political freedom and unity. Jesus had to explain again and again
that the kingdom of God is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of the
world. The kingdom of God is God’s eternal rule in human hearts and wills, regardless
of the political situation. Even the disciples found this hard to understand. After
the resurrection, as Jesus led them to the Mount of Olives to take his final
farewell and ascend to the Father the disciples asked, “Lord, will you now
restore the kingdom to Israel ?”
Our own political history has taught us not
to confuse some particular political situation with God’s perfect rule. The
kingdom of God is not a political kingdom like the kingdoms of the world. The rule
of God is in human hearts and wills, regardless of the political situation
David’s personal relationship with God
was a relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness. Jesus’ personal
relationship with God the Father was a relationship of love, trust, and
truthfulness. And Jesus offers us a personal relationship of love, trust, and
truthfulness with him and the Father in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is a son of
David. In baptism we are made members of the Body of Christ, and so we share in
Jesus’ descent from David. God grant that we may show forth in our lives the
same relationship of love, trust, and truthfulness that David enjoyed with God,
and that Jesus makes possible for us by his death for our sins, his
resurrection in which we have new life, and his gift of the Holy Spirit of
truth and power given us for eternity.
“The Lord God will give to him the
throne of his ancestor David.”
