First reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16
Psalm: Ps 89:2-5,27,29
Epistle: Romans 16:25-27
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?’
Let us consider David’s ambitious plan. David, chosen by God as King, anointed by Samuel, proclaimed by the elders of the tribes of Israel, blessed with victory, strong cities, wives and children. David paused to look back at all the Lord had done for him and felt a sort of regret. He saw that he was blessed by God while the Ark of God dwelt in a tent. David decided that he had to fix that, to raise God up to his level. Let me say that again, David wanted to raise God to his level.
I suppose we could say that David’s reaction was very human. God did a lot for him and he wanted to honor and glorify God. He wanted to do something tangible, well noticed. A temple fit that bill.
Much of Christianity is like that as well. We are thankful for the blessings we have received. We want to honor and praise God, so we build great edifices to His glorious and All Holy Name.
In both instances, with David and with us, God reaches out and says: ‘what are you doing?’
God reminds David:
—It was I who took you from the pasture
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.—
God didn’t need a temple to accomplish those things. God wasn’t aggrieved because His Ark dwelt in a tent. God only gets upset when people fail to render the one thing He really desires — faithfulness. This is where David slipped up.
When you read through Samuel you see David acting in faithfulness to God. When he was about to slay Goliath he said:
“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down…
and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.”
David relied on God, God whose Ark dwelt in a tent. He proclaimed his faithfulness and trust in God before Goliath and the Philistine army.
When David was presented with an opportunity to kill Saul, who had taken up arms against David, and had sought to kill David, David stood before Saul and said:
Lo, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave; and some bade me kill you, but I spared you. I said, `I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.’
David trusted in God’s providence, in God’s blessing, in God’s way. David was faithful to God, God whose Ark dwelt in a tent. He didn’t need to take matters into his own hands. Rather he decided to rely upon God.
Consider David’s acts of faithfulness. God didn’t bless David because David was a keen architect or a great temple builder. God blessed David because David was faithful. David tripped in wanting to build this temple because he missed that very point. He was comfortable and did not recognize that God, Whose Spirit had been upon him since Samuel’s anointing, did not need to dwell as David dwelt. God had no need for a temple, or for sacrifices, but only desired faithfulness. David couldn’t match God’s heavenly dwelling, but he could give God the dwelling God wanted, a faithful heart.
Temples and churches are fine places and they are necessary places. We rightly glorify God in our use of these places, but they are ultimately useless unless we enter in faithfulness.
Brothers and sisters,
Today we see a proper example of faithfulness. The Blessed Virgin’s response to Gabriel’s message is the definition of faithfulness:
—Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.——¨
May it be done to me according to Your word is an amazing example of accepting all God wants of us. Mary didn’t enter into negotiations, she didn’t have ideas as to the how, when, and where. She asked, God told her, it was enough. Her response was —Amen.— Mary simply accepted and kept faith.
My friends,
As we approach our celebration of the Incarnation let us focus on the necessity of faithfulness. Paul says it very simply when he calls on us to glorify “Him who can strengthen you.”
Paul tells us that God has revealed Himself and —is made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith.—
The obedience of faith is faithfulness. Christ’s coming challenges us. We must step outside of what we know. We must throw away everything that binds us, that might cause us to think that we need to raise God to our level. God does not need our help in that respect. God has built His temple among us – it is the body of Christ.
David took the wrong path in attempting to please God. He couldn’t build a house of stone as God’s dwelling. That house of stone was only stone, for worship of something other. God must be at home in our hearts and in our works. We must show forth God’s presence in faithfulness. Having turned ourselves over to God and God’s desires we can stand and worship Him, in His Holy Church, in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
The right path is to be faithful to God, to His commands, and to His Gospel. If we do those things, if we pray that God use us as He sees fit, if we turn it all over to Him in complete trust, then God will honor and bless us. God will not ask us: ‘what are you doing?’ He will simply say:
‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:23).
Amen.