In today’s Gospel, we have the arrival of the angel Gabriel, who invites Mary to rejoice that she has been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. Classical artists tend to depict Mary as a docile young woman, often kneeling in prayer as she accepts the awesome invitation. Mary is also eminently practical and asks the angel to explain how this will be possible since she has no husband. Mary is testing the wisdom of the message she has received. She is being invited to risk her reputation and perhaps even her life. She would also have known that her parents would have been disgraced in their community because of their daughter’s shame. The angel, in reply, is able to offer compelling evidence that the invitation to Mary is genuine. We know that the story of Jesus unfolded to reveal all sorts of joy and sorrow, contradictions and challenges, leading to His death on the cross of a criminal and, ultimately, His resurrection in glory.
We use all sorts if imagery for holiness and commitment. Our readings today use the imagery of the dwelling places of God. David doesn’t get to finish the work and it falls to his son, Solomon, to complete the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. God’s promise to David was to make David himself the house. His family line would be forever blessed, and this was achieved through the birth of Jesus. We use the image of the house for many aspects of our lives. Our political institutions are often named “houses.” “House of David” meant the entire chosen people of God can be both our physical place of public worship and the house of our hearts. Wat type of house can we make for God this Christmas, at the end of the year in which our own homes may have been places of refuge and safety but also places of restriction and confinement, away from family and friends? What did we learn about the things that make our houses good places to be? How can we be more fully the house of God as we go forth to love and serve the Lord this Christmas? We remember that the first house of God was a stable and that he had to rely on the shelter offered by strangers. Are we able to take this as our model for the Christian life?