Be of good cheer! The end of our waiting time is near! It is no surprise that today’s scriptures focus on prophecies about the coming of our Messiah, the Son of God. One is centuries old at this Nativity: the prophet Nathan bringing God’s word to King David. The second prophecy comes just months before Jesus’ birth: Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, speaks of his newborn son and the Great One who will come after him. John is to herald the coming of the Messiah.

The passage from 2 Samuel shows King David, comfortably established on the throne of Israel, telling Nathan of his great discomfort. He, the king, lives in a palace while the Ark of the Covenant, holding the stone tablets of God’s Law, sits in a tent! Nathan calms David and tells him to do what he wants: the Lord is with him. That night, the Lord gives Nathan a message for David: Consider all that I, the Lord, have done for you! More is to come! There will be a great house established for you and all your descendants, and “I will raise up your heir, I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.” This son of the House of David will be God’s own Son.

Luke’s Gospel has the words of Zechariah in praise and blessing of the Lord, the God of Israel, the prophecy so adoring and powerful, like the psalms and hymns of the Old Testament, that it is called “The Canticle of Zechariah.” To John, he says, “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High…” This newborn Child we all await will lead us out of darkness and the shadow of death into the way of peace. Hosanna!

Let Us Pray:

Rejoice! The Lord is near! Our Savior, God’s Son, who is Christ the Lord, now comes to us. Let us with love receive and revere this baby of Bethlehem and the perpetual Gift he brings: Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Redeemer. Amen.