In today’s Old Testament reading from 2nd Samuel, we hear about King David. Remember, when King David was just a young scrawny boy who used to shepherd sheep? Well, now he is a King! And, in this scripture passage, we hear that the king is doing AWESOME! The kingdom is thriving, the kingdom is at peace — the kingdom is AWESOME as well! King David is relaxing in the HUGE house that he had built for himself. You can picture this, King David goes to the edge of the open window, stretches as he overlooks his kingdom, and then looks down, and what does he notice? That God is in the Ark, and in a tent! King in a castle, God in a tent???? So, King David decides he is going to build a house for God (not a Temple, but a House). Even Nathan (God’s prophet) approves (probably, he didn’t want to disagree with a king?). So, God tells Nathan that he disapproves. God wants to make sure that King David keeps his humility in check. God wants to make sure King David knows, that He takes great pleasure in residing in the House of David, and therefore in the lineage of David, not a building, but rather a people. King David doesn’t immediately understand this, but eventually he does.
A little joke by Anonymous:
A man in Phoenix calls his son in NY a couple of days before Christmas and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.” “Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says, “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so call your sister in Chicago and tell her.” Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like heck they’re getting divorced,” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this.” She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” And hangs up. The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay”, he says “they are coming for Christmas and paying their own way.”
The 4 candles of Advent bring forth the Light of Christ into the darkness of our world. We lit the 1st candle for us to be Watchful, our 2nd candle was lit and we became Hopeful, our 3rd candle was lit and we welled up with Joy, and now that all 4 candles are lit, we are called to be filled with Love for each other.
To truly love God, and each other, we all need to be humbled from time to time. Like King David, like the children in the joke, like me and you. To be humbled keeps us focused on what we are preparing to really celebrate. God taking the initiative to share in our nature Humanity, in order for us to share in his nature Divinity forever!
Let us all be filled with the Light of Christ and truly be watchful, hopeful, joyful, and loving.
Amen!