A reading from the second book of Samuel (7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16)
Once the king had settled into his house and the Lord had granted him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a cedar-wood house, while the ark of God is housed in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.’ But that very night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the Lord, Are you to build me a house for me to live in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you wherever you went; I have cut off all your enemies for you. I am making your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I am providing a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times, ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also tells you that he will make you a House. And when your days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you, and I shall make his sovereignty secure. I shall be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong, I shall punish him with a rod such as human beings use, with blows such as humans give. But my faithful love will never be withdrawn from him, as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure.” ’
David has established himself as king in Jerusalem, and tells the prophet Nathan of his plan to build a temple for the Lord, to provide a permanent home for the ark of the covenant, the abiding sign of God’s saving presence with Israel. Nathan initially approves of David’s plan, but is then told by God to return to the king with the words: ‘are you to build me a house (bayit) for me to live in?’ There are multiple meanings in the Hebrew term: temple, house, royal dynasty. God lists the various ways in which God has supported David, and promises enduring solidarity. It is God who will build the house (bayit) of David. God will care for David’s descendants too, punishing their offences, but never taking back his ‘faithful love’ (hesed). God will make their ‘sovereignty’ (mamlakah) secure.
Psalm 89 (88) God promises a continuing covenant (berit) with David, a dynasty which lasts, and love (hesed) which endures.
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans (16:25-27)
And now to him who can make you strong
in accordance with my gospel
and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
in accordance with the mystery
kept secret for long ages
but now made clear through the writings of the prophets,
and by the command of the eternal God,
made known to all nations,
for the obedience of faith,
to him, the only wise God,
through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The Letter to the Romans ends with these words, an extensive doxology which acknowledges the gifts of God through Jesus Christ. Paul speaks again of ‘my gospel’ (euaggelion), the Christian ‘preaching’ (kerygma) and the ‘mystery’ (mysterion) which is now revealed. As he had at the beginning of the letter (1:5), he calls for the ‘obedience of faith’ required of both Jew and Gentile believers. The letter concludes: ‘Glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.’
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (1:26-38)
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice full of grace! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and pondered what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. Look! You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ In answer the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And see, your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she who was said to be barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’
Mary said, ‘Here I am, the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’ And the angel left her.
The ‘throne of David’ links the gospel of the annunciation to Mary with the words of God to David through the voice of Nathan. Just as Joseph was faced with a choice in the gospel of Matthew, so is Mary of Nazareth in the gospel of Luke. Rather than simply speaking of the ‘angel of the Lord’ Luke names the ‘angel Gabriel’, known from the book of Daniel. Gabriel addresses the young girl with the title ‘full of grace’ (kecharitomene), which is derived from the Greek term for ‘grace’ (charis). In Luke’s account it is Mary who is to give the name ‘Jesus’ to her son. Mary’s question about how this birth will come about leads to Luke’s explanation of a conception by the coming of the Holy Spirit, reminiscent of the explanation given to Joseph in Matthew (1:20). The pregnancy of the elderly Elizabeth is given as a sign to Mary. Mary’s answer to the angel ends the suspense when she says: ‘let it happen to me as you have said’. The fiat of Mary allows the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, to be conceived in her womb and to be born into the human race.
How does the annunciation to Mary differ from that to Joseph in Matthew 1?
The name ‘Jesus’ (yehoshua‘ / yeshua‘) means ‘the Lord saves’.