I believe that God has hopes and desires for all of humanity, each and every one of us. One way that I articulate my own sacramental theology is based on the desires and hopes that God has for us. I believe that God wants us to be welcomed into an experience of faith that is beyond just us personally. I believe God wants us to be welcomed into the community of the Church, SO…we have the Sacrament of Baptism. I believe that God wants to forgive us, SO…we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I believe that God wants to have our faith affirmed and confirmed at a time in life when we are able to make our faith more of our own, SO…we have the Sacrament of Confirmation. I believe that God wants to heal us physically and spiritually, SO… we have the Anointing of the Sick.
Two of the Sacraments may not be for everyone, but God’s desire for us to have long term, committed love relationships that generate family through their fruitfulness is manifest in the Sacrament of Marriage. And God has a desire for some to make lifelong commitments to leadership in the Church, SO…we have the Sacrament of Priesthood.
I also believe that God’s STRONGEST desire is to be with us in a very real way. First, God gave himself to us in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ to be with us in love, and then Jesus’ desire to be with us FOREVER is manifest in the greatest Sacrament, THE EUCHARIST.
God wants to be with us…so we believe that he became one of us and Jesus fulfills the eternal Covenant of God’s presence with us in countless ways, but the most significant, I believe, is in the Eucharist.
God’s desires for us preceded Jesus, obviously, and it is in this vein that we might have a greater appreciation for the connection between the first reading this weekend from the 2nd Book of Samuel and our Gospel passage from Luke.
The first reading tells us that King David, through God’s prompting, comes to a really significant insight. He is living in a royal house made of fine cedar, and God is dwelling in the Ark of the Covenant, which is a temporary dwelling. The human king lives in a beautiful strong secure house. The real KING is basically in a motor home.
God has a desire to be with us, to make a permanent home with us. The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments and signified God’s Law. God wanted to work through David to establish a permanent home with us.
As Christians, then, we believe that Mary provided that dwelling. She bore and nurtured Jesus as the King and provided a home for God in us. As Jesus was born into this world he established himself with us forever, and Mary was the special dwelling that made the manifestation of God’s love, for us and WITH us, possible. Joseph her husband was a descendent of the King, David, and so God’s desire to be with us is foretold and the point of much prophecy; that prophesy we believe is fulfilled in Mary.
This is one of the most significant links in the Judeo-Christian story that tells us of our connection with a God who wants to be connected with us.
Our Gospel this weekend tells us the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that she will conceive and bear a son from the lineage of King David, but that the child she will bear will be the savior of the world, and his kingdom “…will have no end.”
Not only does God want to be with us, God wants to be with us forever. Mary gives birth to forever, and is such a significant vessel for all of humanity to bear Christ forever.
God has found a home in us. God’s desire to be with us is once again made holy by the retelling of David’s insight and Mary’s simple yes to a mysterious message from God.
A God who wants to be with us…forever.