Promises, Promises

Fourth Sunday of Advent

One of the things we learn from a very early is that we are supposed to keep our promises.  When we say something, we are supposed to stand behind what we say and follow through.  Sometimes it requires that special phrasing, “I promise I’ll give you $20 if you drink that milk that’s 5 days past the expiration date.”  Sometimes it is expressed by a handshake or a signature.  In any case, we expect that when someone tells us that something will be done, it will.  We can just hear the kids whining when they don’t get something they thought they were told they were: “Awwww, but you promised!”

It seems like promises don’t hold the same weight as they did before, though.  Some people still stand behind their word alone (without the words, “I promise” or a signature).  But those people seem to be in a minority.  It’s almost expected now in contracts that there is some special language which basically backs a person out the guarantee that was made, so that it’s only the rarest of cases where a business has to stand behind what it promised (with all the fine print that alleviates them from that burden).  When a man and woman have sex, they make a promise with their bodies that they give all of who they are, past, present, and future, to the other (which is why sex is made for marriage), and yet how often, in the culture of hook-ups, friends with benefits, and one-night stands is that promise broken, leading to many broken hearts and lives.  And, when a child is conceived after sex, an implicit promise is made to the infant in the womb, that the mother and father will take care of that child, but how often is that promise broken through abortion or an absentee parent!  In marriage, a promise is made to love each other above the self for life, no matter what happens.  And while sometimes separation and divorce follow because of abuse, or something that only became known after the marriage which would have changed the mind of at least one of the spouses getting married, we live in the no-fault divorce culture, so that if you simply grow tired of living with the same person, you can go your separate ways.  We live in a world of broken promises.

In the midst of all these broken promises, we hear good news today: God is the one who always keeps His promises.  These promises are kept most perfectly in Jesus.  In the first reading, we heard about how David would always have an heir on the throne, and that his kingdom and throne would endure forever.  The Jews were waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.  Not for hundreds of years had Judah had a king.  For hundreds of years they had been ruled by foreign powers, who had appointed puppet kings to help govern the people.  But it seemed like David’s throne and kingdom were only a thing of the past.

But what the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary is that the child that will be conceived in her womb is God (“Son of the Most High,” he says), and God will give Him the throne of David, His father.  This makes sense as Mary was a descendant of David.  But the family of David was long past its ruling days.  So God is making good on His promise to David, and in Jesus the throne of David would endure forever, since Jesus’ rule has no end.  In Jesus, the promise made to David is fulfilled.

But Jesus also fulfills an older promise that God had made.  After Adam and Eve had sinned against God, God laid out the consequences of sin.  For the serpent, the consequence is that there would be a battle between the serpent and the woman, “and between your offspring and hers.”  Eve’s children would always fight against the spawn of the evil one.  But God promises a savior to Adam and Eve, a victor in the battle, when He says, “‘He [the offspring] will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.’”  God promises to end the battle, once and for all, by a male offspring of Eve, who will strike the serpent at its head, killing it.  Jesus is that offspring of Adam and Eve, since he takes human nature upon Himself in the Incarnation.  Though Satan strikes at Jesus on the cross and uses all his influence to get Jesus killed, by Jesus’ death and resurrection, He destroys the kingdom of Satan and restores the kingdom of David, the kingdom of God, for all time.  

God has made a promise to us, and He has fulfilled it in Jesus.  He has promised to be our God, and we His People.  In Jesus, humanity is forever married to divinity, and God and His People are inseparably joined.  God has promised to dwell with us.  In Jesus, we see Emmanuel: God-with-us.  God never breaks His promise.  He is ever-faithful, even if it seems like He has forgotten.  Think of the Jews who were waiting for the kingdom of David to be restored.  It was almost 1,000 years until Jesus came.  And those Jews who do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah are still waiting.  But they know that God will fulfill His promise.  

God has promised to be with us.  In the midst of the myriad broken promises that surround us, God reminds us that He can be trusted.  And only living as disciples of Jesus can enable us to live up to the promises we make on this earth.  What good news it is for us that God keeps His promises!  May that inspire us to keep ours.