Today’s first reading offers a prophecy that God’s ancient covenant with Israel is secure and reliable, even as it may come about in an unexpected manner. It provides assurance that God’s covenant with David — the one “from ancient days” — is eternal and is still active, even as Judah is under threat.

The covenant will be fulfilled with a new leader in the line of David. Yet this new ruler will rise not from Jerusalem, the royal city, but from Bethlehem, a small village. He will not exercise military might like the Assyrians but will be one of peace who provides for his people as a shepherd. There are several allusions to David in the image of this ruler, including his birthplace of Bethlehem, which was also the birthplace of David, and his pastoral image as shepherd, David’s occupation. This is how we know that the coming of Jesus was foretold and anticipated many years before his coming.

In the Responsorial Psalm, David himself, cries out to God for a savior whose light will shine on the world. He describes the state of the world and its sinners as the vine which God has planted with his right hand but is burned with fire and its people perished with sin. David speaks of the man at God’s right hand, the son of man that he has raised up for himself. Jesus is the one David is referring to. The Lord will restore us and make his face shine on us so we may be saved from the darkness of this world. The birth of Jesus was predicted, prayed for, and was greatly anticipated by our ancestors long before his arrival.

In the Gospel reading, the joy of the coming of Jesus is expressed by the interaction between Mother Mary and Elizabeth when Mary visits her cousin while pregnant with Jesus. Elizabeth is elated and she is already aware of who her cousin is bearing in her womb.

In joy she exclaims that Mary is blessed among all women to bear the Lord Jesus and even questions why she is favored to have such a blessing to be visited by the Lord. She is so excited that her son John, who is in her womb leaps for joy at being near Jesus.

One can only imagine the sheer delight in knowing that the one who everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived: the savior, the light, and the shepherd of the world.

PRAYER: Abba Father, thank you for sending your only son, to save us from darkness. Thank you for shining your face upon us. Amen.