Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Year A
Reading: Jeremiah 23: 5-8
Responsorial Psalm: PS 72: 1-2; 12-13; 18-19
“Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever”
Gospel: Matthew 1: 18-24
Jeremiah 23:5 – “I will raise up a righteous shoot to David”
Here is a glorious statement from God our Father. While David was raised by his human parents, the shoot of David, our Lord Jesus Christ, was raised, or to put it another way, brought into being by His Holy Father through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ kinship to David is via His earthly father, Joseph. While Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary entered the family of David via marriage to Joseph. This is the confirmation of the direct line back to David. This is our shoot springing from the earthly family tree of David.
I love the connections between the two testaments. The promise of the Old Testament is brought to fruition in the New. The basis described in the Old Testament is affirmed and revealed in its glory in the New.
There are many examples of this as I read my Bible. Jesus is the fulfilment of all of the promises of which we read all the way back to Genesis.
Jesus remains our fulfilment now and all the way to his return.
Pray for all those who need your forgiveness today.
With thanks to Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, who have supplied these daily Advent and Christmas 2019 reflections from their publication Daily Inspirations of Faith: A Season of Prayer – Advent to Epiphany 2019-20.
