Freedom Is Coming…Tommorow:

SUNDAY BREAD

By John Abraham Ayieko

2 Samuel 7:1-5. 8b-12. 14a; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

At the homestretch of our prayerful waiting, our hearts can now intone the famous song in the movie ‘Sarafina’; a song belted with verve and charisma epitomizing the growing impatience of South Africans seeking to bring to an end the apartheid era. ‘Freedom is coming tomorrow,’ we may now sing too on this last Sunday of Advent.

At last, a prophecy made to David through Prophet Nathan must come to pass; “I will fix a place for my people Israel… I will give you rest from all your enemies… I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever…” (2 Samuel 7:10-13).

The Prophet is immediately talking about Solomon; and remotely about Jesus Christ the son of David, through whose baptism we receive the spirit that allows us to cry “Abba Father!” (Romans 8:15; Gal 4:6); a spirit that makes us daughters and sons of God by adoption. Through this spirit, we are freed from all forms of slavery. The son is surely coming on Christmas day to free us, for ‘if a son frees you, then you will truly be free’ (John 8:36).

This son of David it is, who would in time destroy the temple of his own body and ‘…raise it up in three days’ (John 2:20). This Son of David it is who would become a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrew 7:17). He will soon be here to set us free from the excesses of Mosaic law; to transform us from being children of the law to children of a promise – “children, not of the slave woman but of the free born woman” (Gal 4:28-31).

Freedom is coming tomorrow. A tomorrow of that salvific ‘hour…when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…’ (John 4:23). Just imagine what Christmas is bringing to all of us who believe…

The betrothal of Mary ‘…to a man named Joseph of the house of David’ (Luke 1:27) fulfils Prophet Nathan’s prophecy. The angel even adds that ‘…the LORD God will give him the throne of David his Father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever’ (Luke 1:33).

We should not hesitate to wonder then if our Christian experience can boast of this freedom that is beckoning. We should search our hearts to ascertain whether our lives reflect the privilege of being daughters and sons of our Father.

Are we able to call God ‘Abba Father’ with unfeigned affection? Could it be the case that some of us still live in fear as though there were still powers that can threaten our Father’s Absoluteness? The fact that these unfoldings were already recorded in prophetic writings fills St. Paul with genuine joy, and he tells the Romans as much in our second reading (Romans 16:26).

What then can prevent us from marvelling at the power of our eternal God? What can prevent us from making every moment, a moment of thanksgiving, and of praise and adoration of such a loving God? What can prevent us from waiting for the coming of the ‘hour’ when our new identity will be that of freedom? Freedom will soon be here in the humble form of a little child in a manger!

LET US SPEND THIS WEEK PUTTING OUR HOUSES IN ORDER. LET US ESPECIALY SEE WHAT SLAVERIES AND WHAT ENEMIES WE WISH TO PRESENT AT THE HOUR OF LIBERATION. JESUS, THE SON OF DAVID WILL SOON BE HERE!