David and Elizabeth: Homily for Tuesday, January 23, 2024

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David jumps before the Ark of the Covenant. Saint John the Baptist leaps in the womb of Elizabeth before Jesus in the womb of Mary, the Ark of the Covenant.

David and Elizabeth

And so the parish dinner is born. In some ways, that was the thing that struck me today, although it’s not what I’m going to spend most of my time, is that what does David do in the midst of all of this joy and celebration, bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem?

That was critically important. We’ll talk about that in a minute. But he wants to make sure that everybody has a good time, that it’s an event of community. And how does he do this? What is the concrete action that he takes? Well, it’s the parish dinner.

He kind of foresaw our roast beef dinner in the fall, perhaps. I don’t know. But everybody gets something. Everybody shares a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake. It’s not a bad dinner, actually. Maybe that should be our fall menu. I don’t know.

But it talks, firstly, about something that’s important, which is that we have each other. Whether it’s in joy or in hardship, we are not alone. And that’s what really is critically important. I think of so many moments in my life where I have been edified by the ways in which people have come together, either in sadness and loss to console and to support each other, or in celebration and joy because of some great accomplishment.

That’s the loving neighbor part of the two great commandments. We also get the loving God part in this reading as well. From ancient days of the church, from the earliest days of the church, Mary, the mother of God, one of her titles was as the Ark of the Covenant. We might wonder, well, why? What does she have to do with the Ark of the Covenant?

Well, David helps us to see here, and I don’t have time to go through it all, but I will try to be brief enough to give a sense of this. So, David is recognizing the reason this whole thing is important to him. He’s recognizing the reason this whole thing is important to him is that one of the things that David never loses sight of, even when he sins, is his relationship with God.

When he’s at his best, it’s because of all of the great things that God has enabled him to accomplish. And when he’s at his worst, he always goes back to God for forgiveness. He is a great example to us. The fact that these two kingdoms have been united, which is a very tenuous union always, this isn’t going to last. It’s always going to be a problem.

The northern kingdom is, quite frankly, going to lose all of its stake in the kingdom. The southern kingdom, Judah, David’s kingdom, that’s going to be the kingdom that endures, even though it, too, is going to endure in a different way.

So, he brings the Ark of the Covenant, the sign and the presence of God into the city of Jerusalem. He ultimately will want to build a temple for that Ark of the Covenant, but we know Solomon does that. And he’s overwhelmed with joy. And so he dances in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. He’s so happy and excited that all of these great things have happened.

My guess is that tomorrow, oh, no, it isn’t. Okay, I stand corrected. I thought tomorrow he was going to get scolded for all of his joy dancing, not quite naked, in the presence of the Ark of the Lord, but close. But this is the thing. This foreshadows the way in which his descendants will be followers of God.

Who is it that dances in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant as well? Saint John the Baptist. He leaps for joy in the womb of Mary. Mary is the Ark of the Covenant because in Mary dwells the divine Son of God. Hence, they said, logically, well, Mary is like the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, there are all kinds of other parallels that will be too long for to go into today, but it reminds us in everything, do we think first of our relationship with God and our need to support each other? In joy or sadness, can we come before the Lord and recognize that we are the people of God?

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