Christmas Reflection

CHRISTMAS REFLECTION: ‘O KEY OF DAVID’

In the week leading up to Christmas, before and after the Magnificat, Mary’s song, which is sung at Vespers, Evening Prayer, there is a different antiphon each day. Each one in this set of antiphons begins with the letter, ‘O’, and expresses our desire and yearning for the Lord’s coming. My favourite antiphon is the one for 20th December,

‘O Key of David, who opens the gates of the eternal kingdom; come and lead from prison the captive sitting in darkness.’

The child born in the stable, is the none other than the Eternal Son of God who has come to share our mortal nature, so that, by faith and the sacraments, we may share his divine and eternal life. The canticle of praise, the Te Deum, sings of Our Lord Jesus Christ overcoming the power of death and opening the kingdom to all believers. The biblical inspiration behind the antiphon, ‘O Key of David’, is found in Revelation. 3:7 and St Luke’s Gospel. 1:79. We call out to Christ to come and rescue us from sin and death and lead us into the light of the Father’s Kingdom.

The Christmas Story has been called the greatest story ever told. It is such a wonderful story, involving a homeless mother to be and her husband, poor shepherds, exotic wisemen, and choirs of angels. There is so much to take in and it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees. We need a key to unlock the meaning of what we see before our eyes. The key I believe is found in St Matthew’s Gospel, where Matthew quotes from the Prophet Isaiah, ‘The virgin is with child and will give birth to a Son and they will call his name Emmanuel, a name which means, God is with us’.

Jesus, God with us, comes to reveal the God he calls Father, and to lead us out of the land of the shadow of death, into the kingdom of light.

Fr Christopher