Friends, in today’s Gospel from Luke, we find the Annunciation to Mary. Here is what Gabriel said to the Virgin: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. . . . The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

No first-century Israelite would have missed the meaning here: this child shall be the fulfillment of the promise made to King David.

And this means that the child is, in fact, the King of the world, the one who would bring unity and peace to the nations. The conviction grew upon Israel that this mysterious descendant of David would be king—not just for a time and not just in an earthly sense, but forever and for all nations. This definitive King of the Jews would be King of the world. He would be our King, as well.