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Commentary
Thursday, December 18, 2008
“God so loved the world”
C hristians are about to celebrate the birth of a man known during his lifetime as Jeshua Binzaret,
Jesus of Nazareth. He was named “Jeshua, ” the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name “Joshua, ”
which means “Yahweh saves. ” He was called “of Nazareth ” because he grew up in that town of
Galilee, far from the centers ofpower and culture in the ancient world, like Rome and Athens, and a
fair distance even from Jerusalem, the capital of the former Kingdom of Judah and Israel, now mere
ly the seat of the Roman puppet King Herod.
Jeshua Binzaret spent most of his life in the
obscurity of Nazareth as a carpenter, following in
the footsteps of his foster father, Joseph. There, he
“worked with human hands; he thought with a
human mind. He acted with a human will, and
with a human heart he loved” (Second Vatican
Council,Gaudium et Spes, 22 § 2).
When he was about 30 years of age, Jesus went
south to Judea and “was baptized by John in the
Jordan” {Mark 1:9). When John the Baptist was
arrested, Jesus took up his mission in Galilee and
proclaimed, “This is the time of fulfillment. The
kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in
the gospel” {Mark 1:15). This proclamation
echoes John’s preaching: “Repent, for the king
dom of heaven is at hand” {Matthew 3:2). Jeshua
Binzaret added two things to John’s message: the
statement that the time of fulfillment is now,
indeed is present in him, and the invitation and
challenge to believe in the gospel, the Good News
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of
God {Mark 1:1).
Widely recognized as a prophet “mighty in
words and works,” Jesus of Nazareth was never
theless feared by the Pharisees, with whom he
held much doctrine in common, although he criti
cized their hypocrisy, by the Sadducees, with
whom he had fundamental differences about their
emphasis on sacrificial worship, and by the
Romans, who feared that his teaching had political
implications. The result was that all three groups
banded together and had him crucified at Passover
time, probably in the year 30 a.d.
Yet his followers claimed that they had seen him
alive after his death and that his resurrection from
the dead confirmed their belief that he was the
Messiah, the Christ, the Lord’s anointed.
Saul ha-Tarsi (Saul of Tarsus), a zealous Phari
see, was bent on eradicating the Christian move
ment. After persecuting the Christian community
in Jerusalem, approving the stoning of Saint
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Saul was head
ed to Damascus in Syria to squash the Christian
movement there, when he encountered the Risen
Christ on the road. Saul’s conversion was instanta
neous. Known as Paul, he became the first Chris
tian writer, rightly considered the “Second
Founder of Christianity.” Saint Paul’s concern was
always with the Cmcified and Risen Christ. He
admitted that he did not know Jesus of Nazareth in
the flesh. He limits his discussion of the earthly
origins of Jesus to one passage in Galatians (4:4):
“But when the fullness of time had come, God
sent his son, bom of a woman, bom under the law,
to ransom those under the law, so that we might
receive adoption.”
From Easter to Christmas
For the first three centuries of the Christian era,
Christians celebrated the Eucharist as the memori
al of Christ’s death and resurrection every Sunday,
the day of Resurrection, soon adding a yearly
commemoration of the Paschal Mystery of the
Lord’s dying and rising at Passover time in the
spring (Easter).
But only after the legalization of Christianity by
the Emperor Constantine in 311 do we find wide
spread evidence of a celebration of the birth of
Jeshua Binzaret. For one thing, the exact year
(apparently about 4-6 a.d.) and date of his birth
were unknown. For another, it had taken several
generations for Christians to gather together the
traditions of his early life, prompted by the grow
ing awareness that it mattered greatly who he was
and what he did, and not just what happened to
him in his passion. Messiahship was not some
thing that Jesus “put on” at a later date (for exam
ple, at his resurrection, as some have inferred from
Paul’s passage in Romans 1:3-4 or at his baptism,
as Mark’s Gospel seems to suggest), but was
intrinsic to his earthly existence.
As this conviction grew, so too did the desire to
celebrate the birth of the Messiah. In the East, the
Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) eventually
became the primary observance of Christ’s birth.
In the West, Christmas replaced the Roman feast
of the Unconquered Sun {sol invictus) on
December 25. On (approximately) the darkest
night of the year, the birth of the one recognized
as the Light of the World is celebrated.
The Latin Church’s liturgical celebration of the
birth of the Son of God begins with the Solemnity
of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ—Christ
mas—and continues through the Solemnity of the
Epiphany to the Baptism of the Lord. The (more
or less) Twelve Days of Christmas offer believers
a yearly opportunity to reflect on the mystery that
God “so loved the world that he gave his only-
begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have everlasting life” {John 3:16).
At the Vigil Mass of Christmas, we hear Saint
Matthew’s account of Christ’s birth. At the Mid
night Mass, Saint Luke’s account is read. Both
accounts make the same theological point, in nar
rative form, that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-
awaited Messiah, the Christ, the Lord’s anointed,
from the first moment of his conception.
At Masses during Christmas Day, the magnifi
cent prologue of the Gospel according to John is
proclaimed. In it, the fourth evangelist sets out his
great vision that the eternal Word of God, which
was “with God” from the beginning and, indeed,
“was God,” became “flesh” at a particular time
and in a particular place. The Word “pitched his
tent among us” in Jeshua Binzaret, Jesus of Na
zareth, who has given to those who believe in him
the power to become children of God {John 1:12).
—DKC
Stars of Advent
By Father Michael H. Smith
hose most intimately involved
in the coming of Christ already
evidenced the way of life that Jesus
would invite all to share.
Think of the relationship of Mary
and Elizabeth evidenced in the
Visitation. Humanly both were in
the same boat, experiencing their
first pregnancy, but one much older
than the other. Both were carrying
sons who would play a momentous
role in God’s plan for humanity.
The younger in fact was greater,
but she took the initiative to leave
home and spend three months car
ing for her older relative whose
husband Zachary had been struck
dumb for lack of faith. Probably
Mary shared the joy of John’s birth,
when Zachary’s tongue was loosed
to speak the praise of God’s great
initiative.
But Mary was also deeply
blessed by her visit. Elizabeth was
the first human companion to call
her blessed, blessed among women,
blessed for the child she bore,
blessed for believing in the Word
she had heard. The humble hand
maid was already being exalted by
her elder cousin. She in turn exalts
God who was doing such great
things for them both. i
There is nothing of rivalry or
competitiveness, only respect,
cooperation and mutual support to
accomplish the tasks that God has
chosen to assign them.
Think of the relationship between
John the Baptist and Jesus, who
probably shared some contact with
each other growing up. John may
have had the harder job. He had to
stir up a sleeping Israel who had
been without a prophetic voice for
some centuries. To kings and
priests he spoke without fear, open
ing many hearts to seek and many
ears to be listening for what God
was about to do.
But nothing for himself, “I am i
not the Messiah, not the prophet”;
John said, “I am a voice in the
desert preparing the way for one
much greater than 1.1 baptize with
water; he with the Spirit. I must
decrease; he must increase.” And
decrease John did. Locked in
prison his head was taken on a plat
ter to satisfy the whim of a resent
ful and jealous woman. But this
cleared the stage for Jesus to begin
to preach, and literally prepared the
way for him who was to be cruci
fied by these same religious lead
ers.
Jesus exalted the importance of
John even as he was about to be
executed. “No one bom of woman
is greater than John. He is a
prophet and more than a prophet.”
John is the voice who prepared the
way for the one who is himself the
Word and the Way. Again, nothing
of human rivalry and competitive
ness; only respect and cooperation
to carry out the work God has
assigned to each.
Think of Joseph, the carpenter
blessed to have Mary as his bride
to be. No doubt he was looking for
ward to being the father of her chil
dren. Then the shattering and
shocking news, “I am with child,
God has asked me to conceive the
promised one.” What was he to do
now? Joseph could only think he
must step aside as God wanted
Mary for himself. But humbly and
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