The Gospel of St. Matthew and the Virgin Birth

The scriptures and the beliefs of our church prepare us for the mystery of Christmas. God came among us as a Child and both Old and New Testaments offer God’s promise to recreate our world in its original image. We’re called to become like little children ourselves. Last night, we spoke about the spirituality of the child.

Tonight we reflect on the Gospel of Matthew and how the birth of Jesus came about.

“Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means “God is with us.”

When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

He had no relations with her until she bore a son,^* and he named him Jesus.”

Matthew’s account is summarized in the creed. “I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God…who by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary.”

Is this true? Here’s Pope Benedict:

“The answer is an unequivocal yes. Karl Barth pointed out that there are two moments in the story of Jesus when God intervenes directly in the material world: the virgin birth and the resurrection from the tomb, in which Jesus did not remain, nor see corruption. These two moments are a scandal to the modern spirit. God is “allowed” to act in ideas and thoughts, in the spiritual domain–but not in the material. That is shocking. He does not belong there. But that is precisely the point. God is God and he does not operate merely on the level of ideas. In that sense, what is at stake in both of these moments is God’s very godhead. The question that they raise is: does matter also belong to him?

“Naturally we may not ascribe to God anything nonsensical or irrational, or anything that contradicts his creation. But here we are not dealing with the irrational or contradictory, but precisely with God’s creative power, embracing the whole of being. In that sense, these two moments – the virgin birth and the real resurrection from the tomb–are the cornerstones of faith. If God does not have the power over matter then he is simply not God. But he does have this power, and through the conception and resurrection of Jesus Christ he has ushered in a new creation.  So as the Creator he is also our Redeemer. Hence the conception and birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary is a fundamental element of our faith and a radiant sign of hope.”

(The Infancy Narratives: Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI,  pp 56-57 )

Preaching Jesus Christ

I do some preaching, so at a recent meeting of my community on preaching I put my two cents in. For what they’re worth here are some  thoughts:

Question:  What shall we preach?

We shouldn’t preach ourselves. Certainly, tomorrow as today and yesterday, we must preach Christ Crucified, the core mystery that’s been handed down to us. To preach about Jesus we should open the scriptures to people as Jesus himself did.

We should preach about Jesus Christ with the help of recent scriptural and historical studies that offer new insights into mysteries “ever ancient, ever new.” We also have new ways to communicate God’s word, like the internet that hosts this blog; the future will surely bring us more resources for communicating our message. We should use everything we can.

I like the way Pope Benedict preaches about Jesus, especially in his books, Jesus of Nazareth, where he presents a picture of Jesus Christ from the gospels, using modern scholarship along with insights from the tradition of the church.

Popes in recent times generally approached modern biblical scholarship with a lot of caution.  Benedict uses it with ease and appreciation, “with a profound gratitude for all that it has given and continues to give to us. It has opened to us a wealth of material and an abundance of findings that enable the figure of Jesus Christ to become present to us with a vitality and depth that we could not have imagined even a few decades ago. “ (Jesus of Nazareth, 1, xxiii)

His preaching on Jesus gains vitality and depth from using these modern resources.

On the other hand, the pope warns about difficulties we face as we preach about Jesus today. In the last century, historical studies raised doubts about the existence and nature of Jesus himself. It’s the nature of science to question. Will something be discovered that proves he never was, or that overturn his claims or the witness of the gospels?

A television documentary a few years ago claimed the family tomb of Jesus was found, presumably his remains in it. No bodily resurrection then. Television often enough produces dubious biblical documentaries like this to draw an audience by sensational claims.

“As historical-critical scholarship advanced…the figure of Jesus became more and more blurred…The reconstructions of Jesus became more and more incompatible with one another: at the one end of the spectrum, Jesus was the anti-Roman revolutionary working–though finally failing–to overthrow the ruling powers; at the other end, he was the weak moral teacher that approves everything and unaccountably comes to grief.” (Jesus of Nazareth, 1, xxii)

Some reconstructions of Jesus over the last fifty years are “more like photographs of their authors and the ideals they hold,” the pope says. The result is skepticism about our ability to know Jesus at all. “This is a dramatic situation for faith, because its point of reference is being placed in doubt: Intimate friendship with Jesus, on which all else depends, is in danger of clutching at thin air.”( Jesus of Nazareth, xii)

To tell the truth, I wondered if the pope were exaggerating when he spoke of “a skepticism about our ability to know Jesus at all,” but then I listened to a review of Bart Ehrman’s book “Did Jesus Exist? A Historian Makes His Case” on National Public Radio a few months ago (April 1,2012) and read the comments that followed.

Ehrman, a non-Christian historian, wrote the book because he was surprised there are so many “mythicists” (people who deny Jesus ever existed) in the western world. A large number of comments following his interview certainly backed up his assessment. Most considered him a biased apologist for Christianity and insisted that, despite the solid evidence he presented, Jesus never existed. Doubt about Jesus and the gospels is out there, for sure.

A goal for any preacher is, not  to preach clever words or to draw attention to himself, but to lead someone to Jesus Christ. I like the way the pope describes why he wrote Jesus of Nazareth: “I have attempted to develop a way of observing and listening to Jesus of the Gospels that can indeed lead to personal encounter and that, through collective listening with Jesus’ disciples across the ages, can indeed attain sure knowledge of the real historical figure of Jesus.” (Jesus of Nazareth 2)

The preacher is like the Deacon Philip who told the Ethiopian what the words of scripture meant, saw him into the water where the grace of God rested on him, and then went on his way. The preacher is a messenger, the message is everything.

Jesus of Nazareth

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict presents a picture of Jesus Christ from the gospels using the tools of modern scholarship as well as insights from the long tradition of the church.

While he welcomes the resources recent biblical studies provide, he also acknowledges some limitations:

“As historical-critical scholarship advanced…the figure of Jesus became more and more blurred…The reconstructions of Jesus became more and more incompatible with one another: at the one end of the spectrum, Jesus was the anti-Roman revolutionary working–though finally failing–to overthrow the ruling powers; at the other end, he was the weak moral teacher that approves everything and unaccountably comes to grief.”

Some reconstructions of Jesus over the last fifty years are “more like photographs of their authors and the ideals they hold,” the pope says. The result is a skepticism about our ability to know Jesus at all. “This is a dramatic situation for faith, because its point of reference is being placed in doubt: Intimate friendship with Jesus, on which all else depends, is in danger of clutching at thin air.”( foreward xii, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, Ignatius Press 2008)

Seems to me the aim of preaching and catechesis today, as the pope suggests, is to offer a renewed picture of Jesus, enriched by modern studies and faithful to what tradition says of him. A challenge.

Vatican Radio

Vatican Radio  is one of my favorite Bookmarks. Not only do you find basic texts from Rome, like the pope’s talks at World Youth Day, but some great off-beat material too, like interviews with the delightful Carmelite Latinist for the Vatican, Fr. Reginald Foster. The turns and history of latin words can be fascinating and Fr. Reginald is never afraid to give you his own opinions. He’s a brilliant character.

Periodically, there are interesting short programs on music and the art of Rome too on Vatican Radio. One recent program about English hymns to the Sacred Heart made me aware of what that devotion is all about and how it has changed over the years. I’d also like to hear more from the Australian bishop who spoke recently about St. Paul the Apostle’s attitude towards women. You can download these short audio clips and listen to them again.

For this Sunday’s gospel, on the famous promise that Jesus makes to Peter at Caesaria Philippi you can’t do better than listen to Jill Bevilaqua’s 18 minute commentary. Wonderful blend of good history, music, good exegesis and fresh approach. Besides Bevilaqua, there are some other talented women you hear on Vatican Radio, like Philippa Hitchens and Elizabeth Lev.

Great site!

The Last Days

When Jesus came up to Jerusalem before his death, he was not a hapless Galillean peasant who would be cut down by a powerful Jewish-Roman elite. He was not simply a healer who was killed because he stirred up crowds and might also stir up revolution in the sensitive land of his day.

Those who believed in him saw him as a great teacher, a  “Rabbi” well aware of his times and his tradition. Matthew’s gospel emphasizes his role as teacher. But he was more than that, as Peter testifies in the 9th chapter of Matthew. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In the chapters of the synoptic gospels  preceding his passion, Jesus Christ speaks about the world and its future, the “end times.”  In his new book,” Jesus of Nazareth, Part 2,” Pope Benedict calls this part of the gospel the most difficult part to explain.

Jesus sees the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and what follows it. That’s important as he goes to his death.

He sees himself as the new temple. In a new age, when the gentiles are called to believe in him, the old temple will be abandoned. Its sacrifices for sins now take place through the blood of the Lamb. His blood is shed for us and we are united to God through him.

So much of what Jesus does at the Last Supper begins that replacement of the temple and its sacrifices.

The temple and everything about it was dear to him. That’s obvious from what he says about it and his devotion to its worship. Like a mother hen he would have sheltered the Holy City under his wings, but it turned away, as it turned away from Jeremiah and the other prophets.

There are signs up on the buses from Union City to New York City that Judgment Day is  coming on May 21st. That’s the word from Harold Camping on Family Radio, who has it all figured out.

The pope’s summary of the end times in his book is so much more nuanced than that of the biblical  fundamentalists. He keeps the future mysterious, and repeats Jesus’ message to “stay awake” each day.

 

The New Temple

In his new book, Jesus of Nazareth, Benedict begins the account of the Passion of Jesus with the incident in the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus drives out those who buy and sell there. Unlike the other gospels that put that event immediately before his passion and death, John’s gospel puts it further back, at the beginning of Jesus ministry, as he goes up to the Holy City to celebrate the Passover.

Unlike the other gospels that present one journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, John’s gospel sees Jesus making three journeys there. His chronology is more accurate. He wishes to show that opposition to Jesus at the highest levels began early on. If he overturned the tables in the entranceway of the temple, what would he do next?  Destroy it? Alarmed, the city’s leaders kept a close watch on this Galilean trouble-maker.

The pope calls attention to three interpretations for Jesus’ action. First, some say he was trying to reform a system gone bad as abuses crept in. People, including those in charge of the temple, were making money on the system and Jesus was calling attention to their corrupt practices.

Benedict sees more to the event than that.

Others say that Jesus was a Zealot,  belonging to a Jewish party intent on forcefully overthrowing a Judaism become too “Hellenized,”  too influenced by the prevailing Greco-Roman culture of its conquerors.

There are flaws to this interpretation too, Benedict notes, and points to the way the synoptic gospels describe Jesus as he enters Jerusalem immediately before he cleanses the temple. He rides into the city on a donkey, the humble beast who carries a humble Messiah. The warrior would come on a horse and chariot. He is the shepherd slain for his sheep, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, who takes his people’s sins on to himself.

The temple was conceived as more than a place of Jewish worship. According to the Prophet Isaiah ( Isaiah 2,2-5) it was seen as a place where all peoples could come to worship the one God. The court of the Gentiles in the temple symbolized their future place. Jesus‘ action symbolically readied Judaism to receive new nations.

In the gospel of John, 12:20 ff, some Greeks ask to see Jesus, just before his passion and death. They represent the new peoples who find their way to the Father through Jesus himself. His death will bring much fruit.

In John’s gospel, he tells the Samaritan woman, “the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Jn 4, 21  Jesus becomes the new temple.

Compasssion Magazine

The current issue of COMPASSION MAGAZINE, a publication of St. Paul of the Cross Province, is online. It began in print, but like most print magazines today COMPASSION is making a transition to the Internet. So many newspapers and magazines are negotiating the tricky road of change in the way we communicate, and I think COMPASSION is doing as well as any of them. If you take a look at it, I’m sure you’ll agree that its newly designed online face is beautifully done.

This issue, entitled Listening, has stories about the ministries of various members of our community. The first article is about  some priests from our Pittsburgh community who listen to those who come to our monastery on top of a hill overlooking that city. It’s a wonderful reminder of the spiritual direction offered by many of our members that goes unnoticed, for the most part.

There’s an article on Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical, which I wrote.

Listening to Young Catholics is a perceptive look at the young from Fr. Robin Ryan, CP, who leads a program for young Catholics at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

A young Passionist volunteer tells about her experiences in Jamaica, WI. It’s a charming story of interaction between two people of different cultures and ages.

Fr. Paul Zilonka, a former missionary in Jamaica and editor of COMPASSION, talks about some of his friends who once ministered there. They’re some of my friends too. One of them is at death’s door now, so please pray for him.

There’s more to read there too.