The Catholic Scholar: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Little Something Extra...Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Who We Are and What We Do

Today's Second Reading may be taken from the First Letter of St. John, chapter 3, verses 1-2 and 21-24. The Church seems to have constructed this reading to show us both who we are in Christ and what we must do as a result.

Let's first examine who we are in Christ, according to this text.

St. John first tells us that we are the beloved of God. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us...” John encourages. The Father has generously poured out His love upon us, not because we have deserved it but because He longs to give it. The Greek word for “has bestowed” here is dedōken. It implies a free gift, something that greatly benefits the receiver. Further, the verb is in perfect tense, which gives it a special emphasis in the Greek. The perfect tense highlights an action, setting it in the foreground as something highly significant that must be noticed.

Because the Father has given us His love, John continues, “we may be called the children of God.” We assume the name of children, family members, heirs, people who are cared for, nourished, and protected by God. But John doesn't stop there. We are not just called children of God, he says. We are children of God. This is so important that he says it twice. We are the children of God.

As children of the Father, we find ourselves misunderstood by the world. The world does not know God, John explains, so how can it know His children? We Christians face trials in the world, which often scorns our beliefs, our values, and our moral standards. We are taunted, mocked, and persecuted for being God's children, but we remain so just the same, for we know that belonging to the family of God provides meaning and love that the world can never give.

If we are the beloved children of God, then, what must we do to accept this high status and fulfill it worthily? John tells us. We must keep God's commandments, and these are simple. We must believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we must live out our faith in love toward one another. Faith and love.

When we obey God, we remain in Him, and He remains in us. We participate in His divine life, and He dwells within our souls. The Spirit works actively in our lives, and we have great confidence that God hears and responds to our prayers.

We are God's beloved children. That's who we are. We behave like God's children in faith and love. That's what we do. Then our relationship with God in Christ grows ever stronger, deeper, and richer until that day comes when, as John assures us, “...we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is” face to face in our Heavenly home.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Notes on the Gospel of Matthew – King Herod

As we begin reading the second chapter of Matthew's Gospel, we immediately encounter the infamous King Herod.

Herod stepped into the office of Procurator of Judea (under Roman rule) in 43 B.C. after his father Antipater was poisoned. Herod was slick and ambitious, and he soon traveled to Rome with a request for Roman rulers Octavian and Mark Antony. He would give them 1,000 talents and 500 women if they would make him King of the Jews. Antony and Octavian, recalling the past service of Herod's family to the Roman regime, agreed. Herod, who was an Edomite by birth and lacked Jewish blood, returned to Judea as a proud ruler, the King of the Jews (Carroll 254, 272, 278).

He was determined to keep that position at any cost. Listen to what Henry Alford, author of a commentary on the Greek text of the Bible, has to say about Herod: “[Herod] sought to strengthen his throne by a series of cruelties and slaughters, putting to death even his wife Mariamne, and his sons Alexander and Aristobulus. His cruelties, and his affectation of Gentile customs, gained for him a hatred among the Jews, which neither his magnificent rebuilding of the temple, nor his liberality in other public works, nor his provident care of the people during a severe famine, could mitigate.”

Herod was just plain brutal. He tried to win the Jews' esteem through favors and programs, but most of them saw through his outward show and identified the king as the paranoid bully and murderer that he really was.

Then one day magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem. “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” they asked. “For we observed His star at its rising, and have come to pay Him homage” (Matthew 2:2).

Herod hackles must have raised immediately. What was going on? A new king of the Jews?

The NSRV-CE translation of Scripture tells us that Herod was “frightened” by the magi's question. Other translations read “troubled” or “disturbed.” The Greek word, however, is actually stronger than any of these; tarassō means “to stir up, to agitate, as water in a pool; of the mind, to stir up, trouble, disturb with various emotions.” Herod was all stirred up...agitated. He was experiencing “internal commotion” that made him restless and robbed him of whatever peace he may have had, which probably wasn't much to begin with (www.greattreasures.org).

But Herod knew one thing for sure. He would never relinquish his kingship. He would cut off this threat at its root...immediately.

Herod found out from the scribes that the Messiah, the much-prophesied King of the Jews, would be born in Bethlehem, and he sent the magi to search diligently for Him. He must have smiled as he told the magi to report back to him so that he, too, could go and pay his homage to this new ruler.

Could the magi sense the danger behind Herod's smooth words? God made sure they did, for He sent His angel to warn them in a dream not to return to the treacherous king.

Herod's rage must have been terrible to behold when he discovered that the magi had disobeyed him and would not return. Very soon the people of Bethlehem would be immersed in grief beyond telling as Herod sought to eliminate his competition by resuming his bloody reign of terror.

But the new King lived.

Despite his best efforts, Herod lost his beloved kingship when death caught up with him. He died in April of 4 B.C., but before he left this world, he ordered that hundreds of prisoners, many of whom were prominent citizens, be killed so that “mourning would accompany his funeral, since he knew there would be no mourning for him.” Luckily for those condemned, Herod's relatives refused to carry out the order (Carroll 306).

Herod's one goal was to be king and to remain king. He never realized that the One he had tried to kill in order to protect his kingship could have made him a king in ways he never could never have imagined, a king who would have been remembered for far more than his ambition, brutality, and fear.

Source: Carroll, Warren H. The Founding of Christendom. Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 1985.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

A Little Something Extra...Fourth Sunday of Advent

Bethlehem Q & A

Q-1. What does the name Bethlehem-Ephrathah mean?

A-1. Bethlehem means “House of Bread” (quite appropriate, really, since the One Who is the true Bread of Life was born there). Ephrathah (sometimes spelled Ephrath) was an early name for Bethlehem. It means “fruitful” and refers to the town's fertile countryside, which produced olives, figs, grapes, and corn in abundance.

Q-2. Where is Bethlehem located?

A-2. Bethlehem is located six miles southwest of Jerusalem.

Q-3. Which prophet predicted that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah?

A-3. The prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem when he wrote:

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for Me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times. (Micah 5:1)

Q-4. Which Old Testament matriarch is buried near Bethlehem?

A-4. Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is buried near Bethlehem. She died shortly after giving birth to Benjamin.

Q-5. Who was the Moabite woman who came to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law?

A-5. The Moabite woman Ruth came to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. Both women were poor widows, so Ruth gathered their food by gleaning unpicked crops in the field of Boaz, who soon married her. Ruth and Boaz became the great-grandparents of King David and the many-greats-grandparents of Jesus.

Q-6. Which great Old Testament king was born and anointed at Bethlehem?

A-6. King David was born at Bethlehem and anointed there by the prophet Samuel as God's choice for King of Israel.

Q-7. What is the weather like in Bethlehem during the winter?

A-7. Bethlehem's winters tend to be cool and damp. Temperatures in the coldest month of January range from 33°F to 55°F.

Q-8. How large was Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth?

A-8. Bethlehem was home to only a few hundred people when Jesus was born there.

Q-9. How many times is Bethlehem mentioned in the Bible?

A-9. Bethlehem is mentioned by name 49 times throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Q-10. Who built the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem about 330 A.D.?

A-10. St. Helena, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, ordered the building of the Church of the Nativity about 330 A.D. atop the traditional location of the cave where Jesus was born.

Sources: Biblos (http://topicalbible.org/b/bethlehem.htm); Wikipedia articles about Bethlehem, Rachel, Ruth, and David; e-Sword sources, including International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Smith's Bible Dictionary, Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, and Fausset's Bible Dictionary