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December 22, 2019
The Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
No signature phrase from the Second Vatican Council is so completely affirmed across the entire theological and political spectrum of the Catholic Church as that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” Last summer, the Pew Research Center announced with some fanfare that a recent survey of Americans’ religious knowledge showed that only 31 percent of self-identified Catholics believe that at Mass the bread and wine “actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” By contrast, 69 percent told the Pew pollsters that the bread and wine are “symbols” of Christ’s body and blood. Weekly Mass-goers were the only group of Catholics in which a majority (63 percent) chose “actually become” rather than “symbols.”
Why do Matthew and Luke emphasize the virgin birth? Ancient people knew that virgins did not have babies. If a woman conceived a child without a man, a miracle had occurred. But what could it mean? Both the gospel of Luke and Matthew stress that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by supernatural means. That was a tough sell in the Greco-Roman world. They had an entire mountain filled with gods who conceived children with woman. Overwhelmingly, the culture did not believe in them, why would you invite their rejection. Of course, remember that the Resurrection defies human experience. Ancient people believed in life after death; Elysian fields, Hades or Sheol. Virgins don’t have babies and dead bodies don’t come back to life. Is their more to the story? Yes and this is it. What does it mean in your life that God is actually present, dwelling, among us. The good news preached by the apostles was, yes, that Jesus had risen from the grave. More importantly, however, is that God dwells among us and is gathering his people.
St. Paul and the Good news: God is with us!
St. Paul preached the ‘good news’ to the Jewish and Gentile Christians living in Rome. His letters are some of the earliest new testament scriptures. He said,Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-7
St. Paul claimed that Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh; that is, the womb of the virgin. He was designated Son of God in power according to the spirit. The same dynamic present in the Gospels. The Christian claim had always been a challenge to the gods of this world.
Why did St. Paul use the term, ‘evangelion’ to describe the Gospel? Archaeologists uncovered a Roman inscription celebrating the birthday of Caesar Augustus, the emperor. That inscription, known as the Priene Inscription, after the place it was found, uses the same phrase as St. Paula and the Evangelists. Here are the words from the Priene Inscription[i]:Since the Providence which has ordered all things is deeply interested in our life has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit mankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (Greek epiphanein), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god (Greek theos) Augustus was the beginning of the world of the good tidings (Greek euangeliōn) that came by reason of him.”2
The good news is that God dwells with his people. The Roman emperor Augustus…. not so much.
Betrothal and divorce: Jesus has a real family
Matthew said that Mary and Joseph were betrothed[ii] but “before Joseph and her had come together” (Matt 1:18). They were legally married according to Jewish law, but had not consummated the marriage. That is why the Gospel said that Joseph had decided to decides to “send her away” that is, to divorce her. The angel said “don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife”—meaning take her into your home—“for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 1:20). Matthew, emphasizing the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy, cites Isaiah 7:14, this prophecy of a virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, and whose name shall be called Emmanuel, which means God with us or God is with us.
This is the life of grace. Christianity preaches that God is remaking humanity. In Genesis, he breathed into the human being to give life his spirit and make the human person his image and likeness in the world. He made man and woman out of adamah. The Catechism teaches that the birth of Jesus was “a divine work that surpasses all human understanding” (CCC 497). The same is true of the Resurrection. All during Advent, we have been considering the role of prophecy concerning the end of the world and the spirit of Elijah. Our Tradition teaches (CCC 497) that the virginal conception was the fulfillment “of the divine promise given through Isaiah.” CCC 498, that the virginal conception of Jesus was neither “a legend” nor is it “pagan mythology,” but is instead history.
God has descended to take human nature up into himself. Baptism assumes us into the body of Christ. Confirmation is the gift of God’s spirit dwelling in us. The Eucharist is the living body and blood of Christ that lifts us up into God. God is Jesus’ Father and is our Father by adoption. That is why we pray the Our Father in the Liturgy. Angels and human beings are all children of God, but humans are children of God by adoption. Jesus is the natural son of God because he shares the divine nature. Jesus is naturally the son of the Father, according to his divine nature, and he is naturally the son of his mother Mary, according to his human nature. Jesus is the Divine Bridegroom because Heaven and Earth come together in Him. That is good news!
[i] The Priene Calendar Inscription is an inscription in stone recovered at Priene (an ancient Greek city sited in Western Turkey) that uses the term "gospel" in referring to Augustus Caesar. It is called the Priene "Calendar" Inscription because it refers to the birthday of Augustus Caesar as the beginning of an era - the beginning of the gospel announcing his kingdom that heralded peace and salvation for his people - and a Roman decree to start a new calendar system based on the year of Augustus Caesar's birth was published. Calendar dating of history around a ruler is the principle upon which the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendars are based.
The inscription features the term "gospel", which is the Old English translation of Greek εὐαγγέλιον, evangelion, meaning "good news". As exemplified in the Calendar Inscription of Priene, dated from 9 BC, this Koine Greek term εὐαγγέλιον was used at the time of the Roman Empire to herald the good news of the arrival of a kingdom - the reign of a king that brought a war to an end, so that all people of the world who surrendered and pledged allegiance to this king would be granted salvation from destruction. The Calendar Inscription of Priene speaks of the birthday of Caesar Augustus as the beginning of the gospel announcing his kingdom, with a Roman decree to start a new calendar system based on the year of Augustus Caesar's birth. Into this context, the words of the Gospel of Mark are striking: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." (Mark 1:1 ESV) Jesus is thus heralded as the king who ends war by conquering people's allegiance, in contrast to the Roman Caesar (title). From Wikipedia and Biblical Criticism & History Forum online.
[ii] Betrothal:
The term "betrothal" in Jewish law must not be understood in its modern sense; that is, the agreement of a man and a woman to marry, by which the parties are not, however, definitely bound, but which may be broken or dissolved without formal divorce. Betrothal or engagement such as this is not known either to the Bible or to the Talmud, and only crept in among the medieval and modern Jews through the influence of the example of the Occidental nations among whom they dwelt, without securing a definite status in rabbinical law.
Several Biblical passages refer to the negotiations requisite for the arranging of a marriage (Gen. xxiv.; Song of Songs viii. 8; Judges xiv. 2-7), which were conducted by members of the two families involved, or their deputies, and required usually the consent of the prospective bride (if of age); but when the agreement had been entered into, it was definite and binding upon both groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation.
The root
("to betroth"), from which the Talmudic abstract 
("betrothal") is derived, must be taken in this sense; i.e., to contract an actual though incomplete marriage. In two of the passages in which it occurs the betrothed woman is directly designated as "wife" (II Sam. iii. 14, "my wife whom I have betrothed" ("erasti"), and Deut. xxii. 24, where the betrothed is designated as "the wife of his neighbor"). In strict accordance with this sense the rabbinical law declares that the betrothal is equivalent to an actual marriage and only to be dissolved by a formal divorce. From the Jewish Encyclopedia Online.