St John the Evangelist, the Defender of the Authentic Christology against Heresies

Imagine, if St. John the Apostle, son of Zebedee, had not written his Gospel. Imagine, if he had not written his three epistles.

This is more than a question of faith: whether or not believe in Jesus as the Christ. It is rather a profound theological, doctrinal, to be more specific, a Christological question to address the nature of Jesus the Christ. It is about who Jesus really is in terms of divinity and humanity, as well as, in terms of his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

This also touches the question: Why God has been incarnated and been born in a human figure, Jesus, of Mary the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate Conception.

In regard to this strain of Christological questions of Jesus, there have been so many heresies and controversies, as early Church leaders had various different views on Jesus’s divinity and humanity, on his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, also debating on what it means to have been born of Mary.

Jesus wants us to know and understand who he really is. And our accurate Christological knowledge and understanding in regard to who Jesus really is of essence in our faith.

So, Jesus asked his disciples who they think he is, when they were in Caesarea Philippi (e.g. Matthew 16:15).

With a help from the Father in heaven, Peter proclaimed him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16-17).

And Jesus can further ask us: what do you mean by saying that I am the Messiah (Christ), the Son of the living God?  And he may further ask us, why he has Mary as his mother. Then how will you answer these questions on who Jesus really is? In answering, what will you reference to? Which Gospel do you find more helpful, then?

In terms of addressing such Christological questions on Jesus, the Gospel of John can be the most helpful reference, while the Synoptic Gospels: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are also important. And, the Letter to the Hebrews is another important reference, as well.

So, why John’s Gospel?

A reason for this question has something to do with a motive for John to write his Gospel, believed to be at least not until 90 AD, even though Mark first wrote his Gospel upon the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, then, Matthew wrote his and Luke wrote his, as both of them used Mark’s Gospel, as well as, another source, known as “Q” (Quelle, which means “source”) to compose their respective Gospels. This is known as the “two-source hypothesis” of the Synoptic Gospels. Mark’s Gospel is believed to have been written as the first Gospel, based on what Mark witnessed from Paul’s evangelization. By the time Mark wrote his Gospel, Paul’s epistles were written (and Paul was martyred in Rome, along with Peter, in 64AD). And, it is believed that Matthew wrote his Gospel for Greek-speaking Jews and Luke wrote his for all Greek-speaking people, including Gentiles, in the Greco-Roman world by 85 AD.

By the time John began penning his Gospel, as in spired and guided by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles had been evangelizing from Jerusalem to the Hellenized areas in the Roman Empire, upon Pentecost, as Luke chronicled in the Acts of the Apostles. It means that Christianity was already wide spread beyond Judea, Galilee, Syria, and Egypt. It has been evangelized widely throughout the Greco-Roman world, to the Jews and the Gentiles. And Paul’s epistles had been written, and the Synoptic Gospel has been written and already circulated. So, why John had to write another Gospel?

It is believed that John needed to write his Gospel because heresies among believers were also emerging, despite the Pauline epistles and the Synoptic Gospels had been circulated among them, by 90AD.  To combat emerging heretical views on Christ, especially gnostic Docetism, John wrote his Gospel and three epistles. And St. Irenaeus wrote on this matter:

John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that knowledge falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one God, who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another, who also continued impassible, descending upon Jesus, the Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation to which we belong was not made by the primary God, but by some power lying far below Him, and shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable. The disciple of the Lord therefore desiring to put an end to all such doctrines, and to establish the rule of truth in the Church, that there is one Almighty God, who made all things by His Word, both visible and invisible; showing at the same time, that by the Word, through whom God made the creation, He also bestowed salvation on the men included in the creation; thus commenced His teaching in the Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   “Against Heresies”, III, 11.

Even after John wrote his Gospel and epistles, heresies continued to emerge and doctrinal controversies kept bubbling up within the nascent Church was still throughout the Apostolic age and beyond.

So, shortly after the Romanization of Christianity by Constantine, the first ecumenical council to discuss doctrinal heresies and controversies was assembled in Nicaea by Roman Emperor, who legalized Christianity in his Empire, known as the Nicene Council in the year of 325 AD, condemning Arius’ heresy. Arius argued: If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the Son was not. Against this, St. Athanasius of Alexandria argued with the homoousion nature of Jesus the Christ with the Father, as John quote Jesus identifying himself as such in John 10:30, 38. Thus, the council resolved the Arian controversy of Christology, rejecting Arius’ heretical Christology because it denied the consubstantiality of Jesus the Christ the Son and the Father, contradicting John 10:30, 38.

Our Christological doctrine was pretty much cemented during the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, impacted by St. Leo the Great’s Christological Toma, which upheld the dyophysite Christology of Cyril of Alexandria, with Leo’s papal authority, declaring as the Church’s official Christological doctrine, the dual nature (dyophysitism – not to be confused with “miaphysitism”) of Jesus fully divine and fully human as a distinct being in consubstantial hypostatic union with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Trinity.  Thus, Eutyches’ monophysitism heretic Christology (Eutychianism) was rejected. And all of this was made possible by John’s Gospel and epistles.

Tracing how the early Church combatted various heresies and safeguarded the authentic Christological doctrine, from the Council of Nicaea in 325 to the Council of Chalcedon in 451, we can see John’s Gospel played significant role – more than the Synoptic Gospels. This is especially true in regard to the authentic Christology of Jesus with the dual nature: in the context of the Trinity.

The First Reading for the Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist, on December 27 (1 John 1:1-4) echoes the Gospel Reading for Christmas Dauty Mass, on December 25 (John 1:1-18). These Scriptural texts basically address the same theme: the physicality of Christ due to his incarnation.

So, why do we reflect the incarnation of Christ, therefore, the physicality of Christ, which makes him visible and tangible to us, on the feast of St. John the Apostle and evangelist?

It is because of John doctrinally fought against gnostic heresies, especially a faulty belief to deny the physicality of Christ. This gnostic heresy grew into Docetism by the 2^nd century, arguing that Christ in Jesus only “appeared” to have the body but he did not. The word, “Docetism” traces its etymological roots in this Greek word,  δοκεῖν (dokein), the verb to mean, “to appear”, “to seem”. It is like how Protestants view the Eucharist as merely a symbol of Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, while Catholics believe and see it as the very Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, appears in the species of bread and wine, due to transubstantiation.

To correct this heresy that denies the physicality of Christ, and consequently, that denies the incarnation and Mary’s importance for the incarnation and giving birth to the incarnated Christ, John wrote his Gospel and 3 letters, toward the end of the first century, though the Synoptic Gospel had been written and already widely circulated. John’s powerful anti-gnosticism teaching inspired more early leaders of the Church, such as, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Irenaeus, who continued to fight against Docetism and other heresies.

While the Synoptic Gospels: Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, and Gospel of Luke are written more of chronological order of the incarnated Christ’s life and ministry, Gospel of John focuses on Paschal Mystery of Christ. Rather than writing another Gospel like the Synoptic Gospels, John chose to write his Gospel much later primarily to clarify misunderstanding and misinterpretation of who Christ is, namely, to fight for the authenticity of the Christological doctrine of the Church and to fight against gnostic heresies, especially a false thought that denied the incarnation and the physicality of Christ. This is why the beginning narratives of both John’s Gospel and his letters address Christ’s physicality through the incarnation. In the First Reading for St. John’s feast (1 John 1:1-4), compared to the Gospel Reading for Christmas Day Mass (John 1:1-18), John describes the incarnation and the physicality of Christ more subtly. In the First Reading (1 John 1:1-4), he writes about the physicality of Christ as what he and other apostles actually witnessed and experienced personally, with a “we” subject statement. And he also addresses the fellowship that he and other apostles enjoyed with the incarnated Christ, which reflects Christ’s fellowship with the Father (1 John 1:3). In other words, in the First Reading (1 John 1:1-4), we read John’s personal testimony to the incarnated Christ and the fellowship with him.

The Gospel Reading for the feast of St. John the Apostle and evangelist (John 20:1a, 2-8), which describes how Peter and John (the other disciple whom Jesus loved, John 20:2) responded to Mary Magdalene’s report on Jesus’ tomb being empty in the early morning of the third day from his death and burial. When they learned about the empty tomb from Mary Magdalene, they did not know why Jesus’ tomb became empty.  So, Peter and John ran to the tomb. Perhaps, it had something to do with Peter’s advanced age, compare John’s youth, that John ran faster than Peter. But it is because of Peter was more anxious about confronting the empty tomb of Jesus as he had betrayed Jesus three times before the cock crows (John 18:15-18, 25-27), as foretold by Jesus (John 13:38) . Peter was too anxious to run as fast as John, wondering what if Jesus, whom he betrayed, was alive, then, if he would punish him.

Though John arrived at the tomb first, Peter first bent down and looked inside the tomb and saw Jesus’ burial clothes there, the one covered his head and his body in separate places. But, Peter did not get himself into the tomb. Then, John enter into the tomb and saw what Peter saw from the outside of the tomb and believed that Jesus had risen from the death (John 20:8) , as he had foretold multiple times (e.g. Matthew 16:21–23; 17:22-23;20:17-19), to fulfill the scriptures (Psalm 16:10-11; Isaiah 53:10-12)– though neither Peter nor John understood how it happened (John 20:9).

An important point of the Gospel Reading (John 20:1a, 2-8) is that John believed that Christ was risen with his body, even though he did not yet see the risen Christ in his physical eyes, based on what he saw, such as Jesus’ burial clothes, in the empty tomb, even though he did not quite understand the Paschal Mystery of the resurrection yet. 

A lesson from the Gospel Reading (John 20:1a, 2-8) on believing without seeing its physicality of the risen Christ, exemplified by John makes a contrast to the John’s Christological emphasis on the visible and tangible physicality of Christ in the First Reading (1 John 1:1-4).

For someone as skeptical as Thomas (John 20:24-29), the physicality of Christ, from his incarnation (John 1:1, 14) by the power of the Holy Spirit applied to Mary’s  womb (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20) on and beyond his death and resurrection, is necessary to believe. But to those who can believe without seeing and necessarily understanding, like John, Jesus has said:

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed (John 20:29).

From John’s Gospel, which is believed to have been written sometime between 90AD and 100 AD, to Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, to the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, and beyond, we as the Church, have been safeguarding the authentic dyophysite Christ in homoousic hypostatic union with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. And this is the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father, sent to us by His love (John 3:16), the Theos-Logos (John 1:1), incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20), conceived in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:31-33), born of her (Luke 2:7).  And this is reflected in the First Reading (1 John 1:1-4).

Rachel, the Mother of the Martyred Children, Weep No More, for Christ the King Redeems Them – Feast of the Holy Innocentss, Martyrs

It all began as the Magi from the east came to Jerusalem in their search for the light to the world, as they saw the new star on the west sky, signaling the Epiphany of the newborn King in the Jewish nation. So, they came to Jerusalem, the holy capitol of the Jewish nation, and made an inquiry about the newborn King to Herod the Great, who was a king but nothing but a vassal king to Caesar in Rome (Matthew 2:1-2).  As long as he lived and reigned the Jewish state under the Roman rule, Herod believed that he was the king of the Jews. And the power to rule the Jewish people was sanctioned by Caesar, the most powerful man on earth at that time, as long as he remained a vassal to the Roman Empire. So, the news about the newborn King of the Jews really troubled Herod, and all Jerusalem also reacted likewise with Herod, knowing what Herod’s rage could do to them (Matthew 2:3).

Herod the Great just could not let someone other than him to be claimed as the king of the Jews. So, he had to do something about it.

Then, Herod called all the chief priests and the scribes and inquired them about the newborn king’s birth place. In response, these religious leaders indicated to him that it is in Bethlehem, citing Malachi 5:1 (Matthew 2:4-6). Because this prophecy of Malachi is about the birth of the Messiah as the King, these chief priests and scribes must have thought that the newborn King of the Jews, mentioned by the Magi (Matthew 2:2) was actually the long-hoped Messiah-King to rule the Jewish nation to be free from the Roman rule. Nevertheless, to Herod, the newborn King was a threat to him and his power. So, he was already thinking to “get rid of” this threat, whom the Magi called the newborn King of the Jews, further inquiring the time of the star’s appearance from the Magi (Matthew 2:7). And he also asked the Magi to report to him where they find the newborn King so that he would be able to make his homage to kill the King (Matthew 2:8). Not only from the religious leaders but also from the Magi, Herod was trying to get necessary information to pin-point the time and the location of the birth of the King to ensure to kill him. Herod had been killed so many people, who had gotten in his way of seeking and keeping the power. So, his way of killing was as methodical as this. And he even inserted his manipulative charisma to Caesar and the Roman Senate in order to let the Roman power to sanction  his power over the Jews as their king, rather than fighting against Rome for the Jewish people and their freedom and complete sovereignty, as the Maccabees fought against Seleucid Empire of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (2 Maccabees 8:1-10:9). Thus, Herod was a pathologically passive-aggressive narcissist over the Jewish people.

Sending off the Magi to where they would find the newborn King, Herod the Great was hoping to get all the necessary information to kill him (baby Jesus). However, the Magi betrayed him as they did not return to him with their report on the newborn King. Upon following the star and paying their homage to the newborn King, offering gold, myrrh, and frankincense, to recognize him not only as the King, but also as the Messiah and the divine being, the Magi took a different route on their return to the east, as warned about Herod in a dream (Matthew 2:9-12).

The Gospel Reading (Matthew 2:13-18) basically is to tell that Herod was so enraged when he realized that the Magi betrayed him – not being able to find the exact place of the newborn King of the Jews. And of his rage, he order to massacre all boys of two years old or under in Bethlehem and its vicinity area (Matthew 2:16). In the meantime, when the Magi departed upon their homage, the angel of the Lord warned Joseph in his cream to get up and take Jesus and Mary with him to Egypt for safety and remain there until Herod the Great’s death, because of Herod’s massacre plan (Matthew 2:13). So, Joseph did exactly as told by the angel to save Jesus and his Holy Family from Herod’s murderous hands and returned with Jesus and Mary upon Herod’s death (Matthew 2:14-15a).

So, this is how many boys of age 2 and under living in Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus, and its vicinity were massacred, in place of Jesus. And the Church calls and honors these little boys as the Holy Innocents Martyrs.

About 31 years later from this horrible bloody incident, it was Jesus who was killed as the King of the Jews by the order of Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as conspired by the Sanhedrin (John 19:33,39; 19:19).

There is something so bloody about the King of the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2; John 19:33,39; 19:19), because for him, so many innocent children of Bethlehem and its adjacent areas were massacred by Herod the Great, a Roman puppet king of the Jews, and Jess, who was supposed to be killed by Herod, was killed as the King of the Jews, by the order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as conspired by the Jewish religious leaders.

While so many innocent children were massacred by Herod, Jesus in the Holy Family was kept safe in Egypt and was able to return to Nazareth without fear. Matthew sees this as fulfillment of Hosea 11:1b:

Out of Egypt, I called my Son (Matthew 2:15).

It was because Jacob’s family, the Israel, sought a refuge in Egypt (, where one of Jacob’s sons with Rachel, his beloved and preferred wife over Leah (Genesis 29:16-28), Joseph was the Pharaoh’s administrator. And this son of Rachel saved the Israel from the starvation, while many in Canaan died (Genesis 42:1-47:28).

Matthew sees the massacred children as children of Rachel, who is symbolically representing as the mother of the Israel, the offspring of Jacob in saying that the massacre of the Holy Innocent was fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15:

A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel seeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more (Matthew 2:18).

The children of Rachel, the mother of the Jews, as the father of the Jews, Jacob, is her husband, were the massacred Jewish children, in place of the newborn King of the Jews. Representing the mothers whose little sons were killed by Herod the Great, Rachel was weeping so loudly, and even heard in Ramah, which is near Jerusalem and where weeping Jews in chains passed through as they were taken into the Babylonian hostage (Jeremiah 40:1), because all her (and their) children were all dead and no more. However, significance of Ramah to Rachel was more for the fact that it is near where Rachel died upon giving her last son, Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-20). And therefore, Ramah is also close to Bethlehem, where these little boys of age 2 and under were massacred by Herod.

But, what Rachel, who represents all these weeping mothers, whose sons were massacred did not know was God’s plan to redeem the lives of these children from the dead. And in juxtaposition to the post-exilic hope in Jeremiah’s prophecy of God’s promise of redemption (Jeremiah 31:16-22), the king of the Jews, who was saved from the massacre and safely brought back in fulfilling Hosea 11:1 had to die and resurrect in order to redeem these Holy Innocent and those who remain faithful to him.

So, Rachel, Rachel, the mother of the Israelites, as God called your children out of Egypt, electing Moses as the leader (Exodus 6:2-15:21), filled with mercy, as reflected in Hosea 11:1, He will call your children out of Babylon, the state of the dead. So, weep no more, though your grief now is too deep to be comforted. Your little boys died in place of the Messiah King, the Son of God, who came to as the newborn King of the Jews, but he is the King of the Universe, to redeem all of your children. And, all of your lost children will be redeemed by the King into the fellowship of light, for he is light to this dark world. The darkness of Herod, the darkness of Babylon, the darkness of your grief, will be replaced by the light of Christ. So, Rachel, the mother of the lost children, weep no more. Your children are Holy Martyr Saints, to be redeemed and called to the throne of the King (i.e. Revelation 7:1-17), who came as the newborn King of the Jews.

In contrast to the darkness of Herod, through the First Reading (1 John 1:5-2:2), John calls us to walk in the light of Christ, who is the Parakletos (Advocate)(2:1), while the Holy Spirit is another Parakletos (Avocate) (John 14:16). Walking in the light of Christ also means to be in his fellowship, as he is the light of the world (John 8:12). John calls us to be in the fellowship with Christ the light so that we may not commit sin, slip into the darkness. He also calls us not to pretend like hypocrites but be honest in acknowledge our own sinfulness to let Christ the light to forgive us.

We read this Johannine epistle on the fellowship in the light with Christ in remembering the Holy Innocents, martyrs, massacred children of Rachel the mother of Israel in place of the newborn King of the Jews, because there is a contrast of light and darkness in this story.

The Magi came to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews, led by the light. But, these seekers of the light from the east met a man of darkness, Herod the Great, the darkness tried to extinguish the light, in his attempt to kill the newborn King. Because of this, many little boys of age 2 and under in the Bethlehem region were massacred in place of the newborn King, resulting in the loud inconsolable mourning weeping of their mother, represented with Rachel, the favored wife of Jacob, the Israel. However, what Rachel did not know as she kept crying was that the very newborn King, whose place her sons were killed, are promised to be redeemed by this King, as promised by the Father of mercy, redeemed into the light.

For us, not to slip into the darkness of Herod, whose murderous intentions are motivated with his narcissistic greed for power, we must walk with and in the Christ the light, our Parakletos (Advocate). And at the end, all those who are redeemed, Rachel’s lost children and all the children of Mary, through Christ, shall be redeemed into the eternal light of Christ the lamp (Revelation 21:23).

So, Rachel, the mother of Israel, the mother of the lost children, weep no more.

Jesus Never “Lost”, Always Found in the Father’s House: Are We Also Found in the Holy Family at the Father’s House? - Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – Cycle C

If you are a Catholic parent….

You and your spouse always attend Mass with your children so that they will learn what it means to be Catholic. And it was a “deal” you made with God and with each other when you married in the Church. For this God has brought you and your spouse to make one flesh union (Genesis 2:24).

“Ite, Missa est”….”Mass is ended. Go in peace!”  "Deo gratias!"..."Thanks be to God!"

Your children were behaving throughout Mass.

Recessional hymn is done. It’s time to get out of the church and rush to your car before the church parking lot exit will become a bottle-neck.

So, you and your spouse motioned your children to head out of the church to the parking lot with you. And you thought they were with you. But, you realized that they were not with you. So you rushed back to the church, and viola, there they were! They were talking to a priest about the Scripture Readings and his homily.

Has this kind of thing ever happened to you?

If it has, then, you probably relate yourself to Mary and Joseph in the Gospel Reading for the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, on Cycle C (Luke 2:41-52), in which Mary and Joseph realized that 12-year-old Jesus was not with them on their way back to Nazareth from Jerusalem, upon completing Passover Pilgrimage, and found him in the Temple.

This Gospel narrative must be very familiar to all confirmed Catholics, as it is reflects the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary.

As law-abiding Jewish parents with steadfast faith in God, Mary and Joseph took their Son, Jesus, who was 12 at that time, to the Temple in Jerusalem for Passover observance, as required by the Law (Exodus 23:14-15; Deuteronomy 12:5; 16:5-6; cf. Isaiah 33:20) (Luke 2:41-42).  And the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph spent 7 days (Exodus 12:14-20) for the Temple-pilgrim Passover observance, the family was to return to Nazareth. But, unbeknownst to Mary and Joseph, Jesus was not with them as they were heading back to Nazareth, as he remained in the Temple (Luke 2:43).

At first, Mary and Joseph thought that Jesus was in a caravan, which was crowded with other villagers of Nazareth, as fulfilling the legal obligation of the three annual Temple-pilgrimage festivals (Passover/Pesach, Pentecost/ Shavuot, and Tabernacle/Sukkot)(Deuteronomy 16:1-17) was rather a communal event. So, many village people traveled to and from Jerusalem in caravans. In today’s context, it was like your whole neighborhood people who share the same religious faith go on a required pilgrimage together in a bunch of chartered busses. And at the time of Jesus, men and women were in different caravans. Children rode either with their fathers or mothers. So, you can imagine it was quite challenging for Mary and Joseph to keep their eyes on Jesus all the time.

Having traveling back to Nazareth from Jerusalem for a day, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not with them. So, they first looked through their relatives and acquaintances in caravans. But, they could not find him among them. Then, they returned to Jerusalem and, voila!, finally found him in the Temple, impressing teachers of the Law (Torah) in his discussion with them, after spending three days of searching (Luke 2:44-47).

Imagine how Mary and Joseph had felt during these three days of search.

Having found Jesus in the Temple, Mary and Joseph were astonished at what they saw, and Mary asked Jesus:

Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety (Luke 2:48).

Obviously, Mary was highly emotional. The way she questioned Jesus even sounds as if reprimanding Jesus for being inconsiderate to how she and Joseph had felt about the situation.

And Jesus replied to her and Joseph:

Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house ? (Luke 2:49).

This reply of Jesus may sound as if he did not care about how Mary and Joseph had felt. But it is straight to the point of this particular Lucan Gospel narrative of finding Jesus in the Temple.

What Mary and Joseph had to find was not only the physical being of Jesus per se but an aspect of the unfolding Christological nature of Jesus. And this is what Jesus wanted Mary and Joseph to understand by saying that I must be in my Father’s house (ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου δεῖ εἶναί με). Basically, Jesus was signaling to his mother, Mary, that he is not merely a son to her and her husband, but first and foremost, the Son to God the Father, who sent him to the world out of His love (John 3:16) through the Holy Family, parented by Mary and Joseph. And how he was sent first to Mary and Joseph was reflected in the Gospel Reading for Christmas Midnight Mass (Luke 2:1-14) and theologically further reflected in the Christmas Day Mass (John 1:1-18).

But neither Mary nor Joseph understood what Jesus meant by this reply at that time (Luke 2:50). So, Mary kept reflecting what her Son, Jesus, meant by “he must be in his Father’s house” (Luke 2:51), as she reflected what the shepherds’ visit meant when she gave birth to him (Luke 2:19), as Jesus returned to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph, remaining obedient to them (Luke 2:51).

And Jesus advanced in wisdom and in physical size, gaining more favor from the Father and people (Luke 2:52).

Now, what can we make out of this Gospel narrative in terms of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph?

Some may say that even the Holy Family had a child-parent problem, like many of our families, as Mary the mother had to express how she and her husband were in searching him, in a tone as if Jesus were disrespectful to his mother and his earthly father – as if he behaved against the teaching in one of the options for the First Reading (Ben Sira 3:2-6, 12-14) and of Colossians 3:20 and of Ephesians 6:1-3. And those who see this way, may also think that Jesus was “lost but found”, because this is how humans read this Lucan Gospel narrative on Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, in regard to their annual Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

To human eyes of Mary and Joseph, Jesus was “lost” for three days (Luke 2:46). That was why she and her husband had been anxiously looking for him (Luke 2:48). And, in our human perspective, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, had a typical family problem of an early adolescent son acting disrespectfully to his parents.

Now, let’s shift the gear and as read this Gospel narrative from God’s perspective. Then, can you say that Jesus as “lost”?

Of course not! Jesus the Son of God has never been “lost” in the eyes of the Father and never will be, because the Father and he are always one (John 10:30, 38; 14:10-11, 20; cf. John 17:21), being in the hypostatic consubstantial union, as the Father and Jesus the Son are in the hypostatic union also with the Holy Spirit in forming the Trinity. And in this Gospel narrative, Jesus was in his Father’s house (Luke 2:49). So, how can we say Jesus was “lost”, from God’s perspective?

Saying that Jesus was “lost” , therefore the Holy Family was imperfect for having one of these typical human family problems, is based on a human interpretation.  However, in truth, Jesus’ Holy Family is not just the earthly and human family with Mary and Joseph, which was not perfect, but his original divine family, the Trinity, is perfect, as he is in consubstantial hypostatic union with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And none in this Triune divine family is “lost” and cannot be lost. So, Jesus’ divine Holy Family is always perfect as the Father is perfect (i.e. Matthew 5:48).

Given Jesus’ dual Christological nature: being fully divine and being fully human due to the mystery of the incarnation (John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:31, 35; 2:7; cf. John 6:35, 48, 51, 53-56; cf. Matthew 26:26-28//Mark 14:22-24 //Luke 22:19-20), Jesus’ Holy Family reflects this Christological dual nature of divine and human. Thus, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, is the Holy Family on the side of Jesus’ human nature, while the Trinity is the Holy Family on the side of Jesus’ divine nature. Through the Annunciation to the Nativity of the Lord, the original divine nature of Christ was made in union with humanity to dwell and grow in this human family in Nazareth, parented by Mary and Joseph.

The Temple incident of Jesus exposed a potential tension between the divinity and the humanity in Jesus. Not fully understanding this Christological nature and mystery in her own Son, Mary was anxious and rather upset about Jesus, making the earthly Holy Family imperfect.

Mary still had a lot to learn about her Son, his divine aspect of the Christological nature, though archangel Gabriel first mentioned it to her at the Annunciation (Luke 1:32-33, 35), then, Simeon and Anna at the Presentation (Luke 2:29-32, 34-35, 38).

Perhaps, Mary, with Joseph’s consent, could have offered Jesus up to God, as Hanna did so with the consent of her husband, Elkanah, in offering up their son, Samuel, to God with gratitude, leaving him in the house of the Father, so that he can grow as an obedient son, in service to the Father’s will as a Nazirite (1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28). But, obviously, it was not in the Father’s will for Jesus, as he was offered up as the ultimate salvific Korban Pesach – Lamb of God to take away the sin of the word (i.e. John 1:29; cf. Exodus 12:3-14; John 19:16-42). So, Mary and Joseph had to go through this rather stressful experience in searching Jesus to learn more about the divine Christological nature in him. But, the initial stress was replaced with the joy of finding him in the house of the Father, as the completion of the Joyful Mysteries, following the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, and the Presentation.

In fact, every parent needs to learn about his or her children through what they reveal as they grow physically, psychologically, and spiritually. This is why Catholic parents shepherd their children as Christ the Good Shepherd guide us and care for us in keeping all of us in the verdant pasture and in the secure sheep pen (i.e. John 10:1-18; Psalm 23:1-6). So did Mary and Joseph, caring and providing for Jesus from his birth on all the way into his young adulthood, enabling him to grow in wisdom and strength, with increasing grace from the Father and good fellowship with people around him (i.e. Luke 2:52), as all caring Catholic parents do and want for their beloved children. And this is just a normalcy of human family of Catholic faith, and the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, was no exception as a human family of faith.

So, the concluding portion of the Holy Family feast Gospel narrative on Cycle C (Luke 2:51-52) indicates that this Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, strove toward perfection, like the Holy Trinity, as Jesus continue to grow in wisdom and size, in God’s favor and favor of people around him. After all, he came into this human Holy Family to dwell among us (John 1:14) as he is Emmanuel, which means, “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23).

By virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism, we have been born into the Holy Family extended from the Trinity through Jesus the Christ as he has been incarnated (i.e. Romans 8:15-17, 22-27; cf. John 17:21; cf. Romans 9:4; cf. Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27), and also in the Holy Family with Mary and Joseph. Remember, it was Jesus who proclaimed that his mother is also ours, as John represented us (John 19:27).

It means that we all in God’s Holy Family and strive to be like Him as His beloved children (1 John 3:1-3; cf. Matthew 5:48) and have our “filial piety” to the Father as adopted children of God by abiding by His Law, especially as commanded by His Son to love one another as he has, to remain in this Holy Family of the Triune God (1 John 3:1-24). And we like accordingly in our respective human families, as husband, wife, and children fulfilling their respective roles to keep the family I love and peace (Colossians 3:12-21; Ephesians 5:22-6:4; cf. Ben Sira 3:2-6, 12-14), as exemplified by the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, which we celebrate as the feast on Sunday during the Christmas Octave, between the birth and the circumcision of Jesus.

Our family fulfillment (Colossians 3:12-21; Ephesians 5:22-6:4; cf. Ben Sira 3:2-6, 12-14) is not just in our human families but for our Holy Family, parented by the Father and in connection to the Holy Trinity, thanks to Christ’s incarnation and born into the human Holy Family parented by Mary and Joseph, and thanks to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of adoption (i.e. Romans 8:14-17, 22-39). We are also in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (i.e. John 19:27), as we all are in the house of the Father, in which Jesus said that he must be in to his mother (Luke 2:49), through our faith. And the house of the Father (Luke 2:49;cf. John 14:2-4; cf. 2 Samuel 7:10-16; 1 Chronicles 17:9-14; Isaiah 2:2-5; 5:7-8; cf. Isaiah 66:10-24; Revelation 21:1-22:6). This has been made possible to us because Christ has been sent to us out of the Father’s love (John 3:16) to redeem to, as incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus (John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:31, 35; 2:7). We have been adopted to God’s Holy Family attached to the Holy Trinity and to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, because Christmas happened in Bethlehem and continue to happen in our hearts.

So, Paul has written for those who have welcomed the incarnated new born Christ into their well-prepared hearts, not in a “manger” :

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is the bond of perfection. And let peace of Christ control our hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:12-17).

So, on this happy feast day to have found child-Jesus in the house of the Father, we ask ourselves:

Are we also found in the Holy Family at the house of the Father?

Yes, we are, as we have welcomed the newborn Jesus into our hearts this Christmas.

Through Christ, sent from his Holy Family of Trinity, without being separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit, because of the hypostatic consubstantial union, to us, incarnated by the Holy Spirit in the human flesh of Jesus, born of Mary, we are adopted as the Father’s Holy Family members, attached to the Holy Trinity, and adopted to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, because Mary is also our Mother, thanks to Jesus. We are forever grateful for the Holy Family in the house of the Father on the holy mountain of Zion.

Hodie Christus Nastus Est! Gloria in Excelsis Deo! Animae Nostrae Magnificate Dominum Deum! – Merry Christmas!

Christmas begins with Vigil Mass. And, our Christmas celebration goes all the way to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. So, it goes beyond Christmas Octave and the feast of Epiphany.

Having made our Advent preparation to welcome the incarnated Christ into our hearts, we are ready to receive the greatest gift of all from God into our hearts. And the gift is God Himself, made visible and sacramentally tangible to us, in the human flesh of a new born baby, coming out of the womb of Mary. But, behind this event that has changed the history, there has been a long way for Christ to come to us. And these readings from all Christmas Masses: Vigil, Midnight, Dawn, and Day, in reflection of all Advent readings, reflect this truth.

Christmas Vigil	Isaiah 62:1-5	Acts 13:16-17, 22-25	Matthew 1:1-25
Christmas Midnight	Isaiah 9:1-6	Titus 2:11-14	Luke 2:1-14
Christmas Dawn	Isaiah 62:11-12	Titus 3:4-7	Luke 2:15-20
Christmas Day	Isaiah 52:7-10	Hebrews 1:1-6	John 1:1-18

 Isaiah 62:1-5 

God breaks His silence, as the rising sun breaks the night darkness at dawn, announcing His promise to crown Jerusalem, renew and refresh Jerusalem, to redeem her as His wife. This promise to save and redeem Zion from her damnation-bound path for her sins is to be fulfilled by Christ, the Son. We begin Christmas celebration with God’s prophetic promise through Isaiah to vindicate Zion and to receive her as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:6-9), making her shine to be the wife of Christ the light. Though it is “silent night”, the birth of the incarnated Christ in Bethlehem is how God began to break His silence, carried on by Jesus the incarnated Christ’s spoken words.

Acts 13:16-17, 22-25

On his first mission (Acts 13:4-14:28), after John Mark dropped out of this mission (Acts13:13), Paul and Barnabas came to Pisidian Antioch, and Paul spoke in the synagogue on God’s care for His people upon His covenant with Abraham. In this context, Paul reminded how God delivered His people from the slavery in Egypt through Passover to the Promised Land. Furthermore, Paul spoke on how God continue to care for them by giving judges until He commissioned Samuel to anoint David as king of His people, as He found David to be a man after his heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). And, from his lineage, God brought Christ to us, heralded by John the Baptist, who prepared the way of the Christ’s coming by calling for repentance and baptizing those who repent and reconcile with God. Then, Paul also made it clear that the unfolding God’s salvific care for His people are not limited to the Jews but to the Gentiles, as well, as long as they believe and revere God.

Matthew 1:1-25

Though it was the time of Isaiah, giving the post-exilic hope, that God made his prophetic announcement to break His silence and take His salvific action for His beloved Zion (Isaiah 62:1-5), as Paul spoke in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:16-25), God has been showing His care for His people upon His covenant with Abraham. So, in this Gospel Reading, we trance the incarnated Christ’s human roots all the way, from Abraham to David, and from David on (Matthew 1:1-16).

It was because Joseph, a descendant of David (Matthew 1:6-16), took Mary, who was chosen by God to be the mother of His Son to be incarnated and to be given human birth (Luke 1:28,30-33, 35; 2:7) as his beloved wife, with his understanding that his marriage to Mary was to fulfill God’s promise to have Christ be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)(Matthew 1:18-25).

Isaiah 9:1-6

As we begin Christmas Midnight Mass, we begin to see a great light in the midnight darkness, which metaphorically represents the darkness of our sinfulness and the sinful world. This great light is the light of Christ (John 1:4; 8:12; cf. Psalm 36:10), who is about to make his first theophany to us, as the sun rises above the horizon, though Christ the sun breaks the darkness from on high (Luke 1:78), as the rising sun of justice with healing wings (Malachi 3:20).

What comes through this great light of salvation, Christ the light, is joy of God’s providence, like rejoicing over great harvest (Isaiah 9:1-2; cf. Isaiah 25:6) – also like the rejoicing of David and his people over the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant, in which God resides, to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:1-36). Then, as God commissioned Gideon to deliver Israel from the oppression of Median, which was result of Israel’s sin (Judges 6:1-8:28), Christ the great light will deliver us from what ties us to sins (Isaiah 9:3; cf. Isaiah 25:1-9; 27:1-13; cf. Matthew 11:28-30), as we listen to him, for he is the wisdom to deliver us from the burden (i.e. Ben Sira 51:23-30; cf. Proverbs 8:22-36). What follows the deliverance from the slavery of sins, from the darkness of sin by the Christ the light and wisdom is peace that is only given by him (John 14:27), because he is to be born to us as the Prince of Peace, Wonder- Counselor, God-Hero, and Father-Forever, and his Davidic royal dominion covers all over the world with everlasting peace and justice (Isaiah 9:4-6; cf. Isaiah 2:2-4).

Titus 2:11-14

Paul tells one of his spiritual sons, Titus (the other one is Timothy), that the first theophany of the incarnated Christ was the appearance of the salvific grace of God (Titus 2:11). In other words, God sent His only begotten Son out of His love to us (John 3:16), incarnating God-Word (Theos-Logos)(John 1, 14) through Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31) by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), having Mary give birth to him (Luke 2:7), as the greatest gift of love to redeem us from the all wickedness to purity, turning our hearts from worldly attachment to the godliness. And this gift, the incarnated Christ born of Mary, was wrapped with swaddling cloths and place in a manger (Luke 2:7). And this is how our Advent blessed hope has been fulfilled.

Luke 2:1-14

The time has come! The time to fulfill the Advent blessed hope (i.e. Titus 2:13). In fact, this is the beginning of God’s fulfillment of His promise in Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:1, and Malachi 3:20.

It was an predawn dark hour in Bethlehem. Mary was going through labor. Joseph searched for a room for her to deliver the incarnated Christ. But, not room for her, for the incarnated Christ to be born, and for Joseph. The only place available to this Holy Family was a stable. In spirit of such a difficult condition, Mary safely gave birth to her firstborn Son, the incarnated Christ. The long-waited Christ with blessed hope for salvation and redemption finally came as a baby boy humbly born to the abject poverty, as he was wrapped with swaddling clothes and placed in a manger.

This is how God broke His silence (Isaiah 62:1) and began to break the darkness with a great light (Isaiah 9:1) to gather all His beloved people to His house on the holy mountain as one in peace, established in the Davidic royal city of God (Isaiah 2:1-5; cf. 2 Samuel 7:10-16; cf. Psalm 23:6; cf. Isaiah 66:18-24; cf. John 10:9; 17:20-23; cf. Revelation 21:1-22:5). And this is to save us by the blood of him through his death and resurrection to fulfill Isaiah 52:13-53:12. And his blood is the new covenant (Luke 22:20). Being placed in a manger upon his birth, the incarnated Christ has come to feed us for eternal life, as the living Bread of Life (John 6:51). The manger is our “bread basket”, and Bethlehem, where this took place, literally means “ a city of bread”, in Hebrew. It was no accident that Mary gave birth to the incarnated Christ in Bethlehem in fulfilling Micah 5:1.

Then, the angel of the Lord, appeared and announced this theophany through the birth of the incarnated Christ to the shepherds, who stayed awake in that predawn hour. So, the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds:

Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 2:10-12).

And suddenly, a multitude of heavenly host joined the angel of the Lord in praising God:

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests (Luke 2:14).

Thus, the arrival of the long-waited Christ has appeared to us, born of Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger, was announced by the angel of the Lord, with praising to God for His favor of peace on earth. Thus, Prince of Peace, Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever (Isaiah 9:5), has arrived!

Isaiah 62:11-12

The proclamation of the good news of the arrival and appearance of the incarnated Christ by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds (Luke 2:10-12) has thus fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah.

Titus 3:4-7

 By the humble human birth of the incarnated Christ, chesed, which is God’s loving-kindness, full of mercy, has appeared. As this is a grace of God (Titus 2:11), it is not because of any righteous deeds done by us. Because of this, we can enjoy the salvific benefits of the Sacrament of Baptism as the bath of rebirth, thus, being born as God’s adopted children, renewed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:5; cf. Romans 8:23) so that we may be justified for eternal life.

 Luke 2:15-20

Having heard the good news of the birth of the incarnated Christ from the angel of God and heard the angel with the heavenly host, praising and glorifying God in the highest for bringing peace on earth through the incarnated Christ, Prince of Peace (Luke 2:10-12, 14), the shepherds said to each other to “check it out” in their own eyes, and rushed to the scene where the birth of the incarnated Christ took place. And they saw the incarnated Christ as a newborn baby wrapped in a manger, with Mary and Joseph in the stable. So, they spread this good news, as they witnessed, and those who heard were all amazed. And this was the beginning of the spread of the good news, which still continues today. It started in Bethlehem by the shepherd, who witnessed the newborn incarnated Christ with Mary and Joseph. And shepherds also glorified and praised God for what they witnessed, as heard from the angel of the Lord. Meanwhile, Mary treasured up all of what happened, from having labor, having difficulty in finding a place to give birth, giving birth in a stable, placing the newborn son in a manger, wrapped with swaddling clothes, visited by the shepherds, in her contemplation.

 The incarnated Christ has been born of Mary (Luke 2:7)! Announced by the angel of the Lord (Luke 2:10-12) and witnessed by the shepherd and evangelized (Luke 2:16-18)! The Christ the son of justice with healing winds (Malachi 3:20) has been rising, coming from high above (Luke 1:78), alleluias! The great light of Christ (Isaiah 9:1; John 1:4; 8:12) has begun breaking the darkness of the world of sinfulness! Thus, we celebrate Christmas Day Mass.

Isaiah 52:7-10

In a motif of the battle field messenger, who run “marathons” on his mission, we are now called to bring and spread the good news of the appearance of the incarnated Christ, as he is now born of Mary! This was first done by the shepherds (Luke 2:17-18). For this, Paul made three mission journeys (Acts 13:4-21:16) and St. Francis Xavier came all the way to the isles of the rising sun in 1549. Now, we are called to follow their suits in bringing the good news of the birth of the incarnated Christ and more good news that is brought by him, to all nations!

We are messengers of Chris the King, his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), shouting the good news of Christ for joy, for healing, redemption, salvation, and peace, brought by him. And this is our apostolic mission.

But, first and foremost, we must witness the newborn incarnated Christ by ourselves, as the shepherd did.

We can witness as we have prepared our hearts to receive the newborn incarnated Christ, without rushing to Bethlehem.

 Hebrews 1:1-6

 When He was speaking I partial and various ways during the time of the old covenant through prophets (Hebrews 1:1), God promised to break His silence to vindicate us though we have sinned against Him (Isaiah 62:1). And the silence has been broken with the birth of the incarnated Christ, the Son (Hebrews 1:2), the incarnated God-Word (John 1;1,14), who is light and life (John 1:4). And this light is the radiance of God’s glory, representing his being (Hebrews 1:3). Through him, God made all things in the universe, including us (Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:16-17), Christ has come to purify us to redeem us to this heavenly throne (Hebrews 1:3; cf. Titus 2:14; cf. Revelation 7:13-14). Though Christ has come to us in the human flesh of Jesus, he is much superior to angels, they also worship God (Hebrews 1:4-6) and praised Him when His Son appeared in the human flesh (Luke 2:13-14).

The purification is an ongoing process. It was not done just because John the Baptist called to be baptized with water for repentance and conversion (e.g. Matthew 3:1-12) to prepare for the coming of Christ. As John made it clear, Christ has now come to purify us with the Holy Spirit and fire (e.g. Matthew 3:11). This is because he has come to redeem us to His Kingdom, where only those who are clean and pure are allowed as saints.

John 1:1-18

This Gospel narrative captures the fundamental Christological truth to explain why Christ, who is the God-Word, needed to come to us as in the human incarnation of Jesus, born of Mary. This gives a logical reason for Luke 1:28, 30-33, 35; 2:7. Basically, this Johannine Christological narrative tells why we have Christmas.

God has made invisible God not only visible to us all but tangible sacramental being to take as the living Bread of Life, with his blood, for eternal life to inherit what He has in store for us, as Christ the Son’s coheir. And for this, God-Word needed to come to us as incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, born or Mary to the poverty, as anav.

As it is anawim (plural of anav), blessed to inherit the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3), Christ being incarnated in anav calling us to be his fellow anawim and shepherding us as our Good Shepherd (John 10:11) to his Kingdom.

Fr. Dave Gorski, SJ, of Loyola University Chicago, puts it well with a story of guiding birds in danger to safety.

It is quite difficult for a human to guide birds in danger to safety, as birds do not recognize a person as one of them. Likewise, it is difficult for us, humans, to recognize the invisible God, unless you are like Abraham or Moses or other biblical figures. Our ancestors did not listen to God and perished in sins, in part, because of this – though God sent His messengers, prophets. God still wants to save us from the slavery of sins and redeem us to His house on the holy mountain.

Thus God has made himself not just visible to us but making himself to dwell among us, by incarnating God-Word in the human flesh of Jesus, who has called us his friends (John 15:13) – so that we recognize him as one of us and more likely to listen to his words. This way, God, who is no longer invisible but visible, audible, and sacramentally tangible, has come to us as Jesus, our fellow anav, born of Mary, also son of Joseph of the Davidic lineage – though he is the eternal Davidic King, in fact, the King of the Universe.

Christ pre-existed the Creation (John 1:1; cf. Proverbs 8:22-31). In fact, the Creation was through and for him (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). Though he was not created but begotten, Christ made himself as one of those who are created by incarnating in the human flesh of Jesus and dwelling among us, as Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23), which means “God with us”.

Having gone through all the Christmas readings from Vigil Mass to Day Mass, we are at awe to the awesome providence of God for us, as we see how Christmas has come, going back to Christ’s pre-existence to the Creation.

Yes, Christ incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, born of Mary, has come an unimaginably long way from the time before the Creation. God the Father had decided to send the incarnated Christ as Mary’s Son to defeat Satan (Genesis 3:15), upon the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15). But, it was not just to destroy Satan but to heal and restore the broken relationship between God and us the humans, by making the divine Son, who is Theos-Logos (John 1:1), appear and come to us in the human flesh to be one of us (John 1:14), conceived in the womb of Mary the Immaculate Conception, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), that God the Father sent His only begotten Son to us out of His love (John 3:16).

As Fr. Arthur Bautista of Holy Child Jesus parish of Chicago has put it, Christmas is also about Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the hypostatic union as One God.

Now, this is really the Good News that Christ the Son has come to us, as sent by the Father, incarnated in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, to save us from the slavery of sins and to redeem us into his Kingdom, the house of God on the holy mountain of new Zion, where there is unshakable peace.

So, we now say “Merry Christmas!” in our “magnificat”, praising and glorifying awesome God!

Today Christ Has Come to Us! Hodie Christus Nastus Est! Gloria in Excelsis Deo! Animae Nostrae Magnificate Dominum Deum! – Merry Christmas!

 

The Birth of the Incarnated Christ as the Sunrise from On High to Fill the House of David with the Light of Salvation and Peace – Christmas Eve Morning Reflection

Many Catholics seem to have “forgotten” that there is Mass for Christmas Eve. It is celebrated in the morning of December 24. It is not Christmas Vigil Mass, which takes place late afternoon or early evening, followed by Christmas Midnight Mass,, Christmas Dawn Mass, and Christmas Day Mass.

The Scripture Readings for Christmas Eve Morning Mass are: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Luke 1:67-79. 

The First Reading (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16) is about David expressing is desire to build the permanent house of God on earth, namely, the Temple (vv. 1-5), and how God responded to this through Nathan the prophet, with His promise to send Christ the King raised out of the Davidic line (vv. 8b-12, v.14a, v.16).  David is the youngest son of Jesse, who descends from Judah, whose father is Jacob, whose father is Isaac, Abraham’s son with Sarah. He was anointed to serve God as king by Samuel, the son of Hannah and Elkanah, as commanded by God, in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:1-13). He was also anointed by the men of Judah as their king in Hebron (2 Samuel 2:1-7). Having overcome those who were loyal to Saul, whom God replaced with David, as king, all the tribes of Israel came to him in Hebron and acknowledged him as their king and shepherd (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 1 Chronicles 11:1-3). Then, David conquered the Jebusites and their city, Jerusalem, establishing this city as his royal city to rule the all descendants of Jacob, including all the men of Judah, moving the center of his operation from Hebron to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-16; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9; 14:1-7). And the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, placed inside the tent pitched by David, and he offered burned sacrifice to God, blessed his people in the name of the Lord Almighty, and offered a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins, to each person of the whole crowd, who came to celebrate the placement of the Ark in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-19; 1 Chronicles 13:1-14; 15:1-16:43).

Now, as God gave him rest from all his enemies (2 Samuel 7:1), David is settled well as king in the royal palace built with cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant is placed in the tent. So, David wanted to provide the permanent house to place the Ark, in which God finds a place. So David said to Nathan, a prophet, about his intention to build a house for God, for the Ark to be securely placed (2 Samuel 7:2).

To this, though Nathan gave David a “green light” to do so (2 Samuel 7:3), God spoke to Nathan to tell David:

Is it you who would build me a house to dwell in? I have never dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up from Egypt to this day, but I have been going about in a tent or a tabernacle. As long as I have wondered about among the Israelites, did I ever say a word to any of the judges whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? (2 Samuel 7:5-7).

Furthermore, God spoke to David through Nathan:

I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become a ruler over my people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your enemies before you. And I will make your name like that of the greatest on earth. I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it to dwell there; they will never again disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever again oppress them, as they did at the beginning, and from the day when I appointed the judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you: when your days have been completed and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and with human punishments; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul who was before you. Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever (2 Samuel 7:8-16).

And Nathan spoke all these words of God to David (2 Samuel 7:17).

In the first part of the above words to David through Nathan (vv. 5-7), God made it clear that building a nice cedar house or even a brick house for Him does not necessarily mean honoring Him. So, God even said to David if He had ever complained or demanded people to build Him such a house.

Reading and reflecting on this (2 Samuel 7:5-7), in the Christmas eve morning, we think of the house to welcome the Son of God, whom God had promised to David to raise out of his lineage (2 Samuel 7:12b-15; cf. Matthew 1:6-16), in as he will arrive tomorrow morning in a predawn hour.

Historically, the Son of God was not placed in a nice comfortable baby bed when he came out of Mary’s womb, as he was placed on a manger, wrapped with swaddling cloths (Luke 2:7). And there is no evidence that God complained about the way His newborn incarnated Son was treated by Mary and Joseph. In fact, the stable where Joseph took Mary in, and where she gave birth to the incarnated Son of God, was a temporary house of God, and the manger was the Tabernacle, from which the incarnated Christ is brought to us as the living Bread of Life. And we wil welcome the newborn incarnated Christ into our hearts tomorrow before dawn. For this, through the teaching of John the Baptist, we have been preparing our hearts to be fitting as a house of God for him to nestle in. So, if you had spent a lot of money and worked hard in building a nice “nativity house” for baby Jesus during this Advent without repenting your sins and prepared your heart for him, then, all the money and hard work, you have put will not please God. God does not really care such a thing, as He explicitly said about David’s intent to build a nice cedar house or something even better for God (2 Samuel 7:5-7).

The second part (vv. 8-16) is a prophecy, as well as, a covenant that God made to David through Nathan. But, God first reminded how He guided David to the kingship (2 Samuel 7:8;1 Samuel 16:1-13) and His unfailing presence with him (2 Samuel 7:9a). Then, God begins delivering His prophetic promise to David to make his name great and known to all over the world (2 Samuel 7:9b), namely through the Christ the Son of God being the Davidic everlasting King, who establishes the house for God’s people, namely His everlasting Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:11b-16).

Because God was always with him, David was able to overcome all his enemies and establish his royal palace in Jerusalem, moving from Hebron ( 2 Samuel 2:8-4:12, 5:17-25; cf. 8:1-14; 10:1-19; 12:26-31; 1 Chronicles 12:1-40; 14:8-17; cf. 1 Chronicles18:1-13; 19:1-20:8). And David knew this so well in saying that the Lord had given him rest from all is enemies (2 Samuel 7:1). And God reminds David of His perpetual companionship with him as He began delivering his promise (2 Samuel 7:9a). Rather, God’s promise to David was not really about him but to his people, who are also God’s people, providing a secure home, free from any disturbance, as God has given him rest from all enemies (2 Samuel 7:10-11a). God reveals His will to establish the permanent Davidic house for him and the people whom he govern in His name and those who are to follow the one whom God will raise out of the Davidic lineage, namely, Christ the Son of God, who is to establish his everlasting Kingdom, the very house that God wants to provide (2 Samuel 7:11b-16). And it is out of God’s everlasting love (chesed) (i.e. 1 Chronicles 16:41; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 7:3, 6; Ezra 3:11cf. 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1-4, 29; 136:1-22; cf. John 3:16) that the Davidic Kingdom established by God thorugh Christ will last forever – as his love endures forever, so does the Davidic throne and Kingdom, ruled by Christ the Son (2 Samuel 7:15-16).

What a great promise (covenant) that God made with David – not just for him but for us all who welcome, believe, and follow Christ the King sent to us by God’s everlasting love (2 Chronicles 7:15-16; John 3:16), raised out of David lineage (2 Chronicles 7:12)! And he is to appear to us, to come into our hearts, tomorrow in a predawn hour!

In this God’s prophetic promise to David, God Himself establishing the permanent house of David, through His Son, the Christ, incarnated (John 1:1, 35) in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31, 35) and born of this blessed virgin (Luke 2:7), is also our house, called the Kingdom brought by Christ upon his coming, representing his new covenant. And we already see security and peace in this house (2 Samuel 7:10-11). And this is also echoed and reflected in Isaiah 2:2-5; 25:1-12;26:1-21;27:1-14, as well as in Micah 4;1-13, and projected in Isaiah 66:18-24 (cf. John 17:20-23; Revelation 21:1-22:5). For this, God is willing to renew us as we turn our hearts to Him through Christ (i.e. Baruch 5:1-9; Isaiah 29:22-24; 30:18-33).

This certainly makes us sing with joy and gratefulness: We give thanks to the Lord for His covenant-love-mercy (chesed) endures forever (e.g. 1 Chronicles 16:41)! And so does the house that God establishes through Christ the King, who is arriving soon, being born of Mary!

God’s promise to David in establishing the house for God’s people through Christ, His Son, raised out of the Davidic royal line (2 Samuel 7:5-16) is also found in 1 Chronicles 17:4-13.

The Gospel Reading (Luke 1:67-79) is Zechariah’s canticle of praising God for keeping His redemptive covenant (vv. 68-75) and prophesizing on the role of his son, John the Baptist, as the forerunner of Christ (vv. 76-79), upon the birth of his son with Elizabeth, John the Baptist (Luke 1:57-66).

Knowing his son, John, was born as the forerunner of Christ to come (Luke 1:13-17), to fulfill Malachi 3:1-5, 22-24, to prepare the way for the sun of justice to rise (Malachi 3:20), namely, for Christ to come, his father Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:67) and praised God for raising His salvific and redemptive strengths, symbolized with a horn (Luke 1:69; cf. Psalm 18:3; 75:6; 89:18; 112:9;148:14). Namely, this is Christ the King, raised out of the Davidic line (2 Chronicles 7:12; Isaiah 11:1; cf. Isaiah 6:13). Because of this, his barren wife, Elizabeth was conceived and gave birth to John, so that he can prepare the way of God’s strong horn of salvation to come. And this salvific horn is to ensure the salvation within the house of David (2 Samuel 7:11, 16; Isaiah 2:2; 56:7-8) for the faithful servants of the Davidic King, Christ (Luke 1:69b).

Zechariah sees the house of David, protected by Christ the Davidic King, as the horn of salvation and redemption, is the fulfillment of what God promised to David for security, freedom and peace, not disturbed by enemies (2 Samuel 7:10) and of what God promised to Abraham for rescuing from enemies (Genesis 22;16-17), for all those who are faithful to remain in holiness and righteousness before God (Luke 1:70-75).

For God’s promise to David in establishing the house of David as Christ’s Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:10-16), strengthened with a horn of salvation, protected from enemies for peace to those who are holy and righteous (saints) to God (Luke 1:69-75), Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, is to be called a prophet of the Most High to go before Christ the Lord to prepare the way for him (Luke 1:76-77). So, John the Baptist was, indeed, the voice in the wilderness, proclaiming to make the way of the Christ to come by repenting and converting back to God (Isaiah 40:3-5; cf. Luke 3:4-18; cf. Malachi 3:1-5,23-24), to let people know the Lord, the Christ, and his salvific power (Luke 1:77; cf Jeremiah 31:34).

As God’s promise to David for his house as the everlasting Kingdom for peace through His Son, Christ, raised from the Davidic lineage, out of His ever enduring love (2 Samuel 7:10-16), Zechariah sees this fulfillment also through God’s tender mercy through the rising sun from on high to come to us (Luke 1:78). And this is in juxtaposition to the sun of justice to bring healing to those who are holy and righteous (Malachi 3:20). So, Christ, as the rising son, will shine on those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death to redeem them to the path of peace (Luke 1:79), fulfilling Isaiah 9:1-6.

Mary and Joseph are nearing to Bethlehem.

Mary can give birth to the incarnated Christ any time.

The sun of justice will rise upon the birth of the incarnated Christ, to bring light to redeem and guide those who are lost but ready to repent and convert their hearts to God, to the Kingdom, which God promised to David as his house, as well as the house for his people and God’s people, us.

Now Christ the light is about to be born of Mary the Immaculate Conception, Blessed Virgin, God’s most favored human, who praised God in her Magnificat canticle (Luke 1:46-55). The sun of justice for healing from on high will rise soon to break the darkness and to fill the house of David, the house of God on the holy mountain with his light of salvation and peace. So, let our hearts be filled with Christ the light! Let our hearts be the true Christmas light as we bear the new born Davidic King, who comes to establish the house of salvific light for everlasting peace, as God’s love lasts forever.

Merry Christmas in advance!