On July 26, we honor and celebrate the St. Anna (Anne)
and St. Joachim not just for their marriage but for this couple’s commitment to
God’s will to send His only begotten Son incarnated in the human flesh as our
ultimate salvific intercessor and the seed of the Kingdom of God to grow on
earth through our hearts. But if you
happen to subscribe to the sola biblia
doctrine of some non-Catholic denominations, this feast makes no sense, because
neither Anna nor Joachim is mentioned in the Bible However, other sources, such
as Protevangelium of James and Evangelium de nativitate Mariae, describe that they are the parents of Mary,
the mother of Jesus, the Christ. Therefore, a theological significance in celebrating
and honoring the lives of St. Anna and St. Joachim is on their roles as the
maternal grandparents of Jesus.
This year, Pope Francis called the Church to
celebrate and honor grandparents throughout the world, establishing
grandparents’ day. So, it is fitting this year to highlight the maternal
grandparents of Mary, Anna and Joachim, not only on their feast day but also on
the grandparents’ day.
From the First Reading (Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34), we
see Moses as the intercessor for sinful Israelites, who provoked God’s anger
for committing idolatry. We, too, sin
and are in need of an intercessor.
So, who is our intercessor?
It is the grandson of Anna and Joachim, the son of
their daughter, Mary. It is Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Son of God. In fact,
Jesus has been interceding for us to the Father directly, having offered himself
up as the ultimate sacrifice (Romans 8:34). And, he is also our Advocate (Parakletos)(1 John 2:1), while the Holy
Spirit is another intercessor (Romans 8:26-27), as well as another Advocate
(John 14:16). Therefore, Anna and
Joachim are our ultimate salvific intercessor’s maternal grandparents.
What if Ann and Joachim did not exist…what if they
did not have Mary as their daughter…?
Then, we would not have Christ, our Savior, in the
human flesh of Jesus, the Son of Mary. It means that we would not have our
ultimate salvific intercessor, Jesus.
One Christological, as well as, soteriological,
significance is the incarnation of Theos-Logos
(John 1:1, 14) in the very human flesh of Jesus, who was born of Mary (Luke
2:6-7), the granddaughter of Anna and Joachim. Because Christ came to us about
2,000 years ago, as incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, upon his sacrifice
on the Cross, he was able to offer his whole body as the ultimate Passover
Sacrifice, as well as, Yom Kippur Sacrifice, to deliver us from the bonds of
sins and to atone with God. Through his blood, we can be cleansed of sins (1
John 1:7 ; cf. Revelation 7:14) and justified (Romans 5:9). And through his
body and blood, in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we are kept alive for
eternal life (John 6:53-54).
We can see Jesus, the grandson of Anna and Joachim,
the Son of Mary, also as the “new Moses”, in juxtaposition of his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29) to
Moses speaking of the God-given Torah (Exodus 34:29-36:7). In fact, Moses himself
indicated Jesus as the “new Moses” (Deuteronomy 8:15).
So are we still able to exist, not being burned by
God’s wrath, though we have sinned again and again?
It is because of this our salvific intercessor,
Jesus the “new Moses”.
And, without his grandparents, Anna and Joachim, we
would not have Jesus for us.
The Gospel Reading (Matthew 13:31-35) is about the
growth of the Kingdom of God with a set of two parables: the parable of the
mustard seed and the parable of the yeast.
So, what does this Gospel Reading have anything to
do with Anna and Joachim – besides the fact that they are Jesus’ maternal
grandparents?
Now, consider Jesus as the seed that grows into the
Kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven, through us and among us, namely,
through the Church on earth. Jesus raises us as the Kingdom, as the yeast
raises the dough, turning it into a loaf of bread.
Anna and Joachim, as well as, their daughter, Mary,
are essential to the carnal ontogeny (ontogenesis) of Jesus.
Christ pre-existed (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17;
cf. Proverbs 8:22-36; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24). But, before coming to earth, he
was pre-incarnated. He was not yet Jesus. Christ was incarnated in the womb of Mary,
the Blessed Virgin, the daughter of Anna and Joachim, by the power of the Holy Spirit
(Luke 1:35), at the moment of the Annunciation (Luke 1:28-35), the moment when Theos-Logos was incarnated in the human
flesh of Jesus (John 1:1, 14). And it was when the “mustard seed” was sown in
the womb of Mary, the daughter of Anna and Joachim, by the Father through the
power of the Holy Spirit, announced by Gabriel. It was when the Father put the divine
“leaven” in the dough of the humanity to raise it the Kingdom. And, this was
made possible because Anna and Joachim remained faithful to God, never lost
their hope and trust in Him, though they did not have a child for many years.
So now we know more about the progeny of the
incarnated Christ, Jesus, the grandson of Anna and Joachim, before Mary’s
virgin pregnancy. And, besides being our ultimate salvific intercessor, the new
Moses, as well as, the Advocate, he is the divine seed to grow into the majestic
Kingdom out of us, the Church, the divine leaven to raise us into the Kingdom!
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