Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Readings:
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 98:1-4
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38
All Scripture passages are from the New American Bible unless designated NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of this Solemnity's Readings: The Virgin Mary's Faith and Love That Never Knew Sin
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of
obligation for faithful Catholics (CCC 2177). On December 8th,
1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined as a dogma of Catholic faith Mary's
Immaculate Conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. The apostolic
constitution Ineffabilis Deus states: "We declare, pronounce and define
that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first
instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty
God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was
preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God
and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
The Church's definition focus on these truths:
The principal reason for Mary's unique privilege in her Immaculate Conception given in Pius IX's apostolic constitution is that she was predestined by the Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity to be the Theotokos (Greek = God-Bearer), or Mother of the Word Incarnate made flesh. Because of Jesus' extreme holiness, it was necessary that He became united with our human nature in the womb of a woman who was never infected by even the slightest sin. She could not be subject to original sin (which would have made her a part of the human race's corporate alienation from God), nor personal, nor actual sin, nor even through venial sin (which would have impeded her love of God and neighbor). In 1858, when the Virgin Mary introduced herself to Bernadette of Lourdes, she used these words: "I am the Immaculate Conception." Since 1854 there have been several reaffirmations of this dogma of the Immaculate Conception by the Magisterium.
The First Reading Genesis 3:9-15, 20 ~ God's Promise of the Redeemer-Messiah
9 After the
man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him,
"Where are you?" 10 He
answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so
I hid myself." 11 Then he
asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree
of which I had forbidden you to eat!" 12 The
man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me, she gave me fruit from the
tree, and so I ate it." 13 The
Lord God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman
answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it." 14 Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
"Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from
all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat
all the days of your life. 15 I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and
hers [her seed]; he will strike at your head while you strike at his heel."
[...]. 20 The man called his
wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.
[...] = Hebrew, IBHE, vol. I, pages 7-8.
We are told in Genesis 3:8 that the first man and the woman were hiding among the trees in the garden sanctuary of Eden. It is an ironic hiding place since the fruit-bearing trees were intended to be a blessing, with the Tree of Life as the symbolic archetype of those blessings. The abuse of disobeying God's command by eating the fruit of the one forbidden tree (Gen 2:16-17) has altered man's relationship with God. From the beginning of Genesis 1:29, trees became a symbol of man's changing relationship with God, and in the final chapter of the Bible, trees again become symbolic of God's healing power and His abundant blessings poured out upon the human race (Rev 22:2).
Adam and Eve were hiding because they feared God. Having lost the grace of their original holiness, sin has alienated them from God and has given them a distorted image of Him. They no longer see God as a loving and protective Father; they now view Him as demanding, controlling, and jealous of His prerogatives. See CCC 397-99.
Notice that in verses 9-13 that God asks Adam and Eve a series of four questions:
The first question, "Where are you?" is not a question of physical location. God, being omniscient, knows where Adam and Eve are hiding in the garden. God's question is instead concerned with their spiritual condition: "Where are you in your relationship with Me?" The second question establishes that they are no longer "clothed in grace" but have become, in their freewill decision to embrace sin, they have become deprived of their divine sonship in the family of God. The third question calls for an acknowledgment of their sin, and the fourth question is an invitation to turn away from sin and to return to holiness and a loving relationship with their God and divine Father. In asking the four questions, Yahweh is calling His children to confession. He is asking Adam and Eve to examine their spiritual state, to acknowledge their sin, to confess their sin, and in expressing their contrition and repentance to turn away from sin:
These are the questions God is asking every sinner who comes into His presence in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In the Sacrament of Penance, we come to God as fallen children seeking forgiveness for our sins from a just and loving Father (CCC 980; 1422-24; 1468-70).
12 The man
replied, "The woman whom you put here with me, she gave me fruit from the tree,
and so I ate it." 13 The
Lord God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman
answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."
Adam blames "the woman." In excusing his sin and implicating
his wife, Adam has denied his bride, disavowing her "goodness" (she who was the
last "good" thing created in Genesis 1:27-31), and he has blamed God for giving
him the gift of the bride. As companions they are no longer united; sin and
guilt have turned them against each other.
When God calls the woman to repentance and accountability, she blames the serpent. But who bears the heavier burden of guilt, the man or the woman? While it is true that man and woman are equal in God's affections and equally owe Him their obedience, their vocations are different. The man's vocation in God's service was to guard and serve the garden Sanctuary (Gen 2:15). The woman's vocation was to be the man's helper (Gen 2:20). Adam gave the bride her identity as "woman" (Gen 2:23). He had authority over her only in his duty to maintaining the sanctity of the garden Sanctuary; therefore, it is the man who is ultimately responsible. The woman was "deceived" (Gen 3:13), while Adam stood silent and willing (Gen 3:6). In memory of this catastrophic event, the Law of Moses ruled that a husband was responsible for any vow his wife made to which he remained silent (Num 30:1-6).
Judgment and the consequences of the Fall
14 Then the
LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned
from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you
crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring [seed] and hers [her seed]; he will strike at
your head while you strike at his heel."
Yahweh pronounces three judgments in Genesis 3:14-19, and the three defendants who face God's divine judgment are the woman, the man, and the serpent who is Satan in animal form (Rev 12:9). The animal form that Satan used is condemned to travel on its belly as a reminder throughout human history of the catastrophic event of the Fall of man and the shape Satan took to accomplish his evil intent. There will also be constant warfare between the "seed of the serpent" the "seed of the woman" (Gen 3:15)
St. John the Apostle defines those who are the "seed of the serpent": Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning ... In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother (1 John 3:8a, 10). The title "seed of the serpent" reflects God's judgment on sinners who stand in opposition to God and attempt to subvert the destiny of the people of God by denying the One born of the "seed of the woman" from whom God would extend His the gift of salvation to all humanity, Jesus Christ.
15 I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and hers
[her seed]; he will strike at your head while you strike at his heel."
The words "seed of the woman" in a collective sense refer to
the promised line of the "holy seed," those men and women who, despite the
difficulties imposed upon them through the curse of sin in the world, will
remain faithful to knowing, loving, and serving Yahweh. These men and woman will
stand in opposition to the "seed of the Serpent/Satan" who are the men and
woman who oppose the will of God. But the "seed" of the woman can also be
understood to refer to Jesus Christ, the one individual who will battle Satan to
save humanity from sin and death (1 Jn 3:8-10).
In the Hebrew phrase he will strike at your head while you strike his heel, the pronouns are in the singular and not in the plural; and the indefinite pronoun can be translated "he, she, or it." The Greek translation of the Old Testament (c. 250 BC), known as the Septuagint, translated the pronoun in the masculine as "he," while St. Jerome in his Latin Vulgate, translated the pronoun "she" as a reference to the Virgin Mary.
The Hebrew scholars who translated the Hebrew text into Greek in the 3rd century BC acknowledged that the passage offered the first promise of a future Redeemer who will be wounded in His struggle with the Serpent. "You will strike its heel," is a Semitic expression for "do violence to, or to wound," but the promised Redeemer will crush the head of the Serpent: it [he] will strike [crush] your head; a Semitism for "to strike a mortal wound." It is a visual image that begins the wonderful film "The Passion of the Christ" by director Mel Gibson. The Church Fathers called Genesis 3:15 the Protoevangelium, which in Latin means "the first Gospel/Good news." Genesis 3:15 is the first promise of the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah, born from a woman chosen by God. Genesis 3:15 is the proof that God was not willing to abandon humanity to the corruption of sin and death.
20 The man
called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.
Eve's naming reflects her destiny: Eve is the mother of all
humans in the physical sense of motherhood. The Virgin Mary also has a destiny
to fulfill as the "mother of the living." She is "the woman" who is the mother
of all who come to her Son to receive the gift of eternal life (see CCC 489;
Rev 12:17).
The Doctors and Fathers of the Church have always identified the promised woman in Genesis 3:15 as the Virgin Mary, who in her perfect obedience to the will of God, untied the knot of disobedience of the virgin Eve and became the "mother of all the living." The Virgin Mary is the new Eve as St. Irenaeus (martyred c. 200 AD) identified her: "As Eve was seduced by the word of a [fallen] angel to flee from God, having rebelled against his word, so Mary by the word of an angel received the glad tidings that she would bear God by obeying his word. The former was seduced to disobey God [and so fell], but the latter was persuaded to obey God, so that the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. As the human race was subjected to death through the act of a virgin, so was it saved by a virgin, and thus the disobedience of one virgin was precisely balanced by the obedience of another" (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.19.1). The Book of Revelation calls her the mother of the children who obey God's commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus (Rev 12:17 NJB).
Responsorial Psalm 98:1-4
The response is: "Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds."
1 Sing to the LORD a
new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; his right hand has won victory for
him, his holy arm.
Response:
2 The LORD has made
his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. 3a He has remembered his kindness and his
faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
Response:
3b All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation by our God. 4
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; break into song; sing praise.
Response:
Psalm 98 encourages songs of praise, remembering God's mighty deeds in saving His people during the Exodus out of Egypt and bringing them back from the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. God's "arm" is a reference to Exodus 15:16 and Isaiah 40:10; 51:5, 9; etc., expressing God's personal, saving action for the sake of His covenant people. Yahweh acted in fidelity to His covenant with Israel (verse 3a), and all the nations of the earth have witnessed His mighty deeds in saving His people (verse 3b). Therefore, the psalmist calls all the nations of the earth to offer up songs of joyful praise for the God of Israel (verse 4).
Reflecting on the joy we should demonstrate in gratitude for God's saving acts for His people, St. Augustine wrote: "O, my brothers and sons! You are shoots of the universal Church, the holy seed of the eternal kingdom; you are those who have been remade and reborn in Christ! Listen to me: 'Sing a new song to the Lord.' You tell me that you are already singing. Sing on, I say, sing on; I can hear you. But try to make sure that your life does not contradict the words that your tongue sings ...You yourselves will give him praise if you lead holy lives" (Sermones, 34.3-6).
The Second Reading Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 ~ God's Plan of Salvation
3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavens, 4 as he chose us in him, before the foundation of
the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love 5 he
destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the
favor of his will, 6 for the praise
of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.
11 In him we were
also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes
all things according to the intention of his will, 12 so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.
St. Paul speaks of the spiritual blessings the Ephesians and all Christians have received through Christ (verse 3): the call to holiness and also the gift of divine adoption which establishes a unique spiritual relationship with God the Father through Christ the Son (verses 4-5).
4 as he chose us in him, before the foundation of
the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.
Paul details each of the blessings contained in God's
eternal plan. The first is God's choice, "before the foundation of the world"
of those chosen by divine election to be part of the Church as those called out
of the world to be God's chosen people. The Greek word translated "chose" in
this verse is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament
to refer to God's election of Israel. The Church of the New Covenant people of
God is constituted by the assembly around Christ of those chosen and called to
holiness. This selection implies that, although Jesus founded the New Covenant
Church at a certain point in history, its origin goes back to God's eternal
divine plan for humanity's salvation.
In love 5 he destined us for adoption to himself through
Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, 6 for the praise of the glory of his grace that
he granted us in the beloved.
But this does not mean that only some of us are predestined
to be chosen by divine election while all others are rejected. God calls every
man, woman, and child to eternal salvation, and He is not His will that any
should be lost (1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Pt 3:9). However, humanity, in the exercise of
free-will, either chooses or rejects that divine destiny of love and holiness
that God has planned for us "in the beloved," Christ Jesus.
11 In him we were
also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes
all things according to the intention of his will, 12 so that we might exist for the praise of his
glory, we who first hoped in Christ.
Paul contemplates the mystery of divine redemption brought
by Jesus Christ for the Old and New people of God. First, he refers to the
people of the Old Covenant, of which he is a member, which is why he uses the term
"we" in verses 11-12.
Jesus has confirmed and fulfilled the expectations of the Old Covenant faithful as the Davidic Messiah (Is 11:1-4; Jer 23:5-6; 33:14-16; Ez 34:23-24). Christ (Messiah) has brought the Kingdom of God and the Messianic gifts the prophets promised to Israel as a sublime inheritance (see Mt 4:17; 12:28; Lk 4:16-22). God's plan in selecting Israel was to form a people of his own (Ex 19:5) that would glorify him and proclaim to the Gentile nations its hope in a coming Redeemer-Messiah, born as a man by a daughter of Israel who was herself a descendant of the great King David (Lk 1:31-33). It is through Israel that God, with loving concern, made the preparation for the salvation of the whole human race to create the new Israel composed of the Virgin Mary and Jesus' Jewish Apostles and disciples (Acts 1:14) whose mission was to carry the message of salvation out into the Gentile world (Mt 28:19-20)! Their mission is now our inheritance, and it is the duty of all of us, called to divine election in the New Covenant, to carry on the mission proclaiming God's message of salvation through Christ Jesus.
The Gospel of Luke 1:26-38 ~ The
Announcement of the Birth of the Son of God
26The angel Gabriel was
sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of
grace! The Lord is with you." 29 But
she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting
this might be. 30 Then the angel
said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord
God will give him the throne of David his father, 33 and he will rule over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?" 35
And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be
born will be called holy, the Son of God. 36
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her
old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37 for nothing will be impossible for God." 38 Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the
Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed
from her.
The angel Gabriel's greeting to Mary is different from his visit to the priest Zechariah in Luke 1:13. Notice that Gabriel does not greet Zechariah with the same degree of respect and status as he gave the Virgin Mary of Nazareth. The greeting is also unusual in that he does not begin with the typical Semitic salutation of shalom (peace), but with chare, meaning "hail" or "rejoice." And he announces Mary's special status, often wrongly translated as "full of grace," but the literal translation is "has been graced." The angel's announcement in Greek is Chare, kecharitomene [kah-ray kay-kah-ree-toe-may-nay], addressing Mary by a title that was a past perfect participle of the Greek noun charis, meaning "grace" and calling her: kecharitomene = "has been graced" (Fitzmyer, Gospel of Luke, page 345). A past perfect participle indicates a condition that existed in the past and continues in the present. Mary has been perfected in and continues in grace. To be "graced" in the past tense is to never have been lacking in grace; it is a declaration of Mary's unique conception without original sin.
The most common rendering of this phrase in verse 28 is "full of grace." It is a transliteration of Jerome's Latin Vulgate text. However, while "full of grace" certainly describes Mary's condition, it is not what was being expressed in the Greek past perfect participle verb kecharitomene. "Full of grace" in the Greek would be pleres chariots, as used for Christ in John 1:14 and for St. Stephen in Acts 6:8. Mary's title, kecharitomene, indicates a state which is beyond filled. In addressing Mary with this title, the angel is signifying that she possesses, and has always possessed, a plentitude of divine grace (Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, page 268-69). That Mary was deeply disturbed by the angel's greeting (Lk 1:29) is evidence that someone of her humble station had received a greeting and was addressed by a title that was highly unusual.
The Fathers and Doctors of the Church have taught what Pope Pius IX expressed in the encyclical Ineffabilis Deus: ... "this singular, solemn and unheard-of greeting showed that all the divine graces reposed in the Mother of God and that she was adorned with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This singular condition meant that Mary was never subject to the curse of original sin and that she was preserved from all sin. The theologically explosive words of the Archangel Gabriel constitute one of the important text sources which reveal the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception" (Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus; and Paul VI, Creed of the People of God).
The Catechism of the Church teaches:
CCC 411: "Mary benefited first of
all and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin: she was preserved from all
stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind
during her whole earthly life."
CCC 490: "To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace." In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace."
CCC 491: "Through the centuries the Church has become even more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: 'The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.'" (quoting Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus; also see CCC 492-493; 722).
The angel's greeting also identifies Mary as the fulfillment
of "the daughter of Zion" in the writings of the prophets. God's holy prophets
taught the nation of Israel that it was her destiny to give birth to the
promised Redeemer-Messiah, and now Mary, a daughter of Israel, was asked to
fulfill that destiny. The prophet Zephaniah wrote: Shout for joy, daughter
of Zion [chaire thygater Sion], Israel, shout aloud! Rejoice; exult with all
your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! 15 Yahweh
has repealed your sentence; he has turned your enemy away. Yahweh is king
among you; Israel, you have nothing more to fear. 16 When that Day comes, the message for
Jerusalem will be: Zion, have no fear, do not let your hands fall limp. 17 Yahweh your God is there with you, the
warrior-Savior (3:14-17 NJB).
[...] = Greek translation. Compare this
passage with Luke 1:28-31.
Mary is the fulfillment of Israel's destiny to produce the Redeemer-Messiah first promised in Genesis 3:15 and in St. Luke's allusion to the "daughter of Zion" prophecy in Zephaniah 3:14-17. Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person (CCC 2676)
|
Luke 1:28-31 (the angel Gabriel speaking) |
Zephaniah 3:14-17 NJB and LXX Greek (God speaking) |
| "Chaire (Rejoice)" Lk 1:28 | Chaire ... thygater Sion "Rejoice daughter of Zion" Zeph 3:14 |
| "the Lord is with you" Lk 1:28 | "Yahweh is king among you" Zeph 3:15b |
| "Do not be afraid, Mary" Lk 1:30 | "you have nothing more to fear... Zion have no fear" Zeph 3:15-16 |
| "you will conceive in your womb" Lk 1:31 | "Yahweh your God is there with you" Zeph 3:17 |
| "Jesus" [Hebrew = Yahshua/Yehoshua = "Yahweh saves"] Lk 1:31 | "the warrior-Savior" Zeph 3:17 |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2012 | |
31 Behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
The angel Gabriel told Mary to name her son "Jesus." Both
St. John the Baptist and Jesus were divinely named. The ancients believed a
name reflected the true essence of a person. The Greek text of the New
Testament renders Jesus' name as Iesous, but this was not the name His
family and friends called Him. Jesus' Hebrew name was (in old Hebrew) Yah'shua;
in Jesus' time, His Aramaic name had evolved into Yehoshua. An
angel will tell Joseph the significance of the child's name in a dream: She
will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who
is to save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21). The name
Yahshua/Yehoshua was also the name of the hero-conquer, Joshua, who succeeded
Moses and led the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Jesus mission is conquer
death and lead the children of God into the Promised Land of Heaven.
The angel's statement to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 is a word play on Jesus' Hebrew name that means "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation" or even more literally, "I AM saves" or "I AM salvation" (the Divine Name is defined in Ex 3:14 as "I AM"). Jesus' Hebrew name is a theophoric name: a compound name that includes the name of a deity. In this case, the Yah is a prefix for Yahweh ("Yah" is a short form that represents the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the name God revealed to Moses and the "I AM" of the burning bush in Exodus 3:13-15). The name "I AM saves" or Yahweh saves" signifies the very name of God present in the person of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity made man for the redemption from sin of all of humanity: there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
The Fathers of the Church saw a typological link between Jesus and Joshua, the Old Testament hero who bore the same name. Biblical typology is defined as: "A biblical person, thing, action, or event that foreshadows new truths, new actions, or new events. In the Old Testament, Melchizedek and Jonah are types of Jesus Christ. A likeness must exist between the type and the archetype, but the latter is always greater. Both are independent of each other" (Catholic Dictionary, John A. Hardon, S.J.).
The Catechism teaches: "The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefiguration's of what he accomplished ion the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son" (CCC 128). "Christians, therefore, read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New" (CCC 129, quoting St. Augustine).
|
Joshua "Yahweh is salvation" |
Jesus "Yahweh is salvation" |
| Moses gave Hoshea the name Yahshua/Joshua. | The angel Gabriel told Mary of Nazareth and Joseph to name God's Son Yahshua/Jesus (Lk 1:31; Mt 1:21). |
| His name defined his mission as God's anointed. | His name defined His mission as God's anointed. |
| Joshua's mission was to lead the children of Israel into the Promise Land of Canaan. | Jesus' mission was to lead the children of God into the Promised Land of Heaven. |
| Joshua began his mission by crossing the Jordan River from the east to the west. | Jesus began His mission after His baptism by crossing the Jordan River from the east to the west. |
| Joshua faithfully served God all of his life. | Jesus faithfully served God the Father all of His earthly life and beyond. |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2012; revised 2018 | |
Since God alone can offer the gift of salvation and the forgiveness of sin, it is the mission and destiny of God the eternal Son to save humanity, just as His name suggests: "I AM saves"/ "I AM salvation."
32 He will be great
and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the
throne of David his father, 33 and
he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be
no end.
Both Mary and Joseph (Jesus' foster father) are descendants
of the great King David (Mt 1:20; Lk 1:32; 2:4). The angel Gabriel told Mary
her son's throne would last forever. It is a prophecy that recalls the promise
of the 5th kingdom in Daniel 2:44; it is the kingdom that shall
never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in
pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever. There
are also echoes of God's covenant promises to King David in 2 Samuel 7:9-16
that his throne will endure forever with a Davidic heir ruling over the kingdom
(also see 2 Sam 23:5). In our passage, St. Luke intentionally links God's
promise to David of an eternal covenant and the inauguration of that covenant
promise in Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus is the son of David's line who will rule a kingdom that will never end (2 Sam 7:16; Dan 2:44; Lk 1:31-33). He is the one greater than Moses God promised in Deuteronomy 18:17-18 who has come to be the new Lawgiver and supreme prophet. He is God's anointed who will lead His people across the great "river" of physical death into the true Promised Land of Heaven, as prefigured by Joshua who led the children of Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land of Canaan (Joshua 3:1-17).
|
Promises made to David 2 Samuel 7:9-16 |
Promises made to Mary in Luke 1:31-33 |
| And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth [literal translation = I will make your name great] (2 Sam 7:9). | ... and you will name him Jesus. He will be great (Lk 1:32). |
| The LORD reveals to you that he will establish a house for you and when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors [literally = your fathers]... (2 Sam 7:11-12). | The Lord will give him the throne of David his father (Lk 1:32). |
| I shall be a father to him and he a son to me. (2 Sam 7:14). | ... and will be called Son of the Most High (Lk 1:32). |
| ... I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm [literally = the throne of your kingdom I shall establish forever] (2 Sam 7:13). Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever (2 Sam 7:16). | ... he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Lk 1:33). |
| Michal E Hunt © 2000 | |
34 But Mary said to
the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"
Zechariah asked Gabriel a question in 1:18 which he rebuked
in verse 20; whereas Mary's question in 1:34 does not receive a negative
response. The difference is that Zechariah's question expressed unbelief (verse
20) and Mary's question concerns only her state of virginity.
35 And the angel
said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called
holy, the Son of God.
The angel uses the verb episkiazein (overshadow) to
explain Mary's Divine conception by the power of God the Holy Spirit. It is
the same verb in the Greek Septuagint translation of Exodus 40:34 when God the
Holy Spirit, in the visible form of the Glory Cloud, "overshadowed" the Tabernacle
(Ark of the Covenant) and the glory of Yahweh filled the Sanctuary. It is the
same word used in the Transfiguration of the Christ (Mt 17:5 and Lk 9:34) when
the voice of God was heard coming from a cloud which cast its shadow over those
assembled on the mountain. It is also the same word used in Acts 5:15 when St.
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, approached the sick and they were healed as
his shadow was cast over them. The shadow of God is the gentlest manifestation
of His Divine Presence. How tenderly He overshadowed the Virgin Mary to change
her destiny and all of human history!
In Exodus 40:34, God filled the Sanctuary and overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant when His presence came to dwell on it (Ex 25:10, 21-22). The Fathers of the Church saw a connection between the Virgin Mary and the Ark of the Covenant. The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews writes that there were the three items placed in the Ark of the Covenant when it resided in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple before the Babylonian conquest. Compare Mary's womb with the description of the contents of the Ark of the Covenant from the Letter to the Hebrews: Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, in which were the gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant entirely covered with gold. 4 In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant (Heb 9:3-4).
| Contents of the Ark of the Covenant according to Hebrews 9:4 | Jesus Within Mary's Womb |
| The Ten Commandments = the word of God. (also see Ex 25:21; 40:20) | Jesus: the Living Word of God. (Jn 1:1) |
| A pot of the manna, the bread from heaven. (also see Ex 16:33-34) | Jesus: the Living Bread come down from heaven. (Jn 6:51) |
| Aaron's staff or branch that came back to life when green shoots budded as a sign of God's favor. (also see Num 17:23, 25) | Jesus: "The Branch" of the House of David that died but came to life again.* |
| Michal E Hunt © 1998 | |
*"the Branch," is a prophetic title for the Messiah in the books of the prophets.
The sacred box of the Ark of the Covenant, upon which God's presence rested, was last seen just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6 BC when the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark and the tent of the desert Sanctuary in a cave on Mt. Nebo (see 2 Mac 2:1-8). The prophet Jeremiah foretold that the time would come when the shrine of the Ark of the Covenant would no longer be important to the covenant people: They will in those days no longer say, "The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD!" They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another (Jer 3:16b).
But will the faithful remnant of Israel, who will become the New Covenant Church of the people of God, be deprived of a sacred vessel associated with the very presence of God? No! The Virgin Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant! Her womb is the "dwelling of God ... with men" (see CCC 2676 and Rev 11:19-12:1-5; 21:3).
| The Arc of the Old Covenant | Mary, The Arc of the New Covenant |
|
God the Holy Spirit overshadowed
and then indwelled the Ark. The Ark became the dwelling place of the
presence of God. (Ex 40:34-35) |
God the Holy Spirit overshadowed
and then indwelled Mary. At that time Mary's womb became the dwelling place
of the presence of God. (Lk 1:35) |
|
The Ark contained the 10
Commandments (the word of God in stone), a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that
came back to life. (Ex 25:16; Dt 10:2, 5; Heb 9:4) |
The womb of the Virgin contained
Jesus: the Word of God enfleshed, the living bread from heaven, "the Branch"
(Messianic title) who would die but come back to life. (Lk 1:35) |
|
The Ark traveled to the hill country of Judah to rest in the house of Obed-edom. (2 Sam 6:1-11) |
Mary traveled to the hill country of Judah (Judea) to the home of Elizabeth. (Lk 1:39) |
|
Dressed in a priestly ephod,
King David approached the Ark and danced and leapt for joy. (2 Sam 6:14) |
John the Baptist, son of a
priest who would himself become a priest, leapt for joy in Elizabeth's womb
at the approach of Mary. (Lk 1:43) |
|
David shouted for joy in the
presence of God and the holy Ark. (2 Sam 6:15) |
Elizabeth gave a cry of joy in
the presence of God within Mary's womb. (Lk 1:42) |
|
David asked How is it that
the Ark of the Lord comes to me? (2 Sam 6:9) |
Elizabeth asked, Why is this
granted unto me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (Lk 1:43) |
|
The Ark remained in the house of
Obed-edom for 3 months. (2 Sam 6:11) |
Mary remained in the house of
her cousin Elizabeth for 3 months. (Lk 1:56) |
|
The house of Obed-edom was
blessed by the presence of the Ark. (2 Sam 6:11) |
The word "blessed" is used 3
times concerning Mary at Elizabeth's house. (in Lk 1:39-45) |
|
The Ark returned to its
sanctuary and eventually ends up in Jerusalem where the presence and glory of
God is revealed in the newly built Temple. (2 Sam 6:12; 1 Kng 8:9-11) |
Mary returned home from visiting
Elizabeth and eventually comes to Jerusalem, where she presents God the Son
in the Temple. (Lk 1:56; 2:21-22) |
|
God made Aaron's rod (which
would be kept in the Ark) return to life and budded to prove he was the
legitimate High Priest. (Num 17:8) |
God would resurrect His Son, who
had become enfleshed in Mary's womb and born to bring salvation to all
mankind, to prove He is the eternal High Priest. (Heb 4:14) |
|
When the Ark was outside the
Holy of Holies [when it was being transported] it was to be covered with a
blue veil. (Num 4:4-6) |
In Mary's appearances outside of heaven, visionaries testify that she wears a blue veil. |
| In Revelation 11:19 John sees the Ark of the Covenant in heaven; this is the last verse of chapter 11. | In Revelation 12:1 John sees Mary in heaven. It is the same vision Juan Diego saw of Mary in Mexico in 1531—the Woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon. |
| Michal E Hunt, copyright 2002, revised 2012 | |
The first mention of Mary's unique role in salvation history is in Genesis 3:15a where God curses the Serpent and promises that the Redeemer-Messiah who will crush the power of Satan will be born from a woman: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and hers [her seed]... (the First Reading). The Fathers of the Church call this passage the first Gospel message, or in Greek as the Protoevangelium. The prophets of God narrowed this promise by identifying Israel as the people destined to bring forth the promised woman. Also, the prophet Jeremiah foretells Mary's role as the Ark of the New Covenant. In Jeremiah Chapter three, he wrote concerning the sacred gold-covered box of the Ark of the Covenant that will disappear in the Babylonian conquest. When the remnant of Israel returns after the exile, he tells the covenant people, a time will come when they no longer look for the lost Ark: I shall give you shepherds after my own heart, who will pasture you wisely and discreetly. Then, when you have increased and grown numerous in the country, Yahweh declares, no one will ever again say: The Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh! It will not enter their minds, they will not remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made. When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called: The Throne of Yahweh, and all the nations will converge on her, on Yahweh's name, on Jerusalem, and will no longer follow their own stubborn and wicked inclinations (Jer 3:15-17 NJB).
In this prophecy "Jerusalem," as the center of true worship, becomes a symbolic name for the Universal, New Covenant Church. Then in Chapter 31, a chapter in which Jeremiah prophesies the promise of a New Covenant (31:31), he wrote: The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: the woman must encompass the man ... (Jer 31:22b; this is the literal Hebrew translation from Jeremiah's prophecy concerning promise of the New Covenant; see Jer 31:22-34). ). The NAB ends this sentence with the words "with devotion;" however, those words do not appear in either the Hebrew or Greek text but read "the woman must encompass the man." This passage only makes sense if the creation of the first man and woman, in which the virgin Eve was encompassed and born from the body of the man Adam when God formed her from Adam's rib (Gen 2:21-22) is contrasted with Jesus encompassed within and formed from the body of the Virgin Mary. Normally, a man-child born from the body of a woman is not "something new," but it is "something new" when that man-child is the Son of God enfleshed within the womb of a virgin named Mary.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms Mary's role as the daughter of Zion and the Ark of the New Covenant: "Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is the dwelling of God...with men" (CCC 2676).
The Holy Spirit will come upon you ...
It was God the Holy Spirit's role to prepare Mary for the
Incarnation of the Messiah:
The result was twofold:
36 And behold,
Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is
the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37 for nothing will be impossible for God."
As an example of the wondrous works of God, the angel tells
Mary that her barren, elderly kinswoman has conceived a child and is now in
"the sixth month." It is the sixth month as the ancients counted without the
concept of a zero place-value as we count; therefore, Elizabeth was five months
pregnant. The ancients recognized a ten-month pregnancy (Wis 7:1-2). For an
elderly couple to conceive, or for a virgin to conceive was considered an
impossibility, but Mary's God is the God of the impossible.
38 Mary said,
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your
word." Then the angel departed from her.
Mary humbly identified herself as God's female slave/servant.
The Greek word is doule, the feminine of doulos which means "male
slave/servant." In the ancient world, nearly all servants were slaves. Mary
completely submitted herself to the Lord and His sovereignty over her life with
her words: "May it be done to me according to your word." And with the
angel's mission accomplished, he departs.
At the moment of Mary's free will response, Jesus was conceived by the power of God the Holy Spirit: "From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed." The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own ..." (CCC 496).
The Incarnation took place as God the Holy Spirit "overshadowed" (episkiazein) and enveloped the Virgin Mary. He is the same Spirit of God who moved over the face of the waters of Creation, bringing life (Gen 1:2-31). Now He came bringing life to the Virgin's womb; the fruit of her womb was the work of God the Holy Spirit (CCC# 697). This worthy Virgin, conceived without the stain of sin, became the new Tabernacle of God and the Ark of the New Covenant (see Rev 11:19-12:1; CCC 2676). It is this mystery that Catholics reflect upon every time they celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and pray the Angelus.
Mary's fiat (her unequivocal, free will "yes" to the will of God for her life in Lk 1:38) stands in sharp contrast to the free will response of another virgin at the dawn of human history, faced with a decision that not only affected her life but the course of human history. The contrast to the Virgin Mary in her obedience is the virgin Eve in her decision to rebel against God and His will for her life in her free will decision to decide for herself what was good and what was evil in eating of the forbidden fruit (First Reading).
The Fathers of the Church saw the Virgin Mary as the "new Eve," and Mary's "yes" as the undoing the disobedience brought about by the virgin Eve: "Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith" (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.22.4). And the Church affirms her role as the "new Eve" from the time of the promise of Mary's role in salvation history prophesied in the Protoevangelium, "first good-news"/gospel, in Genesis 3:15: "Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the "new Eve..." (CCC 411, also see CCC 489, 726, 2618 and 2853).
Lord, let the words of the opening prayer for this Solemnity express our love and gratitude for Mary and Your great gift of grace that prepared her for the Incarnation and birth of Your divine Son: "Father, the image of the Virgin is found in the Church. Mary had a faith that Your Spirit prepared and a love that never knew sin for You kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Trace in our actions the lines of her love, in our hearts her readiness of faith. Prepare once again a world for Your Son." Amen.
Catechism References:
Genesis 3:9 (CCC 410, 2568),
3:9-10 (CCC 399);
3:11 (CCC 2515);
3:11-13 (CCC 400);
3:12 (CCC 1607);
3:13 (CCC 1736, 2568);
3:14-15 (CCC 2427);
3:15 (CCC 70, 410, 489);
3:20 (CCC 489)
Psalm 98 (CCC 709)
Ephesians 1:3-6 (CCC 381, 1077)
1:3 (CCC 492, 1671);
1:4-5(CCC 52, 257);
1:4 (CCC 492, 796, 865, 1426, 2807);
1:5-6 (CCC 294);
1:6 (CCC 1083)
Luke 1:26-38 (CCC 497, 706);
1:26-27 (CCC 488);
1:26 (CCC 332);
1:28-37 (CCC 494),
1:28 (CCC 490, 491);
1:31 (CCC 43, 2812);
1:32-33 (CCC 709);
1:32 (CCC 559);
1:34 (CCC 437, 484, 497, 505, 484, 486, 697);
1:37-38 (CCC 494);
1:37 (148, 269, 273, 276);
1:38 (CCC 64, 148, 510, 2617, 2677, 2827, 2856)
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2014; revised 2018