Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24
Saint Bede the Venerable
(c.673-735), monk, Doctor of the Church
Sermons for Christmas Eve, 5 ; CCL 122, 32-36 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
Sermons for Christmas Eve, 5 ; CCL 122, 32-36 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
"You
shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us."
Saint Matthew in his gospel presents the birth of our Lord as the
initiation of a new era in the history of the human race. With the birth of a
child the age of salvation has begun. This is the force of the allusion to the passage
from Isaiah 7:14. Through Jesus God became present to his people in an entirely
new way. Saint Bede underlines the implications of this presence by pointing to
the priestly and royal dignity of Christ and the Christian.
Matthew the
evangelist gives us an account of the way in which the eternal Son of God,
begotten before the world began, appeared in time as the Son of Man. His
description is brief but absolutely true. By tracing the ancestry of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ through the male line he brings it down from Abraham to
Joseph, the husband of Mary. It is indeed fitting in every respect that when
God decided to become incarnate for the sake of the whole human race none but a
virgin should be his mother, and that, since a virgin was privileged to
bring him into the world, she should bear no other son but God.
Behold,
a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel, a name which
means God-with-us. The name
God-with-us, given to our Savior by the prophet, signifies that two natures are
united in his one person. Before time began he was God, born of the Father, but
in the fullness of time he became Emmanuel, God-with-us, in the womb of his
mother, because when the Word was made flesh (Jn 1:14)and lived among us he
deigned to unite our frail human nature to his own person. Without ceasingto be
what he had always been, he began in a wonderful fashion to be what we are,
assuming our nature in such a way that he did not lose his own.
And so Mary gave birth to
her firstborn
son, the child of her own flesh and blood. She brought forth
the God who had been born of God before creation began, and who, in his created
humanity, rightfully surpassed the whole of creation. And Scripture says she named him Jesus. (Lc 2,7.21).
Jesus,
then, is the name of the Virgin's son. According to the angel's explanation,
it means one who is to save his people from their sins. In doing so he will
also deliver them from any defilement of mind and body they have incurred on
account of their sins.
But
the title "Christ" implies a priestly or royal dignity. In the Old
Testament it was given to both priests and kings on account of the anointing
with chrism or holy oil which they received. They prefigured the true king and
high priest who, on coming into this world, was anointed with the oil of
gladness above all his peers. (Ps
45[44], 8).
From this anointing or chrismation he received the name of Christ, and those who share in the anointing which he himself bestows, that is the grace of the Spirit, are called Christians.
From this anointing or chrismation he received the name of Christ, and those who share in the anointing which he himself bestows, that is the grace of the Spirit, are called Christians.
May
Jesus Christ fulfill his saving task by saving us from our sins; may he
discharge his priestly office by reconciling us to God the Father, and may he exercise
his royal power by admitting us to his Father's kingdom, for he is our Lord and God, who lives and
reigns with the Father arid the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
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