And he made his dwelling among us...
Monday, December 21, 2015
Rogelio Zelada
Some time ago I taught Sacred Scripture to a community of women religious who were very interested in gaining a deeper knowledge of the Gospels. While delving into the infancy narratives written by Matthew and Luke, one of them told me how difficult she found it to ponder the scriptures if she did not imagine the biblical scenes as told by the evangelists. She had learned in her formation that she had to make a "composition of the place'' which included dialogues, scenery, characters and imagining a background storyline, so trying to discover the meaning of texts confused her very much.
Of course, in order to pray, to meditate or to do lectio continua, all available resources are valid and appropriate to help us tune into any form of prayerful encounter with the Lord.
However, understanding the meaning and scope of the scriptures can lead us to a greater and deeper experience of prayer. Dei Verbum, the Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, asks the interpreter of Scripture to understand the proper ways of speaking in the author's time, the meaning of the most frequently used words and common expressions, to try to discover what these stories meant, their intentionality and, therefore, their message — because it is not about knowing what the Bible says, but primarily what it wants to tell us.
The "Infancy" literary genre was a form or literary resource used to present or introduce the characteristics that describe who was to be the center of the entire narrative. Its intention is not to duly tell what happened in that first stage of life, but to be the key introductory presentation of the important contents that will then constitute the main body of the work. That explains the great differences we find in the stories of the childhood of Jesus written by Matthew and Luke.
Every literary work implies the existence of a tacit agreement between reader and author. When the author tells the story, he does not need to provide every piece of information, meaning and content in the text, because he is convinced that the reader shares the same cultural context. Otherwise he would have to explain the meaning of every word, image or gesture in the text, which would make the reading somewhat tedious, overwhelming and unbearable.
The authors of the synoptic Gospels shared the Semitic Mediterranean culture of the first century and that is very present in the stories of the infancy of Christ. When Luke mentioned the infertility of Elizabeth, he had no need to describe the social situation of a woman without children, who ended up not being part of her husband’s family until she gave him a son. Matthew supposed that we know that shepherds belonged to a despised class in Israel and were considered to have no social standing. They were not allowed to be witnesses in court, and their absences from home always raised suspicions about the honor of their women.
When Luke tells us that the shepherds are the ones who come before the newborn Jesus to recognize in him the sign that God has given them, he is confirming the Lord's predilection for the poor, the first to receive the gleaming good news that struck them while they were awake, awaiting the end of the night and safety of the day, an experience that sets them in motion, in haste and with a heart full of joy.
Matthew needs to tell the itinerary of the pagans, not only because there was a large group of them in his community, but because he also wants to anticipate the universal call that concludes his Gospel. These mysterious characters coming from the East, astronomers by profession, must spend as sleepless a night as the shepherds do, to watch the stars’ spectacular night dance. Like the shepherds, an extraordinary light surprises them, a star that will lead them along the road to a complex, dangerous and uncomfortable journey to check the sign that they have seen at night. It is a mission that must be accomplished personally, not through messengers or servants at their service, because the search for Christ is always a nontransferable experience.
The Magi delve into Jerusalem and the doctors of the law direct them to the village of Bethlehem. That is how Matthew assures us that no one can come before the Messiah without searching and reflecting on him in Scripture. The purpose of their trip is to find the King of the Jews, so Matthew plays the encounter as a royal audience, in which the king is presented along with the queen who, in Israel, is not his wife but his mother.
The infancy narratives conclude with the dramatic scene of the child Jesus getting lost when, at the age of 12, he goes with his parents to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. That is the time when men go from the mother’s protection to the care of the father, a major change in life, when a man takes on new duties, rights and responsibilities, and is recognized as a member of the community of Israel.
This transitional situation seems to explain why, when returning to Nazareth, each parent was convinced that the child was with the other. Luke did not consider it important or necessary to explain that people in Israel always moved in caravans; that a day's journey represented traveling 50 kilometers; that the group of men advanced in a distant caravan from the women; and that the trek stopped at dusk, at nightfall, when families came together to relax and share the food.
Once they realize the absence of their son Jesus, Joseph and Mary run back to Jerusalem, not just worried and scared, but also very tired from the journey that they have undertaken and must set back out on again, this time in the dark of a night that is always full of danger and obstacles.
The evangelist did not want to tell the story of a childish prank or a thoughtless disobedience of a son who was almost a teenager. He wanted to make sure that the first words spoken by Jesus were the solemn affirmation of his true lineage. He has gone to the world of the father, to the personal care of the father, meaning the Heavenly Father. This is a mystery that goes beyond both Joseph and Mary, and that reveals to the listener of this Gospel the firm conviction that Jesus is the only Son of God.
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