First Reading Commentary
Ephrathah is a very ancient name for
Bethlehem and is described as too small to be among the clans of Judah which
may suggest the humble state in which the Messiah would come. Bethlehem is the city of David and the Old Testament
prophecies indicate that the Messiah would rise up from the house of David.
In Saint Matthew's Gospel the first verse
of this Reading is quoted by Herod's chief priests and scribes when Herod was
trying to ascertain where the Messiah was to be born (cf. Matthew 2:1-6).
The verse, "whose origin is from of
old, from ancient times," is translated from the Hebrew. The Latin, on the other hand, uses the words,
"et egressus eius ab initio, a
diebus æternitatis" (and his going forth is from the beginning, from
the days of eternity). The Latin seems
to hint that this ruler of Israel will be none other than God Himself since
only He is eternal.
"Therefore the Lord will give them up,
until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his
kindred shall return to the children of Israel." This verse is prophesying that the Messiah
would be born of a woman but also suggests that this ruler of Israel will not
come until after Israel is freed from Babylonian captivity. While it's true that Christ was born after Israel's
freedom from captivity, historically it was a great deal of time after, as
Israel's captivity ended somewhere around 538 B.C.
The closing verses give us some of the
images that we have of Christ; He is our Shepherd, He is our Lord, His
greatness extends to all the earth, and He is our Peace.
Second Reading Commentary
On the surface this Reading doesn't seem to
offer much in theme for the season of Advent; but the opening verse is a
reminder that Christ came into the world.
As Christians, “Christ coming into the world” is something that is so
well-known by us that there's a danger of accepting it too casually or treating
it as a passing comment.
The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews
quotes Psalm 40:7-9 to point out that this prophecy refers to Christ and also
to explain further that Christ fulfilled this prophecy. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this Reading very thoroughly: “The
Son of God, Who came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of
Him Who sent Him, said on coming into the world, ‘Lo, I have come to do Your
will, O God.’ And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
From the first moment of His Incarnation the Son embraces the Father's
plan of divine salvation in His redemptive mission: ‘My food is to do the will
of Him Who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.’ The sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the
whole world expresses His loving communion with the Father. ‘The Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life’, said the Lord, ‘for I do as the Father has commanded
Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.’ The desire to embrace His Father's plan of
redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole life, for His redemptive Passion was the
very reason for His Incarnation. And so He asked, ‘And what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this
hour.’ And again, ‘Shall I not drink the
cup which the Father has given Me?’ From
the cross, just before ‘It is finished’, He said, ‘I thirst’" (CCC 606-607).
When reflecting and meditating upon this truth,
and having the faith to embrace it, the statement of, "Christ came into
the world" could never be casually accepted; instead it becomes the source
of tremendous joy and gratitude.
Gospel Commentary
Saint Luke makes great efforts in his
Gospel to depict the Virgin Mary as the Ark of the New and Everlasting
Covenant. Consider what was contained in
the Ark of the Old Covenant: The tablets of the Law (Exodus 40:18; Deuteronomy 10:5), a gomor of manna (Exodus 16:34), and the rod of Aaron (Numbers 17:10), which represented the
rod of the high priesthood. Contained in
the womb of Mary is the Lawmaker, the True Manna -- that is -- the Bread of
Life, and the High Priest Himself.
The infant leaping in the womb of Elizabeth
at the sound of Mary's greeting is strikingly similar to King David dancing
before the Ark of the Covenant (cf. 2
Samuel 6). In that same chapter
David says: "How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?" (ibid. verse 9) while in this Gospel
Elizabeth says: "How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?" The Ark of the
Old Covenant abode in the house of Obededom for three months (ibid. verse 11) while Mary stayed with
Elizabeth for three months (cf. Luke 1:56). When piecing together the journey of the Ark
of the Old Covenant, the evidence reveals that it is the same route that Mary
took.
Elizabeth exclaims to Mary: "Blessed
are you among women." In Scripture
such accolades are not reserved for Mary alone.
Two other women also received similar praise: In the Book of Judges (5:24) are the words: "Blessed among
women be Jael" and in the Book of Judith (13:18), Uzziah says to Judith: "Blessed are you, O daughter,
by the Lord the Most High God, above all women upon the earth." Jael drove a tent peg through the skull of
Sisera the Canaanite; and Judith brought freedom to the Jewish people by
cutting off the head of Holofernes, the commander of the Assyrian army. Thus these two women are praised for striking
at the heads of their enemies. All the
way back in the Book of Genesis (3:15)
God says to the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
your seed and her seed; he will strike at your head while you strike at his
heel." The ancient Fathers have
always seen this as a prophecy about the Virgin Mary and her offspring, Jesus;
therefore the praise of Jael and Judith is in anticipation of the praise that
Elizabeth would offer to Mary.
Interesting note on the verse from Genesis:
The Latin Vulgate translates as, "She shall crush your head, and you shall
lie in wait for her heel." The
Latin makes use of the word “ipsa”
which is a feminine pronoun. The
explanation for the difference could very well be an ancient copyist
error. Saint Robert Bellarmine, however,
has passed onto us that the original Hebrew text is ambiguous. The Septuagint agrees with the Vulgate. More stringent research had been conducted by
Sixtus V and Clement VIII which concluded that "it" is the proper
pronoun which likely points to the offspring which is how the translation
evolved to the pronoun "he".
The sense is, then, that Mary would crush the head of the serpent by
means of her offspring, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Finally, in this Gospel, Elizabeth says to
Mary: "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the
Lord would be fulfilled." Saint
Luke would appear to be making a comparison to Eve who instead believed the
words of the serpent. As we get ready to
celebrate the coming of God as Man, the Catechism of the Catholic Church shares,
concerning this Gospel, that John the Baptist inaugurates the Gospel and
already from his mother's womb welcomes the coming of Christ (cf. CCC 523).
