I am continuing to look at the nature of religious
mysteries, specifically the Virgin Birth of Jesus.
Now, it would not make much sense to read a phone book
as if it were a novel. Lots of characters but not much plot. And it would not
make sense to read a cookbook if what you wanted was today’s news. Each type of
writing requires a different way of approaching it. That seems obvious, but
when it comes to reading Sacred Scripture, we often forget that.
Our Scriptures were written between 3,000 and 2,000
years ago, give or take a century. The approaches that the Scriptures take to
telling a story is not our modern, fact-based approach. We often read the
Scriptures as if it were a newspaper report giving us the facts, or a history
book describing what happened. But the Scriptures tell us what happened in the
sense of what it all really meant, not in the sense of what physically took
place. This is not an attempt to mislead us. The Scriptures are very clear in
what they are trying to tell us, and that is the meaning of what really
happened, not necessarily the actual occurrences. St. Mark is very clear in the
opening line of his Gospel. He blandly states: “The beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” St. Mark’s
intention is clear. What he tells you is going to help you understand that
Jesus is the Son of God. In the same way, St. John, at the end of his Gospel,
states: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of
his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief
you may have life in his name.” (John
20: 30-1) St. John has a purpose in how he tells you his Gospel, and he is open
and clear about it. So we need to read him on his terms.
The Gospel writers tell us not the factual occurrences
of Jesus’ life, but rather the TRUTH about who Jesus is and what Jesus means
for us. They arrange their stories to make this clear, not always as it may
have occurred in fact. So, for example, Jesus gives the Beatitudes in a sermon
on the plain in St. Luke’s Gospel,
but on a mountain in St. Matthew’s
Gospel. Did Jesus give the same sermon twice (all preachers re-use their good material after all)? Perhaps. But
the actual historical location is not nearly as important as the truth of
understanding who Jesus is and what He is all about. Thus, St. Matthew, writing
to a congregation of mixed Jewish and Gentile Christians, wants badly to show
that Jesus is the new Moses, the new giver of the Law. Moses received the
tablets of the Law on a mountain, so it is important that Jesus, the new Moses,
gives the New Law on a mountain. Matthew doesn’t mention the name or location
of this mountain, because it is not so much an actual, physical location as a
spiritual, religious truth. The mountain represents Jesus’ authority as the new
Moses, not an actual place.
In the same way, an evil ruler tries to kill the
infant Jesus, just as Pharaoh tried to kill the infant Moses. Just as Moses
came out of Egypt, so Jesus, re-capitulating the history of the Chosen People,
has to flee to Egypt in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Did Jesus actually, in physical
fact, go to Egypt? It seems highly unlikely. But, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, the
Flight into Egypt helps reveal the truth about Who Jesus really is. Jesus is
the summation and fulfillment of all the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people.
Jesus incorporates in himself all the promises God had made and all the
preparation the Jewish people had gone through. In short, Jesus is the
fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, and St. Matthew tells us that truth
through stories that are true rather than factual. The facts do not save, the
Truth does.
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