Today’s question is about scripture, about the New Testament in particular and the Jewish writings as well. My question is this: in what language was the New Testament written? Of course, the answer is: Greek. And I have a second question: in the time of Christ, what language was used, routinely, for the writings of the Hebrew testament?
Maybe that sounds like a trick question. The “Hebrew” testament should be written in “Hebrew,” shouldn’t it? Or maybe “Aramaic,” an early form of Hebrew. But I said “routinely” … commonly, and the answer is also: Greek. The ancient Jewish texts were translated by Jewish scholars into Greek some 150 to 200 years before the time of Christ. It’s possible the scrolls Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth where written in Greek.
At that time, Greek, not Latin, was the common language spoken by those who used other, native languages, much as English is used today throughout the world as the language of commerce and trade. Latin wasn’t commonly used throughout the Roman Empire until several hundred years after the time of Christ. It was about 384 AD when St Jerome translated the Greek bible into Latin, into what became known as the “Vulgate” or common language version.
So the Jews of the time of Jesus were familiar with the Greek version of the story we heard about Abram or Abraham, found in the Book of Genesis. In this reading we heard how the Lord God initiated a Covenant with Abram, who later became know as Abraham. It was the Lord God who made two promises to Abram.
● The first promise was that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Since Abraham was at least in his 80’s and had no children, this was a difficult promise for him to believe.
● The second promise was that the Lord God would give Abraham and his descendants all of the land between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers. In return Abraham and his descendants would love the Lord God as their only God.
To seal this covenant, this special relationship between the Lord God and Abraham, the two of them performed an ancient ritual. Abraham split apart a young cow, a young goat and a young ram. And the Lord God in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the split pieces, which is the literal meaning of the word “covenant.”
And so this special relationship, this covenant, was initiated by God and was accepted by Abraham and his descendants. The only problem was that there were two sets of descendants.
● Those from Ishmael, the first-born son of Abraham and the slave woman, Hagar, and
● Those from his second son, Isaac, with Sarah, his free-born wife.
The offspring of the first-born, Ishmael, are today’s Arabs. Those of the second-born, Isaac, are the Jews of today. And so both groups believe that the land between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers was given to them by the Lord God through the covenant made by God with their common father, Abraham.
That’s the problem with a covenant. Once it is initiated by the Lord God, it cannot be broken. Each time the Israelites wandered away from the path on which they had started with Abraham, each time they were going astray, the Lord God sent a prophet to them: one who spoke on behalf of the Lord God, to call them back to the path, to their relationship with one another.
● A prophet like Moses, who led them from slavery to freedom in their Exodus from Egypt to the land of Canaan.
● Or a prophet like Elijah, who spoke to the Israelites when they thought of turning away from the Lord God to follow false gods, the Baals. It was this Moses and this Elijah we read about in today’s gospel:
● Moses, the one who heard the commandments of the Lord God and conveyed this renewed covenant to the Israelites in the desert
● And Elijah, the major prophet of the desert who was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot until he would re-appear at the beginning of the new age of the Messiah.
They stood with Jesus there on the mountain where they discussed the new Exodus, the new journey, the new Passover to occur in Jerusalem. Exactly what they discussed about the Passion of Christ, about his suffering, is not given in today’s reading. But we do know that the Lord God, himself, acknowledged what they said, when the voice from heaven proclaimed: “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
And so began the final renewal of the covenant initiated by the Lord God. This new covenant made through Jesus the Christ. This new covenant confirmed through the Pascal Mystery: the life, the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One.
At each and every mass, we hear the words spoken by Jesus some two thousand years ago, when the celebrant elevates the chalice and says: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”
The covenant initiated by God with Abraham, renewed with Moses, has been brought to fulfillment through Jesus the Christ. The covenant for the chosen people of God has now been expanded to include “all” – everyone. Everyone has been saved and forgiven by the blood of Christ, now and forever. The Exodus, the journey begun by Abraham when he went from the Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan, the Exodus led by Moses from Egypt to that same Holy Land, is ending with the Exodus, the journey to Jerusalem made by Jesus the Christ.
But it has not yet been completed. Not quite. All of us are still on that journey. Saint Paul in his letter to the citizens of Philippi reminded them, and us, that: “… our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body “
Yes, Peter, John and James saw the Transfiguration of Christ, the glory of the Son of God that would result from the New Covenant made in his blood. But we, too, must change; must conform ourselves to his body and blood. In the days ahead of us, in the weeks of this Lent, in all the time left to each of us, we are to conform ourselves to Christ. We are to set aside our hatreds, our prejudices: all those things that prevent us from forgiving, accepting and loving all others. We are to practice the ancient acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
● We are to take time to be with God.
● We are to put aside the distractions of this secular world.
● We are to help those less fortunate.
● We are to join him on his journey in and toward the Kingdom.
It is not essential whether we hear about him in ancient Aramaic or Hebrew; in ancient Greek or Latin; or in modern English or Spanish, so long as we recall the words spoken on the mountain: “This is my chosen son; listen to him.”
Second Sunday of Lent; March 7, 2004
Gn 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17-4:1; Lk 8:28b-36