The infancy narratives of Jesus are more than mere history. Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ infancy constitute a theological and Christological prologue to his Gospel. Many great truths of the Gospels are here prefigured. We may think of the Jesus’ infancy narratives given to us in Luke as a beautiful gateway, through which we enter to encounter the Gospels as a whole. This would certainly be appropriate to the spirit of our celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice that God has answered our calls to be with us, as we celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation [ … ]
‘I speak the name of Jesus.’ As the Discourse of the Mission continues, Jesus prepares his disciples to face danger. They are to be as sheep. In this way again they are to imitate Jesus – to act in persona of Jesus – as they preach and heal, as they prefigure the saving sacrifice upon the cross. There is to be contention, contradiction [ … ]
Christ the King of Peace – and yet in these verses Jesus tells us, confusingly, that he has come to bring not peace on earth but conflict. These are challenging verses. They demand we ask, what can this mean? The symbolism of fire encompasses a range of meanings. Fire is used in the Bible to signify God’s love for humanity. It is also a response of man to God: ‘My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.’ (Psalm 39: 3) It is also the fire of Pentecost, when the tongues of fire descended to the apostles and they received their commission to preach the Gospel and establish the Church of Jesus Christ. Christ’s death on the cross must precede this commissioning [ … ]
