OLDER LECTIO DIVINA

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

We read these same words at the end of last Sunday’s Gospel, the Gospel for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. That is fitting, because whenever we read the Gospel at Mass it is being fulfilled in our hearing, so it’s good to be reminded of that every now and then. We are reminded two weeks in a row because this is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the beginning of Ordinary Time, so it’s appropriate to emphasize the purpose of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom–which is what his ministry is about afterall. But Jesus is doing more than just announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. He is proclaiming the beginning of a new age, the age of his Church. The Church is God’s kingdom on earth. Its time is now. The Gospel message, in fact all of Scripture is outside of time–timeless–and it being fulfilled today.

We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.

What was this star? It’s more than a subplot of the Gospel. It’s external evidence, meaning something outside the Bible, that proves the Bible is true. In the documentary, The Star of Bethlehem, Frederick Larson shows how Jupiter–the king planet–and Regulus–the king star aligned three times in the constellation Leo, the lion–as in the Lion of Judah–around the time of Jesus’ birth. Behind Leo rose Virgo, which represented the Virgin Mary, “clothed in” the sun with the moon underneath, just as described in Revelation 12. What is more, at Jesus’ conception, the Annunciation, Venus–the “mother planet”--aligned with Jupiter to symbolize the Virgin being pregnant with a king. Jupiter then changed direction, or to the naked eye, “stopped”-- on December 25, 2 B.C.  So, as Larson describes it, in September of 2 B.C., Jupiter crowned Regulus in the constellation Leo, Virgo then rose clothed in the sun and moon, a new moon–by the way, which marked the Jewish new year, also known as Rosh Hashanah. Nine months later, Jupiter and Venus came together to form the brightest star ever seen. This star stopped over Bethlehem on December 25, 2 B.C.

Scripture directs us to look to the heavens for signs. Isaiah 40:26 states: “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

In Psalm 19:1-2 we read, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.”

Jesus himself said “There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars” (Luke 21:25). We can choose to believe whatever we’d like, but God is giving us all the evidence we need. A leap of faith is always necessary, but God has done his part in showing his love for us. We just need to know where to look.

“make straight his paths … The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth”

Perhaps this is where part of the expression, “The straight and narrow” comes from. That is the Christian way, they say. Yet, that has not been my experience. The Christian road for me is often winding as it meanders through rough terrain. When I think the Lord is calling me to take a straight shot to some goal in life, when I try to execute the plan, real life gets in the way and I end up going around obstacles rather than plowing straight through them. “The Lord writes straight with crooked lines” seems to be the more accurate saying. But what are we to say of this verse from Isaiah quoted by Luke? On our life journey, does God want us to take obstacles head on instead of going around them? Perhaps. Maybe he wants us to build bridges and tunnels instead of winding our way through the valleys, where we often get lost and stuck anyway. 

As a map buff, I like to measure the distance between two places “as the crow flies”. That would be the “straight path”. But the terrain of the real world makes it nearly impossible. Is Isaiah being idealistic in saying we should make straight the path of the Lord? Is that even doable in real life?

With humans it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. All valleys are passable. The Lord makes a way where there is no way. If we think we can’t be resolute in living the Christian life no matter what obstacles come across our path, we are thinking the way the world does. The way of the world sees lack of money, public opinion, time, distance, what’s been done before, what’s never been done, and many other things as obstacles. John is saying that when our eyes are fixed upon the Lord, we start to see things the way heaven does and all these miniscule impediments become like pebbles on our path. The saints didn’t let anything get in the way of doing God’s will. With their eyes fixed on heaven, they knew what they had to do. Miracles happened as a result.