Lectio#3

It is interesting to note that Luke's account of Jesus' ancestry begins with his parents and works all the way back to the origins of the human race to "the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God" (3.38). Luke then begins chapter four with Jesus' temptation by the devil. This juxtaposition of lineage and temptation reveals that Luke wishes to posit Christ back in the garden of Eden or paradise ("Adam, the son of God") in order to be tempted there like Adam. By so being in the garden, Christ may amend Adam's transgression.

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Compare the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (February 2) with that of Pentecost. The former has Christ entering the Temple forty days after his birth; Pentecost has the Holy Spirit entering the disciples after fifty days (consider the triple "filling" of Acts 2.14). The latter feast implies that the Apostles became the new Temple whose foundation is the New Jerusalem of Revelation. In the former Temple, Mary and Joseph marveled at Simeon's words (Luke 2.33) which Mary must have done later at Pentecost. No doubt Joseph, like his Old Testament prototype Joseph the dreamer, told her all about this.

The Temple is sacred and its outer parameters are pro-fanus, that is, "before" the temple." Christ as man-God enters the sacred; rather, he as God is the Temple himself, so what lies outside him is pro-fanus or "profane" in the literal sense of the word.

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Compare John 14.2 with Genesis 6.14:

-"In my Father's house are many mansions (monai)."

-"Make an ark of gopher wood; rooms (qinym) shall you make in the ark."

Christ's words were uttered at the Last Supper prior to his crucifixion. By digressing upon the kingdom of heaven with his disciples, he, like Noah, was preparing to elevate them with him on the cross, the new ark, which was about to save the world.

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Deuteronomy 34.1-4 describes God bidding Moses to ascend Mt. Nebo opposite Jericho. Moses could not enter the promised land but was allowed a glimpse of it. Once his request was granted, Moses died, and the Lord himself buried him. One can only speculate what type of burial this was, but insight into its meaning can be intuited by engaging in contemplative prayer, a direct result from lectio divina, when one's vision becomes purer. Although Moses was great in God's sight, he was not deemed to ascend bodily into heaven like Enoch (Genesis 5.24) and Elijah (2Kings 2.11). In light of this, note Matthew 4.8-11 when Satan tempted Jesus upon a high mountain similar to Mt. Nebo.; Jesus saw all the earth's kingdoms but did not succumb to the devil's temptation.

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John 1.5: "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." A better translation for "overcome" is "grasp," katalambano, which implies a selfish type of appropriation or a total acquisition. On the other hand, this verb can signify an ardent longing or desire; applied to Jesus Christ, it refers to a possession of him as well as being possessed by him. For this latter meaning, refer to three references with katalambano, italicized words:

1Corinthians 9.24: "Do you know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."

Ephesians 3.18: "That you may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth."

Philippians 3.12: "Not that I have already obtain this or am already perfect."

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An outline to 1Corinthians 15.22-8 which consists of eight stages:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive

but each in his own order

Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ

then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father

he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet

when all things are subjected to him

then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him

that God may be all in all.

Refer to references in this Home Page cited from A Treatise on First Corinthians 15.28 by Gregory of Nyssa where the theme of "subjection" and "first fruits" is discussed as well as the text itself in the Gregory of Nyssa Home Page.

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Genesis 1.2: "and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters." In Hebrew the verb rachaph means "to cherish, brood over, to be affected," implying that something has just been born and is in a crucial phase of development and in need of care. It thus does not pertain to the act of giving birth but the period immediately following birth.

Psalm 45.1: "My heart overflows with a goodly theme." The psalmist's heart engages in this rachash; the Hebrew verbal root means to boil, bubble up as a fountain, and can apply to boiling water. Compare this verb with rachaph of Genesis 1.2; it is as though the Spirit were in the psalmist causing his "goodly theme" to rachaph. In both instances, the element of water is implied, not the act of creating it but of making it develop and mature.

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"It is well known that before the fifth century almost all vocations were adult and a second career, as they were in the times of the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles. The same pattern applied uniformly to all Founders and early members of Religious Societies in any age of Church History. This indeed is the pattern to be expected from Christ's own words in extending the invitation ('vocation') to follow Him in a special manner: 'Leave wife and children; leave accumulated possessions; leave one's established life also.' This is surely an invitation to adult and second career vocations. It is likewise clear that after the nineteenth century, 'vocation' had become synonymous with 'youth.' By the middle of the twentieth century, two things had happened: The youth-vocation field suddenly began to vanish in a spectacular fashion; and the youth-only mindset had become so strong and so universal that it could not recognize what was happening and doggedly held its ground, while a universal 'vocation crisis' built up throughout the world." From a pamphlet of the Society of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles, Cromwall, Connecticut.

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2Kings 5.17: "Then Naaman said 'If not, I pray you, let there be given to your servant two mules' burden of earth ('adamah); for henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offerings or sacrifice to any god but the Lord.'" Naaman uttered these words after having been cured of leprosy at the prophet Elisha's command. The idea here is that God cannot be worshipped apart from his own land. 'Erets quite often signifies the sacred territory of Israel over and against other lands. To take some of it as Naaman did was to bring this 'erets back to his own home and therefore to extend its sacredness there. Once 'erets is transferred to a spot other than its own, it becomes a maqom, a place more specific than 'erets. For example, refer to Genesis 28.6: "Surely the Lord is in this place (maqom) and I did not know it." Although the text does not say so, we can imagine that Naaman built a temple to the Lord on the transported 'erets.

Later in the New Testament we have the Magi coming to worship the Christ child, Matthew, chapter 2. Perhaps one of these wise men came from Syria, the land which contained the 'adamah originally transported there by Naaman. That country might have had a tradition in some circles of worshipping the Lord of Israel due to the soil brought to that land. Once such wise man could have been influenced by the mystic qualities of this 'adamah and dreamed, like Jacob, of the Christ child's birth.

The Magi saw a star in the east to guide them westwards which "went before them until it came to rest over the place (in other words, the maqom) where the child was" (verse 9). We may say that this star was originally located above Naaman's 'adamah and moved from that sacred maqom to the maqom of Christ. According to tradition, there were three Magi, but Luke's account gives no number. The number three perhaps arises from the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These are elements used in divine worship and also could have been used at Namaan's original 'erets.

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"We need, therefore, to be exceedingly circumspect about tampering with our basic (Christian) symbols, for we may be altering far more than we realizethe maleness of the Christian priesthood is part of the God-given, revealed symbolism that we verify by our lived experience, even though it cannot be justified by logical proofs. This symbolism involves the deepest intuitive roots of our relationship with the Eternal. We prefer to leave it as it is." Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Tablet, quoted from the edition of 26 November 1983, p.1150.

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Isaiah 11.2 contains four references which pertain to spirit, ruach: wisdom, understanding, counsel and might. Verse 3 continues using the verbal form: "and shall make him of quick (hawaychuscent, smell) understanding in the fear of the Lord." Later in verse10 we have "There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand (homed) for a sign of the people." This sign standshamadfrom which is derived hamod, "column, pillar," as in Exodus33.9: "the pillar of cloudstood (hamad)."

The Syriac rendition of hamad is similar in form and means "to baptize, immerse in water;" Hamod in Syriac means "pillar, column," and John the Baptist is called the Mahmada' who might be termed a "pillar" baptizing in the Jordan River. John says, "He who is coming after me is mightier than Ihe will baptize (hamad) you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matthew 3.11). That is, Christ will "pillar" you into the Spirit and fire of Exodus 33.9 and 10. This pillar or hamod is thus set up as a kind of ladder into which we are inserted. Fire and cloud are opposites yet share similar characteristics. Christ was baptizedhamadin the Jordan where Joshua (Jesus) set up twelve memorial stones (Joshua 4.9), although the word hamod is not used here. However, Christ who baptized in both fire and Spirit gathers up these twelve memorial stones and transforms them at Pentecost into twelve disciples. After all, God can make stones into men, Matthew 3.9.

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Song 2.9: "Behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks forth at the window, showing himself through the lattices." This verse may be applied to John the Baptist in prison, Luke 7.18-35, when he sent messengers to inquire about Jesus. Jesus responds by quoting parts of Isaiah such as the blind seeing, and so forth (Isaiah 35.5, 61.1). This parallels Song 2.12, "The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." The "wall" between John and Jesus, prefigured by being in their mothers' wombs, is broken down, even though John remains in prison; his "joy is now complete," John 3.29-30.

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The birth of Jesus Christ is a hidden one, occurring in winter (December) when days are shortest. The "birth" of the Holy Spirit becomes manifest to the Church, occurring as it does in middle to late spring when the days are lengthening. To fathom the Christian mystery even further, it is interesting to read the Pentecost account both at Christmas and on June 21, the longest day of the year, when we are in the process of moving from the "high point" of the calendar year to the "lowest."

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When Christ ascended the Jordan River after having been baptized we read, "Behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove" (Matthew 3.16). The Syriac for "dove" here is yona' which parallels the Hebrew word. It is also the name of the prophet Jonah. The sailors threw Jonah overboard to appease God, an act which caused the sea to become calm (Jonah 111-15). Jonah or the Dove not only hovers over the water as the Spirit in Genesis, but actually descends to Sheol (2.3), a figure of Christ both at the Jordan (baptism) and in the tomb. Christ quotes Jonah 1.17 with reference to his impending death and resurrection. It might be noted that Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh, foreshadowing Christ's human reluctance to complete his mission.

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When Christianity first developed, the Apostles passed on what they received first hand from Christ, eventually giving rise to the New Testament. In other words, we have an unfolding process which occurs in time. For us almost two thousand years later, in order to reach Christ through the practice of lectio divina, we reverse the process: we go through the Church and scripture, the Apostles and then finally attain Jesus Christ.

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Odoremus saltem et a longe salutemus eam: "Let us now inhale its (our heavenly homeland) perfume and greet it from afar." Note the play on words odoremus which alludes to adoremus, "let us adore." This is the concluding sentence to Sermon Two of De Diversis by Bernard of Clairvaux. It refers to Hebrews 11.13-14: "But having seen it ('what was promised') and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland." Such Old Testament witness to faith in God may constitute the genealogy of Jesus Christ by faith. They, like the bride say, "Draw me after you, let us make haste" (Song 1.4), that is, in the bridegroom's "good ointments" which diffuse the New Testament as well as the Old.

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Genesis 3.8: "The voice of the Lord walking (mitehalk) in the garden." Also, refer to verse 24: "A flaming sword which turned (hamithapheketh) every way." Both Hebrew verbs are in the hithpael, that is, they are intransitive, and this form often has a reflexive or reciprocal meaning (for example, "to hide oneself"). In other words, the meaning implies something like a turning upon an axis around one's center of gravity. In verse 8 God does not walk in a straight line; he revolves like a whirlwind (refer to Ezekiel 1.4, etc).

Note that Adam and his wife hide themselves, yitechabe', in response to God's walking. In verse 24 God drives out "the man," garash, a linear movement in response to God's "walking." We may say that movement within the garden is circular, that is, it is self contained and not having need for spacial-temporal extension, whereas outside the garden movement assumes a linear form. The circular movement of the flaming sword guards "the way of the tree of life." Adam and Eve discovered that this tree gave them a type of hithpael movement like God which is why they were banished. They could reflect back upon themselves (in other words, see their nakedness) much like God can reflect upon himself. The hithpael movement of the sword guards this tree so no one can imitate God's movement. The "tree of life" traditionally is symbolic of Christ's cross. God says in verse 22, "the man has become as one of us," that is, his hithpael movement prefigured a seeing-into God, his self-reflectiveness, or Jesus Christ.

It is interesting to observe that the Genesis text does not mention a specific place name to which Adam and Eve were "driven" from the garden. Such a place is not found until 8.4 when Noah's ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. A mountain, like the garden of Eden, represents a sacred spot, a maqom (refer to the remarks above regarding Naaman). Noah built an ark before the flood, an enclosed sacred space, again reminiscent of Eden. It was here with the ark that the banishment of our first parents came to a halt. When Cain slew Abel, God made him a wanderer who dwelt in the land of Nod, Hebrew for "wandering," east of Eden (4.16). Cain then bore children in Nod, that is, the original place of banishment of Adam and Eve was maintained until it stopped with the resting of Noah's ark. This ark was constructed from gopher wood, 6.14. The Septuagint has "of square timber" (ek xulon tetragonon), which imitates the four-sided constitution of Eden. Noah in Hebrew means "rest," a symbol of cessation of that banishment from paradise. Therefore the ark is the first mirror-image of Eden to appear. It has a door which equals the location of the fiery sword as well as a window to equal the tree of life; furthermore, every animal is in Eden and as well as in the ark.

When Christ was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil, the Holy Spirit guided him there (Matthew 4.1). Observe that Mark 1.12 reads, "The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness" thereby imitating the banishement of Adam. Christ did this in order to cure the banishment of Adam (again, we have no mention in Genesis of Eve) from Eden. When in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descends and rests upon Christ instead of making him run away and hide as Adam and Eve had done. Instead, the baptism scene is an immediate prelude to Christ entering the desert as we see with the sentence quoted above from Mark 1.12. After being there forty days and nights, a correspondence to the forty days during which the flood lasted in Noah's time, chapter eleven begins with "Now the whole earth had one language and few words," that is, we have here a foretaste of Pentecost. The destruction of the tower of Babel is an attempt to recreate Noah's ark, "a city and a tower with its tower in the heavens" (11.4) to rise above the waters.

With the banishment of both Adam and Christ in mind, we can better appreciate the reconciliation mentioned in 1Corinthians 15.22: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." In these words we have a one-to-one correspondence between the First and Second Adams in light of the banishment from Eden. Christ take's Adam's "linear" or horizontal banishment and makes it vertical by his cross. This was foretold by Noah's ark which rose up on the waters: "and it rose high above the earth' (Genesis 7.17).

Human language was undivided prior to the tower of Babel but it became splintered (Genesis 11.9) once this tower rose up to heaven. To counter this rising up (the opposite of the ark's rising on the water which covered all mountains), the Holy Spirit's descent at Pentecost unified the multiple languages. That is to say, the unity springing up from the earth is confused, whereas unity descending from heaven brings unification: "And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language" (Acts 2.8)?

Note that Matthew begins his genealogy of Christ with Abraham (1.2) and works forward from there to Christ's birth. This descending order corresponds to Abraham's linear movement or departure from his own land (Genesis 12) until the two realities signified by these two lines, horizontal and vertical, intersect in the Incarnation. Luke's genealogy omits Abraham (3.23-38) altogether as if to say Christ's descent blotted out Abraham's linear movement. The genealogy occurs prior to the temptation scene or before the descent into the wilderness, chapter four. The genealogy ends with "son of Adam, the son of God" (3.8); thus the downward (vertical) genealogy serves to dissolve the banishment of Adam. In a certain sense, the two genealogies of Matthew and Luke may be combined in this light.

Perhaps the angel's ascent and descent upon the Son of Man (John 1.51) signifies unity of the two genealogies of Jesus Christ: both descending and ascending movements of the genealogies are reconciled in Christ. Matthew wished to stress Christ's banishment vis-a-vis Abraham's, whereas Luke stressed the one with regard to Adam. It is from Abraham that Christ took the "good" banishment, being a summons from God, and from Adam that Christ took a "bad" banishment being one from paradise. Abraham's horizontal banishment sought to cure' Adam's, but both retained the horizontal dimension. It took the vertical dimension of Christ to cure both.

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John 1.9 speaks of Christ as the Logos who enlightens every person; 8.12 reads, "but will have the light of life" for a realized person who is awake to the Logos enlightening him. The verses that follow have Christ testifying not about himself but of the Father where the Father may be taken as the light of the Son. Hence, a parallel exists between Logos, light, man and Father/Logos.

John 15.4: "Remain in me as I in you." This remaining or abiding is a permanent state, not a transitory one. Such remaining can be connected with the Son's role of enlightening in 1.9 above. Christ continues in chapter 15 to use the image of himself as "the true vine" and the Father as "vine dresser" and a believer as "branch." The branch is not aware of the Logos through normal subject-object relationships; rather, its mode of perception is from within--by reason of being made in God's image or eikon--via the "sap" flowing through the vine which is the Holy Spirit.

While both Logos and the Holy Spirit are internal to the branch, the Father is completely external; he is the vine dresser who has a cleansing or pruning function (verse 2). It seems that 1.12 makes the "sap" or Spirit flow in a person, that is, arouse it: "But to all who received him, who believed in (eis) his name, he gave power to become children of God" (1.12). Note the use of eis, the preposition "into" with regard to "name," a presence-in just like in the vine by the klema. In view of this, klema may be seen as another term for adoption, literally "son placing," huithesia Ephesians 1.5).

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The Hebrew verb shaqaph means "to lay upon, cover with planks (not generally used), to lie out over, look out" as in Psalm 14.2: "The Lord looked down (shaqaph) from heaven on the sons of men." The image we have here is one of God leaning out a window watching the activity below. Perhaps God intended Noah to do this when he was commanded to put a window in the ark (Genesis 6.16, tsohar, literally, "light;" 8.6 has chalon through which Noah sent a dove which is derived from chalal, "to pierce." Here the action takes place from inside the ark to outside, whereas with regard to tsahar, it is above for God to shaqaph. As noted elsewhere within this home page, this latter verb offers a somewhat humorous image, that of a person idly looking out a window.

John 11.20: "Mary sat in the house" while Martha went out to meet Jesus. Mary resembles Noah (whose name means "rest") remaining within her house or ark, whereas her sister Martha hastened to Jesus like the raven and dove Noah sent out (Genesis 8.6-8). Martha received an important revelation about Christ being the resurrection and life (John 11.25). This is akin to the raven and dove which signaled the flood's end, "resurrecting" the world to new life. Even though Martha engages Christ in an important conversation, Mary, a type of Noah, embodies that shaqaph or looking out the window of her ark like God from heaven upon Christ. It was only upon Mary's arrival (verse 32) to Christ that he restored Lazarus to life; it was her request that was instrumental in bringing him to life.

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Proverbs 9.6: "Forsake the foolish and live; and go in the way of understanding ('ishru bederek)." The Hebrew verb for "go" here is 'ashar meaning "to be straight, right, prosper" and is related to yashar, "to be straight, righteous." From 'ashar we derive 'asher, the relative pronoun, "who, which, that," the use of which is demonstrated in Psalm 1.1: "Happy the man who" or in Hebrew, 'ashrey ha'ysh 'asher. Note the play on all three words; the notion of happiness here means an onward progression which is emphasized by inclusion of the relative pronoun. A pronoun serves as a vehicle (in other words, is representative of movement) between two nouns, so a dynamic activity is implied. Hence, "to go in the way of understanding" is to be "happy" or 'ashrey.

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Ephesians 1.17: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him." This verse implies one's interior perception of Christ. Note how it is related to an exterior event Christ's resurrection and ascension, verse 20: "which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places." Such is the "working (energeia) of his great might" (verse 19) perceived by faith which can unite the interior with the exterior or the present with a past event. To include a further dimension of exteriority, verse 22 says that Jesus Christ is "head over all things for the church," that is, those cosmic or physical realities for the church which consists of those in whom the interiority of verse 17 is realized.

The notion of "subjection," hupotage, in verse 22 shows the subordination of the exterior to the interior as if everything external depended upon the "spirit of wisdom and revelation" of verse 17. We find a reference to Psalm 8.6 in 1Corinthians 15.27, "You have given him dominion over the works of your hands" where the notion of Christ as "first fruits," aparche, is developed. NB: the Hebrew for hupotasso is mashal. The balance between interior and exterior is comprised of union of head and body.

Compare Ephesians 1.23 with 1Corinthians 15.28:

-which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

-then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone.

The activity of hupotasso or of subjecting spoken of here and referred by Paul through his use of Psalm 8.6 hearkens back to Genesis 1.26, "Let them have dominion" The Hebrew equivalent to hupotasso here is radah, "to rule, tread," the latter word used in the send of treading a wine press. This verb also occurs in Psalm 110.2: "rule in the midst of your foes." It is interesting that this radah occurs in the same psalm which says in verse 1, "sit at my right hand" or in the "place" where Christ is located from where he effects subjection, the perfect harmony between ourselves and all aspects of reality, physical, psychological and spiritual. It is Christ as "first fruits" who resembles a seed as we observe in Ephesians 2.21-2: "in whom the structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for (or 'into') a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Notice how the last word here, "Spirit" or Pneuma, ties in with pneuma as the take-off point in Ephesians 1.17. The union or balance between interior and exterior is heightened by seven uses of "in" and "into" (italicized).

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Christ sent the Holy Spirit after his ascension as fully God and fully man. That is, his humanity ascended into heaven from where the Holy Spirit was sent nine days later at Pentecost. Christ as Second Adam effects this according to 1Corinthians15.22: "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." The "pause" between the Ascension and Pentecost was required as a period of reflection for the Apostles to realize this fact; we might intimate that they were instructed by Mary about what Christ had told her about this coming event. The pause made them realize what 1Corinthians 15.45 reveals as later written by Paul: "The first man Adam became a living being (psuche); the last Adam was a life giving spirit (pneuma)." Although Christ is seated as man and God at the Father's side, the Holy Spirit is seated at man's side, so we have here a mutual exchange.

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In his book The Church of God, (Chicago, 1961), p.161-2, Louis Bouyer speaks of three types of fullness (pleroma) connected with the developments of mystery concerning the Church, that is, the transformation of her members into a living reality:

-Time: "but when the fullness of time had come" (Galatians 4.4) and "as a plan for the fullness of time" (Ephesians 1.10).

-God: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1.19).

-Perfect stature: "which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1.23).

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Matthew 13-14 contain several parables which describe the kingdom of heaven in terms of things normally concealed from our sight such as pearls, yeast, a net in the sea and fish. The disciples ask Jesus (13.36) for an explanation of the parables. In order to do this, note that Christ "left the crowd and entered the house." Here is a two-fold action: leaving the crowds and going into a house. Even the house, like the hidden elements of the parables, is a concealed place where we must pray to the Father in secret and "groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons" (Romans 8.23).

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Romans 8.23: "We who have the first fruits of the Spirit." This concept of "first fruits" (in Greek, aparche) is important for Gregory of Nyssa, which refers to Christ as the prototype of the new man in his resurrection which we now share in a seminal fashion:

"Paul said that the pure and undefiled divinity of the Only-Begotten Son assumed man's mortal and perishable nature. However, from the entirety of human nature to which the divinity is mixed, the man constituted according to Christ is a kind of first fruits (aparche) of the common dough. It is through this divinized man that all mankind is joined to the divinity." A Treatise on 1Corinthians 15.28, PG#44.1313A-B.

In the verse from Romans, note the opposition between "first fruits" present in faith and its not-yet realized presence in our bodies or material creation ("awaiting the redemption of our body"). "Body" is singular whereas "our" is plural. This can mean the final growth or fullness of Christ's body we await, not simply the restoration of our physical (resurrected) bodies.

2Corinthians 5.2-4 develops this notion of "first fruits" further: "Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwellingnot that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." Revelation 3.14 also deals with the theme of "first fruits" but with the word arche, "the beginning of God's creation." This notion of aparche-arche has roots in Proverbs 8.22: "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work." Notice that this "beginning" (r'esh) was present with God before creation whose special characteristic is joy (verse 30): "then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always." This word 'amon for "workman" derives from the verbal root 'aman, "to prop, stay up, support, confide." Thus one who shares the "first fruits" as in Romans 8.23 is an 'amon, an interpretation of "faith" which shares the same verbal root.

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Ex 15.25: "and the Lord showed him (Moses) a tree (hets) which when he cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet." The Hebrew verb yarah means "to cast, lay foundations, instruct," from which derives torah, "law." "Tree" (hets) resembles hetsah, "counsel," and can refer here to Christ's cross. When God shows (yarah) Moses the tree, he simply does not point it out but instructs him about it as in the Torah. Thus we may see hets of Christ as fulfillment of the Old Testament Torah. You could say that by showing (yarah) Moses this hets, the Lord was preparing him to receive the Torah on Mt. Sinai in light of Christ's cross and what it signifies.

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Exodus 18.7: "And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and did obeisance and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare (shalom), and they came into the tent." Note the importance of shalom in union with three elements of meeting, doing obeisance and kissing. Relate this verse to John 1.14: "and the Word became flesh and tented within us."

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"Only the great masters of style ever succeeded in being obscure." Oscar Wilde (I do not recall the source, yet this sentence can be applied to all spiritual teachers from the beginning of time until the present).

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Exodus 32.15: "And Moses turned (yiphen) and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand." This incident occurred when God told Moses that the Israelites made a golden calf. Before Moses descended the mountain, the text says that he turned, yiphen: he left the awareness of God's presence or made a complete one-hundred and eighty degree turn from being upon the mountain's summit. The tablets of testimony were with Moses and had writing on both sides, that is, they acted as God's eyes after Moses gesture of "turning," yaphan. These "eyes" of the testimony call to mind Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 1) of God's chariot which John develops, Revelation 4.6: "and before the throne there is as it were a sea of glass like crystal" which symbolize unceasing watchfulness. The four creatures (lion, bull, eagle, man) St. Irenaeus later saw as the four evangelists, so we could say Moses' testimony prefigured the Gospel's four books. Revelation 5.1 says that only the Lamb can open the seven seals of the book, that is, to make the writing on both sides intelligible.

Exodus 32.19 has Moses breaking the tablets at the mountain's base upon seeing the golden calf which prefigures Christ driving the money changers from the Temple (John 2.15).

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Proverbs 31.10-31 praises a good wife whose watchfulness extends to her entire household. We have here mention of "night" (verse 15: "She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household") which has a certain parallel to the five wise and five foolish virgins of Matthew 25.1-12, especially when Christ the bridegroom suddenly comes at night (verses 15 and 18).

* * *

Matthew 25.14-30 contains the parable of the talents. Each servant is given a talent: five, two and one respectively in order to increase them. A talent equals more than fifteen years' wages for a laborer, so it seems ironic for the master to say "you have been faithful over a little" (verse 23)! The first two servants double their talents while the third hides it and later returns it without investment. The industrious servants follow Gregory of Nyssa's doctrine of going "from glory to glory," that is, of advancing from one stage to another with each succeeding stage being beyond (doubled) the earlier one. They are also like the Virgin Mary who says, "my soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1.46), that is, she continuously "doubles" her soul or talent. The servant who hides his talent fails to "magnify the Lord" and is therefore rejected.

* * *

Psalm 117.5: "From the midst of distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me with enlargement" (bamerechav Yah). Note that the Hebrew ends with Yah, "Lord," as if to say "in enlargement the Lord." The verb rachav means "broad, wide," also includes the concept of "height, depth" much like the Latin word amplus. Refer to Ephesians 3.18: "to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth." These four cardinal points of the compass form a cross into whose center-axis is inserted the psalmist's "enlargement." Psalm 119.96: "I have seen that all perfection has an end; your commandment is exceedingly broad" (mitswatka me'od). The "enlargement" with God answers is his "commandment" which is me'od, so the psalmist can meditate on it "all day" as verse 98 states.

* * *

Definition of a chiastic structure: events being picked up and recapitulated inverse order such as the Greek word for "manger," phatne. "Manger" is thus a deeper clef in the rock (of a cave) at a height convenient to feed animals. At the end of Luke's Gospel Christ is put in the "rock-hewn tomb" (23.53). Thus at the beginning and end of this Gospel Christ--first as a baby, then as a dead man--is wrapped round and laid in a rock-crevice. Such is the "sign" the shepherds are given, an anticipation of Christ's passion.

Also in Luke's Gospel, a parallel can be drawn between Caesar's census and the multitude of angels at Christ's birth (2.1-5 and 9-14). The great number of spiritual beings forms a parody of the census!

* * *

Compare the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) with that of the Pharisee and publican (Luke 18). Both take place within the Father's home or temple. The prodigal can turn into his brother the Pharisee who never left home (temple), the two being different aspects of a single person. Once reconciled to the Father, the prodigal son looks on others, like his brother, as other prodigals. This is where he is akin to the Pharisee in the temple. It is the prodigal's challenge to remain like the Pharisee "who would not lift so much his eyes to heaven" (verse 13) once he is transformed into the son who never left home. The challenge seems to remain in the house-temple: "but Mary sat in the house" John 11.20). She went out, unlike Martha, only when "the Master calls for you" (verse 28). The prodigal-publican thus has changed into Mary and sees his brother-Pharisee as Martha. Here is where she must not judge him, otherwise he will revert back to his former role of brother-Pharisee.

Perhaps Mary's "one thing necessary" is related to her position in the house-temple and to anoint Christ's feet, filling the house with the ointment's odor (12.3). Compare this anointing with Luke's account of Christ's visit: "And she (Martha) had a sister called Mary who sat at (parakathestheisa pros) Lord's feet and listened to his teaching (logosin other words, from the Logos himself, 10.42)." It is interesting that the teaching of the Lord's Prayer occurs in chapter 11 right after this "one thing necessary" of 10.42.

* * *

Just before his death, Joseph he ordered his brothers to bring his bones out of Egypt when the Lord "will visit his people" (Genesis 50.25), a clear reference to the Exodus. Exodus 13.19 has the Genesis 50.25 quote of Joseph, "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for Joseph had solemnly sworn the people of Israel, saying, 'God will visit you; then you must carry my bones with you from here.'" In verse 21 the Lord precedes the Israelites in a column of cloud and fire on their way from Egypt. It seems as if a condition for such a divine manifestation is the transferal of Joseph's bones from Egypt in a coffin or ark ('aron), the same word for the holy ark in which the Law's two tablets were kept. It is more specifically called "ark of testimony" (Exodus 25.22). We might say that Joseph's 'aron prefigured this latter one of the Sinai covenant. Note too that Aaron acted as Moses' spokesman (Exodus 4.14) or was the "ark" of his utterances much like the tablets were the voice of God later given at Mount Sinai.

In the New Testament, Joseph does not speak yet is responsible for bringing up Jesus. Joseph fades into the background much like the Old Testament Joseph's 'aron or ark before the pillar of fire and smoke and later in the presence of the new 'aron or Law received at Sinai.

* * *

Mark 8.32: "And he said this plainly (parresia). Christ speaks openly or plainly, using the word parresia about his impending passion and death to the disciples. Peter then rebukes Christ because he did not understand his words.

Luke 24.26: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" Here Christ interprets his passion and death in light of the Old Testament as well as with that parresia just mentioned although the word is not used here. Despite the parresia in Mark (before the resurrection), the disciples did not comprehend his words but only afterwards. Next we have, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures" (verse 32)? This "burning" was recognized by them only after Christ vanished from their midst. Still they failed to recognized Christ as in Mark's account, but the resurrection left them with this "burning." Their parresia, however, became in tune with the "burning" after Pentecost with the Holy Spirit's descent as noted by the Jewish elders: "seeing the parresia of Peter and John" (Acts 4.13).

Later the disciples' friends ask for this same parresia (verse 29) which repeats Mark's observation of Christ himself speaking with parresia. After this, these people, like the disciples, "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with parresia." Now they are like Christ in Mark because he had the Holy Spirit while the disciples did not at the time. This request is similar to the parresia of Elisha who asked his master Elijah "to inherit a double share of your spirit" (2Kings 2.9).

To recapitulate, note the relationship between parresia (boldness), kaiomene (burning) and pleroo (to fill).

* * *

"As we find ourselves approaching the metaphorical gates of eternal life, we find in ourselves an even greater need than before to transcend intellectual knowledge by a more poetic sense of Christ's presence." The Embrace of the Soul by Charles Rich, (Petersham, Massachusetts, 1984), p.7.

* * *

Psalm 38.12 (Septuagint): "I am a passing guest in the land and a sojourner" (parepidemos). This word is found in Hebrews 11.13: "confessing that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth." Both find roots in Abraham's wandering through Canaan as recounted in Genesis 23.4: "I am a stranger and sojourner with you." This noun is composed of two prepositions, para (besides) and epi (upon); para signifies the act of exile, of wandering, whereas epi discloses a certain transcendence or realization that this wandering is temporary.

* * *

Psalm 31.19: "How abundant is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you, and wrought for those who take refuge in you in the sight of the sons of men!" This verse contains two opposing elements, hiddenness ("laid up") of the Christian life where God works in secret before or in the sight of (neged) other persons. The trick here is to balance the two elements of "hiding" and "before" in one action; they are a way of seeing and participating in the process of salvation history. The condition for such a balancing act is fearing with its connotation of respect before "the sons of men."

A parallel may be drawn between the Greek word for "sojourner" (parepidemos) cited just above with regard to Psalm 38.12: para ("besides") is equivalent to "in the sight of" other persons; epi ("upon") is comparable with "hiding" or the secrecy of transcendence present with the created realm.

* * *

Matthew 6.4: "so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Two references of "secret" are in this verse, one for the person involved in almsgiving and the other for God the Father who bears witness to this. Some manuscripts have for "in secret" just the opposite, that is to say, "manifestly," enphanero, which is in the Syriac version is begalya' (refer to the footnote to verse 4 in The Greek New Testament, New York, 1966, p.17). Following this lead, we may say that the Father rewards by manifestation, though not necessarily in outward form. Rather, it can be awareness of his action as opposed to ignorance of it, despite the fact that such action has been accomplished without our fully knowing what has transpired.

We have a similar occurrence of begalya' in verse 6 with regard to our praying "in your room" (eis to tameion) as well as in verse 18 concerning fasting. These verses regarding the apparent contradictory element of manifestation through enphanero and begalya' make sense in light of verses 19-21, "treasure in heaven." This "treasure" is to be laid up "in heaven," for "there is your heart" (verse 21). The act of laying up treasure is done en krupto, "in secret," where the Father sees, yet he also sees begalya', "in manifestation." For lack of better terms, we may say that such manifestation lies on the other side of hiddenness. We see harmony between both elements in the "there-ness" of verse 21, the location of our heart; "there" represents that begalya' while "heart" represents "in secret."

Luke 2.35: "and a sword (romphaia) shall pierce your soul that the thoughts of many will be revealed (apokaluphthosin...dialogismoi)." The Syriac for apokalputo is gala', the same root as in Matthew 6.5 above.

It should be noted that the Gospel containing Luke 2.35 is that of the Presentation, February 2, which is forty days after Christmas and often occurs shortly before the beginning of Lent. Thus this Gospel and the one frequently used for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6.4+) are relatively proximate in the Church's liturgical year.

* * *

The word apokatastasis occurs in Acts 3.21: "whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." This restoration is linked with "the Christ appointed for you, Jesus" of verse 20. It is an incorrect apokatastasis which the Apostles expected in 1.6: "Lord, will you restore (apokathistaneis) the kingdom to Israel?" Relate this question to Matthew 17.11: "Elijah does come and is to restore (apokatastesei) all things," that is, referring to John the Baptist. This statement was made right after the Transfiguration, a preview of apokatastasis.

We have the verb apokathistemi referring to healing as in Mark 3.5: "and his hand was restored." Such an occasion refers to the "time for establishing" of Acts 3.20 already mentioned. As Christ himself uses this term, it refers to John the Baptist, so he is the figure to whom we must pay close attention. Nevertheless, apokatastasis in this sense means the perfection or fulfillment of events up to the appearance of Christ, that is, not himself nor after him.

Note that Acts 3.20 has kairoi anapsuxeos, "times of refreshment." The use of kairos here in the sense of a special event or visitation in an incipient or not fully revealed manner, which is why it is in the plural form. In verse 21 we have chronos, a word meaning extension of time which implies consistency: here the kairoi smooth out, as it were, or become constant. When associated with apokatastasis, chronos in the plural form means that individual, extended events and things will achieve the same status as kairoi, unextended time. We find an example of the two concepts Sin verse 24: "all the prophets from Samuel and those who came afterward (apo-kathexes)." The individual moments of prophecy are various "kairoi of refreshment." Then verse 24 continues: "also proclaimed these days (hemeras)." Such "days" equal the apokatastasis when Christ is fully revealed. In other words, we are seeing an interpenetration of both modes of time.

* * *

Philippians 3.21: "(Christ) who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself." This is a rich sentence in the context of the Easter season. Just before it verse 20 reads "our citizenship exists in the heavens." Thus the emphasis is on above-ness or heaven presented as the true reality governing everything else. We could outline the principal parts of Philippians to show the downward movement from "in the heavens" to "our lowly body:"

our citizenship

Christ

like his glorious body

will change

^

|

WE WILL RECEIVE

to be like

(according to the power...to subject all things)

^

|

our lowly body...and all things

Observe that a separation exists between "our citizenship" and "we will receive;" they are on two different planes yet form a single entity. The latter is faith which has certainty with regard to its origin and destination. It enables us to await Christ's power of "change" (metaschematizo), that is, the same Christ who exists on the identical plane as our "citizenship." It is this power of "change" which will, by faith, bring our "expectation" up to our place of "citizenship" by its power of "subjecting all things to himself." Basically we have here a question of alignment or of keeping "our lowly body" conformed to Christ's glorious body in heaven, our place of "citizenship." This is effected with the pivotal role of "we will receive" which keeps the parts above and below in line.

By the action of faith expressed in the verb "we will receive," we are in Christ through the Father as Ephesians 2.6 says: "and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places."

* * *

"That is the beauty of analog (time, as opposed to digital). Because--like its linguistic companion, the analogy--it tries to reproduce the contour of reality. It lives in context. There is a before and after. The digital watch gives you precision, but leaves you wondering where you are. Analog is a return to a certain harmony that the digital world chops away...Digital arbitrarily cuts up the continuum of information into bite-size bits, selects pieces and presents them back glued together to simulate the original continuum...The digital watch tells you the time. It does not represent it...Analog devices represent reality as a continuum on which things (seconds, degrees, sound waves) are assigned a location. Romantic, but not quite as practical as digital devices." An Article entitled, The Joy of Analog by Charles Krauthammer, Time (New York, May 26, 1986), p.84.

* * *

-Colossians 2.20: "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?"

-Colossians 3.3: "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

There is a correlation between these two passages: stoicheion ("elemental") means the physical elements from which all things have sprung and form the kosmos, the human or creaturely way of behaving. The "dying" is a cutting-off at the source of these elements which can be characterized by various types of addictive bahavior. The "hiding" is a refuge from the stoicheia which do not have existence in Christ. That is to say, this hiding is free from the addictive nature of stoicheia or more precisely, our tendency to abuse them. The use of the prepositions "with" and "in" of Colossians 3.3 is indicative of such freedom.

The dying referred to in Colossians 3.3 pertains to the stoicheia. Paul advises in verse 2 "set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Such "setting" or phroneite occurs after dying ("for you have died") and is accomplished "in secret" from the stoicheia. Also note the parallel between our life hidden "with Christ" and his manifestation, "your life." It seems that the activity of phroneo occurs only in secret and comes to an end with Christ's appearance.

Paul has in mind Christ's death on the cross where he is stretched out in the four cardinal directions in opposition to the four stoicheia of fire, earth, air and water. The "first principles of God's word" in Hebrews 5.12 correspond to these four creative elements and form the basis of the heavenly Jerusalem at the "fullness of time" in contrast to the "elemental spirits" also mentioned in Galatians 4.3. As verse 4 continues this theme, the Holy Spirit animates the new stoicheia by their transformation through Christ's birth by Mary; here is a renewal of the stoicheia by being infused with the divine presence.

Romans 4.12 continues the theme by mentioning the verbal form of stoicheia (stoichein): "but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." Or Galatians 5.25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" and Philippians 3.16: "Only let us hold true to what we have attained."

* * *

An outline of Matthew 13.1-9, parable of the sower with four results from his sowing:

1) seed devoured by birds

2) seed on rocky ground

3) seed in thorns

4) seed on good soil

This fourth seed is refined even further in verse 23 by its yield: thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold. Despite the liberality of sowing, only one out of four seeds yields fruit, and of this only one out of three yields one-hundred fold. Christ's later quotation of Isaiah 6.9-10 makes sense, especially verses 14-15, when considering the usual insensibility of people. He contrasts them, or the first three seeds, with the "prophets and righteous" of the fourth seed who had "longed to see what you see and did not see it" (verse 17). They are spoken of in 1Peter 1.10: "things into which angels long to look," or the same angels of Luke 2.14, "glory to God in the highest."

* * *

Revelation 20.11: "Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them." It is interesting to consider this verse in terms of a singularity discovered by modern physics and which may be defined as an infinite amount of matter compressed into an infinitely small space. On the other hand, chapter 21 begins with "I saw a new heaven and a new earth" or that which occurs on the "other side" of this singularity.

* * *

The psalmist says "Bless the Lord in all the places (maqom) of his dominion" (Psalm 103.22), that is, in all those sacred or special places where he rules. To rule implies having a sense of someone being in charge of any and all situations which humanly speaking, is impossible. Although faith tells us that God permeates creation, nevertheless, for the most part we cannot perceive him in all circumstances. It seems as though the psalmist is narrowing down those "places" of God's "dominion" which are more obvious to us with the eyes of faith (awareness) to accommodate our fragility. He, like St. Peter urging his flock, waits in faith for Christ's manifestation (cf. 2Peter 3.12, 13, 14). Such waiting (prosdokao) can incorporate varying degrees of faith or awareness into the present moment, the sacred maqom of Psalm 103.22. At the parousia or full revelation of God, all the various maqom will flee in the sense of Revelation 20.11 above. Hence, the forward-looking direction of "waiting" (prosdokao) which is aimed towards Christ.

Matthew 24.50 uses this verb with regard to Christ's sudden appearance; here we see that the spacial imagery evoked by the word maqom fosters waiting. Psalm 24.3 asks, "Who shall stand in his holy place?", that is, in this localized singularity after stating in verse 1 that the earth is God's and its fullness.

The other aspect to be considered is time (in Hebrew heth) which is equivalent to kairos, for space and time compose a single continuum. Psalm 34.1 says, "I will bless the Lord at all times (bekal-heth), his praise shall continually (tamyd, continuous action) be in my mouth." This verse is a foretaste of that dissolution mentioned in Revelation 20.11 on the level of time which in its present unfulfilled state can substitute for maqom. It is a matter of focus, for heth is more convenient when pre-occupied or dealing with persons whereas maqom is more suited for solitude or silent reflection.

* * *

Psalm 66.6: "He turned the sea into dry (land); they went through the flood; there did we rejoice in him (sham nismechah bu)." This, of course, refers to the Exodus event. Note the specific locality signified by sham, "there, in that place." "There" represents the very middle of difficulties as signified by the sea. Compare this with Jonah's experience in the whale, Jonah 2.9, where he gives thanks to God: "But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!"

* * *

During Advent we may compare the Holy Spirit's overshadowing of Mary (Luke 1.35, two references) with the same Spirit's descent at Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4 which has three "fillings"):

-"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."

-"When the days of Pentecost fulfilled; and it filled all the house; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."

The Incarnation occurred once and for all, whereas Pentecost is an ongoing reality. The former event has the Holy Spirit "on top" of Mary: "will come upon you," epeleusetai and epi se and "will overshadow you," episkiasei soi while Christ was about to take human form within her. The latter event has the Holy Spirit fill the insides, as it were, of the Apostles while Christ was "outside" them by reason of his ascension up into heaven.

* * *

Christ -> Incarnation -> Human Nature <-Resurrection <-Human Race

Gregory of Nyssa develops this brief outline contained in 1Corinthians 15.20 which deals with the resurrection and our relationship to Jesus Christ in this condition, that is, Christ as "first fruits," (aparche). In short, Gregory claims that Christ assumed human nature as a whole, not as an individual person. At the resurrection we will lose our individuality and assume divinized human nature, the same one which Christ has assumed. Hence the significance of the above outline.

There is a parallel here-- inverse, if you will--between the Incarnation into human nature and our resurrection into (of) this same human nature. Both are realized through what Gregory calls "subjection" (hupotage, from 1Corinthians 15.27) or the establishment of divine authority in all created. Two passages from Gregory of Nyssa will help illustrate:

"Because the nature of creation subsists from its very beginning by the divine power, the end of each created being is simultaneously linked with its beginning: each thing as created from nothing passes into existence, with its perfection following as simultaneous with its beginning. Human nature is also created but does not, like other created beings, advance towards its perfection; right from the very beginning it is created in perfection. 'Let us make man according to our image and likeness' (Genesis 1.26). Here is shown the very summit and perfection of goodnessThus in the first creation of man its end is simultaneous with its beginning, and human nature originated in perfection." Commentary on the Song of Songs, Fifteenth Homily.

"Subjection to God is complete alienation from evil. When we are removed from evil in imitation of the first fruits (Christ), our entire nature is mixed with this selfsame fruit. One body has been formed with the good as predominant; our body's entire nature is united to the divine, pure nature. This is what we mean by the Son's subjection: when, in his body, Christ rightly has the subjection brought to him, and he effects in us the grace of subjection." Treatise on First Corinthians 15.20, PG#44.1316A-B.

These two excerpts reveal that our human nature is a synthesis, so to speak, of individual persons and the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Paul refers to it as a "new creation," Galatians 6.15, according to which we stoicheo or "walk," which is better rendered as to proceed in a row. Note that the word stoicheion is any first thing from which the others belonging to the same series or composite whole take their rise; the material causes of the universe.

* * *

Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, July 22: Mary was devoted to Jesus Christ as the resurrection scene depicts (John 20.11-18). Perhaps after the Virgin Mary, no other New Testament character was closer to Christ. St. John, whom the Christian Orthodox tradition regards an example of the contemplative dimension of life, interestingly includes her in his Gospel. Because Mary Magdalene clung so closely to Christ, we may say that she has transferred this attachment to the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. She was in a good position to shift her devotion from one divine Person to another, namely, the Spirit who would soon animate the Church. Christ said "do not touch me" (verse 17) because he had not yet ascended to the Father; by these words we may infer that he was attempting to shift Mary's allegiance to the Holy Spirit. He repeats this ascent in verse 17, for such an ascent implies the future descent of Pentecost.

* * *

We often hear of Jesus Christ as the Word (Logos) of God who reveals himself through the scriptures which is of course true. It should be remembered that this concept of "word" was developed in a culture which was primarily oral, that is, whose traditions were handed down from word to mouth, generation after generation, with more weight put on this process than upon the written word. Despite the fact that the Gospels were written down soon after the death and resurrection of Jesus and that the Hellenistic culture of the time was quite literate, the great majority of people could not read and relied upon recitation of songs, stories and rites to maintain their identity and traditions.

In his book, Orality and Literacy (London, 1982), Walter J. Ong develops this distinction between oral and literate cultures. After reading this book, one gets the insight that when we think of Christ as "Word," this image arises in a primarily literate way. That is, coming from a highly literate society such as ours with so much emphasis upon written texts, we tend to perceive the notion of "word" as essentially written as opposed to an utterance. Any uttered is directly traceable back to the person who vocalized it as opposed to a text. Ong makes the following remarks on p.72:

"When I hear, however, I gather sound simultaneously from every direction at once; I am at the center of my auditory world, which envelopes me, establishing me at a kind of core of sensation and existenceYou can immerse yourself in hearing, in sound. There is no way to immerse yourself similarly in sight (in other words, the text).

"Interiority and harmony are characteristics of human consciousness. The consciousness of each human person is totally interiorized, known to the person from the inside and inaccessible to any other person directly from the inside. Everyone who says 'I' means something different by it from what every other person means.Knowledge is ultimately not a fractioning but a unifying phenomenon, a striving for harmony. Without harmony, an interior condition, the psyche is in bad health."

* * *

The system of reward and punishment is based upon what may be called the notion of begetting. Reward for a job well done (recognition, applause, promotion or whatever) takes the form of begetting, that is, of empowering a person to freely "propagate" him or herself. This may assume the form of ideas, policies or raising a family. In other words, it we are dealing with various forms of human endeavor whether it be biological, social, intellectual or spiritual. And so begetting is related to power. If a person fails in any one of these areas of begetting, he or she is punished, that is, withheld from propagating his or her ideas, and any material efforts are stifled. Power or control plays a subtle role here for it creates dependency: it can withdraw the capacity to beget any time by implying every so often the notion of guilt.

Begetting by its very nature belongs to this earth. Being concerned with propagation or self-renewal (that is, a making anew of the self or ego), it shifts from one pole to another, linear-like, without the gracefulness of a curve, arc or spiral. It therefore is reflective, literally, turning-back-on-itself in this linear fashion instead of assuming the upward spiral motion of what may be termed non-begetting.

The task of freeing oneself...and it is only a task by way of illusion...lies in standing apart from such earthly begetting or any of its manifestations as already suggested. One realizes that there is another mode of existence ("from above," as Christ says) independent of begetting. It often manifests itself by humor or perceiving the inherent seriousness in begetting's reward-punishment scheme. Such a scheme cannot lay hold of this new mode of existence, for its rules do not apply here. The state of begetting poses no threat to that of non-begetting, but the situation can be reversed: begetting is threatened by the mode of non-begetting.

* * *

Psalm 84 contains three references of "blessed" or "happy," 'ashrey:

-verse 5: Blessed are they who dwell in your house.

-verse 6: Blessed is the man whose strength is in you.

-verse 12: Blessed is the man who trusts in you.

'Ashrey means to be straight, right, happy; it is also a relative pronoun showing a connection or passage from one object to another. Hence this verbal root is one of action, of being constantly in motion or perhaps more accurately, in a state of transition. Psalm eighty-four therefore contains a blend of motion and stability.

Verse 5 speaks of the motion of 'ashrey related to the stability of "dwelling in your house" whose result is praise; verse 6 relates 'ashrey to a person's strength which lies in God. Located within his "heart" are the "roads to Zion" which are related to 'ashrey. It is as though these ascents or upward movements belonged to the very nature of 'ashrey. Hence 'ashrey assumes an upward journey (the verbal root of "roads," mesloth is salal, "to lift up, raise"). Then verse 7 says that such a person passes through a valley, but verse 6 implies ascent while verse 7 implies a descent in conjunction with a valley. Note that verse 6 concludes with selah, "pause." Just before this is the phrase "they will continuously praise you," that is continuation of praise comes to an abrupt halt.

With regard to this notion of selah or pause, in his Commentary on the Inscriptions of the Psalms (J.109), Gregory of Nyssa offers the following remarks on the Greek translation of this word, diapsalma:

"Diapsalma is a sudden pause in the midst of psalmody for introducing an inspiration as a hidden teaching of the Spirit given to the soul, the frequent interruptions in the psalms' chanting makes us attentive to his instruction. To prevent many persons from understanding the meaning of the silence (of the term diapsalma) as a failure of the Holy Spirit to prophesy, certain interpreters insert the term 'always' for these pauses in place of diapsalma, that we may learn of the Holy Spirit's teaching which is always present in the soul."

* * *

Philippians 3.14: "I press on (dioko) toward (kata) the goal for (eis) the prize of the upward (ano) call of God in Christ Jesus." The preposition kata implies pressing down upon a goal; eis is a movement inwards; ano is an upward movement:

dioko

kata -> eis <- ano

The word Paul uses in conjunction with "downward" motion is dioko which also means "to persecute." Paul persecuted the first Christians as he omits in 1Corinthians 15.9. That is to say, he uses the same intense energy only now applied to following Jesus Christ, Philippians 3.14. Dioko is used in verse 12 with another forceful verb, katalambano, which Paul employs in an active sense. Then he uses it passively with reference to Christ: "Christ Jesus has made me his own." The active katalambano is akin to kata skopon ("towards the goal"), whereas the passive katalambano refers to eis to brabeion and ano kleseos. There is a point where both active and passive modes unite in the diagram above. It seems that the downward kata automatically gives rise to be assumed...taken over...by the active motion of eis where katelemphthen comes to dominate.

* * *

1Corinthians 15.22: "For as (hosper) in Adam all die, so (houtos) also in Christ shall all be made alive." We have here two parallel movements, the death of persons "in" Adam and the quickening of persons "in" Christ. In order to better understand the resurrection, it is important to see its opposite, death, from which it had emerged. Note the two words hosper and houtos. In other words, one is built or modeled upon the other. Due to this similarity, we must study closely the "dying" in Adam with which we are so familiar, that is, his sin and thus see in its pattern or movement (as opposed to its essence) an outline for the future bringing to life, zoopoieo. Verse 23 provides a hint: "But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ." The "order" or tagma signifies a sequence of events. First comes Adam (present tense of apothnesko, "to die"), second is Christ (future of zoopoieo, "to make alive") and third is the human race (future of zoopoieo). Note that Adam preceded Christ historically but his action belongs to the present tense. Then notice how the past tense of Christ is the future as "first fruits," aparche. Our normal conception of time may be outlined as follows:

Adam -> us -> Christ

past -> present -> future

However, Paul changes this pattern to:

Christ -> Adam -> us

past -> present -> future

The first line represents Christ's coming which has been altered in order to show that he has liberated us from the tyranny of time's linear movement. In other words, our capacity for hope (first section of outline) is altered to an event in the past to give us in germ the fullness of this hope. And yet the notion of aparche or "first fruits" implies beginning, but a beginning with the end already in sight. It ends from beginning through present (Adam) into the future. That is, Christ as "first fruits" dissolves our concept of past and future and transforms them into the present. Such is the development of the pattern originally laid out by "as" and "so." We are required to "get into" this "as-so" pattern or to align the two movements. This is done by pretending to be the first one. You might say the aparche nullifies past and future as follows:

Normal Time (chronos)

past -> present -> future

Time related to "first fruits" (aparche)

present -> past -> present

That is to say, aparche has its roots in the past as a beginning. It then extends into the present and makes it as a thing already of the past by reason of its hope for the future. In this way we obtain a revelation or apokalupsis of which St. John writes into the future as existing in the present moment. That is an uncovering of what is already present.

We find a parallel to the 1Corinthians text in Romans 5.18: "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all me, so one acquittal and life for all men." Paul also has several other "as-so" examples:

-verse 15: "For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many."

-verse 19: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous."

-verse 21: "as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

A bit later Paul transforms this dialectic between Adam and Christ to between Christ and us (6.4): "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life." This "walking" implies total freedom from strictures of the dialectical process between Adam and Christ. Our "walking" resembles God's in Eden: "the voice of the Lord walking (the Septuagint has the same verb as Romans 6.5, peripateo) in the garden" (Genesis 3.8).

It is the "break" which Christ effects between Adam and ourselves by the "as" of 6.4 which enables us to be free of the memory...guilt...of Adam's transgression.to take its place, we have the aparche or "first fruits" of Christ.

* * *

Notice the four instances in Mark 13.35 with regard to the times when Christ will come: evening, midnight, cockcrow morning. Each one pertains to night, neither to the day, nor to the four watches of the night. Christ says that we are ignorant of the time (kairos, verse 33) of his arrival, but the four watches suggest it will take place some time during the night hours. Each period is a time of quiet and inactivity when people are at rest and have finished with the day's activity. When we emerge from these four watches or after daybreak, a certain nostalgia for those kairoi lingers on (Such is the common experience of monks who rise well before dawn). Note that the parable addresses the doorkeeper alone with being "on the watch" (verse 34). His place at the entrance provides the best view of that kairos of the preceding verse; this is because he is charged with observing, a passive activity.

The last weeks of the Church's liturgical year contain readings from Gospels dealing with watchfulness. This in turn is related to "the last things." It is interesting to observe that the same theme is carried over to the beginning of the liturgical cycle as well. It is almost as though no difference or time gap between beginning and end existed.

The coming of Christ at various night watches may be related to Isaiah's words mentioned earlier (24-6). Here the theme is one of darkness of natural light sources, a preparation for Christ as light of the world. As verse 27 relates, Christ will gather his elect "from the four corners of the earth to the ends of heaven." The "in-haling"

motion is opposed to commissioning of the Gospel to be preached, Matthew 28.19 and the Second Coming of Christ, Acts 1.11. Thus to better appreciate how this will come about, it is necessary to study how the Gospel extends outward or "ex-hales." This outward motion is represented by the master of the house departing (Mark 13.34). He follows the same route on his return as on his initial exit, only his return is the inverse side of the coin, so to speak.

* * *

According to John 16.13-14, the Holy Spirit who consists of five elements with respect to Father, Son and ourselves:

1) he will guide you into all truth

2) he speaks of what he hears

3) he proclaims what will come

4) he will glorify me

5) he will take from me and announce it to you

These five actions, rather, six (number 5 has two actions) create a unity which enables us to perceive the Holy Spirit: hearing and speaking, announcing the future, glorification, guidance into truth, a taking from Christ and announcing it. This last step may be considered as the Spirit interpreting his relationship to Christ as second divine Person of the Trinity and then passing it onannouncing itto us.

The region of activity in which the Holy Spirit operates may be divided into two pairs as follows:

Father <--> Son and Holy Spirit --> Holy Spirit and Humanity

(Trinitarian) (Economic)

1) guides you

2) hears* 3) speaks what he hears*

5) glorifies Christ 4) announces the future

6) takes of Christ* 7) announces this to you*

The two pairs represented by asterisks participate on each side of the Son and Holy Spirit, as it were, as indicated by the directional lines above (each forms a unity, thereby giving five elements). The other three elements belong to their respective sides and "are not" related to each other. The numbers show the sequence in which the elements are recounted in John 16.13-15. Note that between Father, Son and Holy Spirit the arrow goes two ways, that is, it shows the mutual interaction between all three Persons as equals. But there is a one-way arrow between the Son and Holy Spirit and the Spirit and humanity which shows the bestowal or "economy" of grace to another person who is not on the same plane as God.

The Holy Spirit communicates to us his "hearing" and his "taking of Christ" as the pairs 5 and 4, 6 and 7 demonstrate. Thus we can perceive Trinitarian activity in terms of this hearing and taking. One is passive (hearing) and the other active (taking), so we must align ourselves by a similar hearing and taking with respect to the Spirit. This concurs with the hearing and taking of the Spirit regarding Christ:

Hear and Take (God): Spirit and Father, Son

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Hear and Take (Humanity): Spirit and Humanity

Here are two parallel realities existing side by side. The latter one (humanity) imitates by the former (God) on the two levels of hearing and taking as shown by the connecting arrows. One side of the diagram prior to the earlier one, the hearing, glorifying and taking are "female" or passive characteristics. Glorification lies in a sense in between as active in the sense of making Christ known. However, even this puts the agent, Spirit, in a passive role because his activity is directed towards the making known of Christ, another Person.

The vertical lines in the diagram just above regarding hearing/hearing and taking/taking are like two sets of mirrors which must be aligned with each other to create a perfect reflection. In this way humanity reflections the hearing/hearing and taking/taking between itself and the Holy Spirit which is, in turn, another immediate reflection of the Holy Spirit between Father and Son.

* * *

Luke 2.49: "And he said to them, 'How is it that you sought me? did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?'" Note that the Greek here reads en tois tou patros mou with the indefinite tois ("things") and lacks a transitive verb; emphasis is upon the relationship between Father and Son (masculine).

Compare verse 49 with verse 51: "And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart." Here we have a transitive verb, "keep" (diatereo); emphasis is upon doing the "things" (ta rhemata). This shows the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary (feminine). Verse 51 has precedents regarding Mary's "kinship" with the (feminine) Holy Spirit,1.35, where it overshadows her.

With verses 49 and 51 thus clarified, we may contrast them by the following diagram:

Masculine (verse 49) Feminine (verse 51)

Father and Son Holy Spirit and Mary

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en tois <-- Mirror/Reflection --> ta rhemata

(Mary's action of "keeping", diatereo)

* * *

Hebrews 12.3: "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." The Greek verb for "consider" is analogizomai which suggests paying close attention or making a comparison, and from it we derive the word "analogy." We may thus interpret this verse as saying that a comparison is to be made between Christ's patience and resistance by sinners.

Compare this verse with Romans 12.6: "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith." Again, we have the notion of comparison with respect to spiritual gifts for Christ's body, verse 5. This reference to the body further clarifies the role of anologia where various members balance out, as it were, each other in a proportionate fashion to make up the body. When Paul speaks earlier (verse 1) of our bodies as living sacrifices, he could imply that awareness of anologia regarding one's bodily members are to maintain a balance. Thus the verb metamorphomai in verse 2 ("do not be conformed to this world") can apply to awareness of the form as implied by the verb and manifested by analogia, the body's members in balance.

In the description of the body, Paul maintains this balance between it as a whole and the individual members: "For the body does not consist of one member but of many" (1Corinthians 12.14). Each member partakes of both its own self-consciousness and that of the whole. Only the body imparts self-awareness to each member, and only each member imparts self-awareness to the body. Note the identity between these two aspects, verse 27: "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

* * *

John 3.13: "No one has gone up to heaven except him who has come down from heaven, the Son of man." Compare this reference to the ascent recounted in Romans 10.6 and 7 which quotes from Deuteronomy 9.4; 30.12-14 concerning the question of who will and ascend into heaven and descend into the abyss. Note that the Deuteronomy text (verse 4) draws a horizontal line to counter or balance the vertical one: "But the word is very near you." From the point of view of this word, one can witness both the ascent and descent of Christ as he passes through this axis. Paul continues to speak of this nearness in verse 9: "you will be saved." That is, salvation consists in positioning oneself within the ascent-descent line which yields this nearness mentioned in the Deuteronomy text.

In other places I have cited the role of Matthias who was chosen to take Judas' place as the twelfth apostle. As Acts 1.22 says, Matthias must be a witness to the resurrection, that is, one familiar with Christ's descent (incarnation) and ascent (ascension). Note that this vertical imagery is preceded by familiarity with horizontal movement: "So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us" (verse 21). This "in" and "out" movement occurs within chronos, "secular" time, not kairos, "sacred" time, the latter which applies to that "nearness" spoken of in Romans 10.8.

* * *

John 14.26: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." The Spirit will remind in the literal sense of the verb used here, hupomimnesko, stand-under-the-memory with regard to what Christ had taught. That is, the Holy Spirit takes the place of memory, that faculty which is responsible for giving meaning to so much of our lives. It is as though the memory is substituted for the person of Christ who is activated by the Holy Spirit.

* * *

Matthew 1.20: "But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'" Such "considering" implies a deep laying hold of by Joseph followed by a sudden "behold" by the angel. The angel (unidentified) communicates two things: to marry Mary and to call his son Jesus. The narrative (verse 22-3) interprets this message in light of Isaiah 7.14 and 8.8. Note that the angel says "you will call" and Isaiah 7.14 has "they will call," that is, the interplay between Joseph and scripture. It is as though the collective "they" of tradition exerts itself through the individuality of Joseph who is directly responsible for the upbringing of the child Jesus.

* * *

Genesis 3.8: "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." Adam and Eve heard the sound of God, not especially his voice. One point to be considered with regard to our first parents is their forgetfulness of God, a direct result of the serpent's temptation. Previous to the intervention of the serpent they could always hear God's sound. It seems that this sound was always present in the garden, yet once Adam and Eve became aware of it after being deceived the serpent, they became fearful or self-conscious of their nakedness.

* * *

Psalm 27.4: "One thing I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." The psalmist desires one thing. However, this single request involved a seeking after which is three-fold: dwell, behold, inquire. It precedes from a general request to that which is more specific. "Dwelling" provides an orientation opposite, for example, to standing and motion extended on the horizontal plane. Once this important initial stage has been established, we move on to an activity not involving motion, "to behold." But even before this, the tense of "seek after" is future while sh'al in the past tense. Furthermore, "dwell" lacks the letter l ("to") prefixed to it as in lechazoth and levaqar which is more directional by nature. It is as though this directionality were transformed from place-to-place movement to a reality which lacks reference. The "dwelling" seems necessary for the dual l, "behold" and "inquire." Actually, the "one thing" ('echath) refers to "dwelling" since the beholding and inquiring flow naturally from it. Vaqar lacks an object of regard whereas chazoth has the Lord's "beauty." The verb vaqar means "to cleave open, inquire;" boqer means "morning, dawn."

Regarding the two words with the preposition l to it: first comes "seeing" and then "inquiring." At first you would think the situation to be opposite, inquire and then see. Rather, seeing (the active verb) leads to a deeper inquiring (the active verb). Levaqar also does not have an object of its regard, whereas lechazoth does have one "beauty."

* * *

"The most stupendous scenery ceases to be sublime when it becomes distinct, or in other words limited, and the imagination is no longer encouraged to exaggerate it." Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers (New York; no date given for the edition quoted), chapter entitled "Tuesday," p.172. Such an observation can be applied to the practice of lectio divina which necessitates the use of our imaginations. When this faculty becomes dried up, the Holy Spirit's inspiration cannot speak to us. Thus essential to lectio is the proper cultivation of our imaginative faculty which can be more difficult than we initially think because the all-pervasive nature of modern communication deadens us to being sensitive with regard to spiritual realities.

* * *

An outline of Ephesians 1.17-23:

God the Father might give you (two parts of Spirit):

Spirit of wisdom

Spirit of revelation

in knowledge of Christ: function of Spirit

Having enlightened your eyes to know (Father's function with Spirit). The following are three parts of knowledge worked by the Father and Spirit on our behalf:

the hope of your called

the wealth of the glory of your inheritance

the greatness of his strength

The following outlines the four parts which the Father worked in Christ:

he raised him

seated him at his right hand

put all things under his feet

gave him as head over all the church, his body

* * *

The following is an extended excerpt from De Natura Amoris by William of St. Thierry, taken from Patrologia Latina, J.P. Migne, #84.399. I have cited it at some length because the spiritual sense of taste plays an important role in Cistercian spirituality:

"1) There is a sense of taste created in and for us in Christ by the Spirit who teaches us how to read; in the given case, how to read the Holy Scriptures, by enabling us to delve deeper than the written page, down to those depths where the secrets of God reside.

"(Note: It was this same Spirit of Love which presided at the composition of the Scriptures and at their interpretation He now creates for us and in us (facit nobis) a sense adapted both to this intimate perusal of the Holy Books as well as to the contact with the God of one's desiring. All of that, besides, is brought about in Christo.

"It is the creation of this taste which, in the account of the apparition of the Lord to the disciples after his resurrection, introduces the remark of the Evangelist: At that moment he opened for (in) them the meaning of the penetrating reading of the Scriptures.

"2) When the deep meaning of the Scriptures and the power of the divine mysteries and secrets begin not only to come clear to us between the lines, so to speak, but even more when we begin 'to palpitate' them, to manipulate them with a hand that has, as it were, become shaped to do this by a kind of experience.

"3) (which can only be done with the help of a certain sense organ grafted upon the very heart of one's faculty of knowing, and by a certain training deriving from experience in reading between the lines and even, to push this further, which by the same all-powerful goodness the work of grace operates with efficacious energy in the sons of grace).

"4) Then and only then wisdom completes the work which is its own proper one; then, by placing upon them the seal of the goodness of God, this wisdom puts its mark upon and makes firm all our quieted faculties rendered malleable by this unction; all hardness, all stiffness that it has found in them it repels and dispels until, in the gladness newly found in the salvation of God, in the strength received from the sovereign spirit of wisdom, the holy soul joyful directs this cry to God: 'the light of your countenance, Lord, is imprinted upon me; you have made your joyful gladness come to birth in our hearts.

"5) And the Lord replies: 'Eternal life is that they should know you by experience, you, the only true God, you and the one whom you have sent, Christ Jesus. O blessed science, which contains eternal life! This life derives from the sense of taste, for tasting means to perceive and to understand in depth."

Charles Dumontier (St. Bernard et la Bible, Paris, 1953) comments on this passage as follows:

"1) There exists in the intimate recesses of the soul, a sense of taste directed to the penetration and to the interpretation of the Scriptures.

"2) This penetrating interpretation of the Scriptures is accompanied by a felt experience of their profound content which could if we wish be assimilated to the sense of touch.

"3) Such an experience evidently supposes a sense organ which is appropriate, adapted that is to immediate contact on the one hand with the center of the soul where, besides, this 'organ' is to be as it were grafted, and on the other hand with the goodness of God and his operations in the soul.

"4) This felt experience sets in action an intervention of wisdom to consolidate by its own proper means the results already achieved and to crown these with gladness.

"5) This crowing experience, this gladness, contains within itself a foretaste of eternal life. It is indeed the sense of taste which, by inviting one to an ever deeper interpretation of the Bible, engenders this life."

* * *

Some Notes on Ephesians 1.20: "'(His power) which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places."

This verse implies reference to Psalm 110.1, "Sit at my right hand." Such "sitting" implies a making firm, an establishing which refers to Christ and is a knowledge (epignosis, 1.18) implying a very intense beholding or awareness that one is being beheld. This "sitting" is "above every name that is named" (verse 21). Therefore when we engage in "sitting," we are able to perceive the Father.

Relate Ephesians 1.20 to Colossians 1.15-17 where Paul calls Christ the "first born of all creation," Hebrews 1.3, "splendor of his glory" who is "in the bosom of the Father" (John 1.18). "Bosom" or kolpos equals breast or womb, a hollow place as in koilados of Song 2.1.

The "stamp" or charakter of Hebrews 1.3 implies an exact image, and hupostasis, "substance," literally means a standing under, substance, foundation. Realization of this "stamp" is available to everyone due to Christ being "the light who enlightens every man" (John 1.9). Here "light" equals the "radiance" (apaugasma) of Hebrews 1.3, sometimes translated "reflects."

A more developed awareness can be shown in light of Wisdom 7.25: "For she (wisdom) is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty." This "glory" may be compared with the apaugasma of Hebrews 1.3. All Wisdom's attributes (7.22-7) are related to transcendence, that hupoballo of Ephesians 1.19. Returning to this passage, note that is the "hope of his calling" (verse 18). An intuition of God's inner life is hinted, Trinitarian life. The Father "calls" the Son eternally which results in a pouring out of the Son to which the adjectives Wisdom 7.22-7 apply.

It is interesting to further trace back apaugasma of Hebrews 1.3 and tie it in with the Hebrew word kavod, "glory" which means "to be heavy." Now Song 1.3 says "Your name is as ointment poured out." Myrrh is poured out due to its heaviness. A drop starts from an amorphous ground, becomes heavy and assumes form by weight due to gravitational pull.

A use of kavod as "glory" is in Isaiah 6.3: "the entire earth is full of his glory." A comparison of glory with a raindrop may be applied here where kavod fills the earth as rain because it is heavy and must fall.

* * *

An outline of 1Peter 1.10-12:

-The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation.

-They inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.

-It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Pervading these verses is a definite sense of mystery, an intense longing, with which we can all identify. We can make a parallel between their "searching" and "inquiring" and our practice of lectio divina. Note the passive form of the verb, "it was revealed to them;" in other words, the revelation these prophets had received was dependent upon a certain vague yet real sense that they were "serving" generations unborn, that is, those who have the full revelation of Jesus Christ. Even the angels were unsuspecting of this revelation for they too "longed to look."

Thus the section from 1Peter may be distilled into the following verbs of action:

-to prophesy

-to search

-to inquire

-to reveal

-to long for

* * *