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The Catholic Hour with Joe Hollcraft |
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Christ: Christos (Gk.): meaning “the Anointed one” . It translates the Hebrew word for Messiah. “Christ became the name proper to Jesus because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission of priest, prophet, and King, signified by his anointing as messiah” (CCC 436). Christ can be found 354 times in Sacred Scripture, all of which are in the New Testament. Following suit to the threefold office that Christ carries with him as priest, prophet, and king, let us consider the Old Testament vision to the ‘anointed' King. We find in the OT writings the rite of being anointed with oil within the respective ministries of the priest (Ex.29:7; Lev.8:12), Prophet (Ps.105:15), and king (2 Sam.2:4; 1 kings 1:34). In turn, it was anticipated that the coming of the Messiah would be the flesh incarnation of this threefold office. In addition, “the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him bringing glad tidings for the poor” (Is.61:1). The Messiah was linked with the son of David (Is.11:1), he who would be the future Christ, born in the town of Bethlehem (Mic.5:2). The Messiah would restore the fallen Kingdom of David and bring with it justice and peace (Hahn and Minch , 61). The Messiah is the Christ who has come to establish a new order of grace pouring out upon all the baptized the priestly, prophetic office of kingship. This is our inheritance we have received in Baptism (Rom.8:17), which is an inheritance of all things (Col.1:16; Heb.1:2). I cannot begin to summarize and recapture the many themes surrounding this great title that belongs to Jesus in the NT. I would like to draw your attention to only a few. First, the symbolism and significance of a name in the stream of Jewish consciousness. In times of Jewish antiquity we see that a name was more than a name pulled out of a hat or a name selected because it was your favorite character from a movie or book, rather it was your identity, a vocation to be actualized with relationship to the community. We see this in the numerous name changes seen throughout salvation history. Therefore, Jesus called ‘the Christ' was paramount in relationship to his own priestly-king vocation. He would bring to climax his ‘anointing' as the Lamb of God (one of numerous title-names he had received in Scripture) upon the cross; the anointing we participate every time we receive him in the Mass. Second, with Christ we have become a new creation. Cardinal Schonborn, in his article The Impression of the Figure: To Know Jesus Christ , found in the biblical Journal Letter and Spirit highlights becoming a new man in Christ (2 Cor.4:6) to be a dominant motif in Paul's scholarship. Paul echoes that his own conversion was similar to that of the light shining in the darkness (Gen.1:3). Ultimately, Paul reconciles that his encounter with Christ's light “ makes all seeing possible” (Schonborn, 18). Being Christian is to be in relationship with God; understanding the deepest wishes of Christ, the ‘anointed' one. Our filial adoption with God graces us with the vision to keep the beatitudes within our hearts in every discerning pronouncement of our conscience. It makes possible to keeps us in covenant relationship with the life of the Trinity, where we participate in the divine nature of God (2 Pet.1:4). The Messiah coming to us as Christ is the Creator coming to us to as Father who brings the anointing of a new spiritual family (1 Tim.3:15). God fathers so that we might understand true love as children of God (1 Jn.3:1). “The revelation of Jesus as the Christ is the revelation of fulfillment.” --Anonymous Primary Texts Consulted • Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. The Catholic Hour Home Page |
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