Monday of Sexagesima

28 January 2008

Genesis 49:1–2, 8–13, 21–26

In Nomine Iesu

The incarnation of our Lord changes everything. When the Word became flesh, when he became man to dwell among men, when he suffered and died on the cross, when he rose again and ascended to the Father to fill all things all things were made new. All things found their completion, their fulfillment, their purpose, their finality with this event, and with it that which was hidden was revealed. For the crucified and risen man Jesus is the key to unlock the Scriptures, and only with this key in hand, only with him in mind, do we rightly understand them.

Jacob’s blessings are more than blessings; they are prophecies, foretellings of the things to come in the last days (Gen 49:1 LXX). Blessings are concerned with someone who is blessed, and prophecies are fulfilled when certain actions are accomplished. So the blessings fall upon the one who was born from Judah, on the one who was prefigured by Joseph, on the one who, coming from Levi, finds himself as the priest of the Father. The prophecies bear witness to him who comes in the last days to fulfill and fill all things.

And so it is that in the man Jesus, Judah’s name has meaning. For Jesus is the praise and glory of the Father. He was praised, glorified, when he was lifted up on the cross and with outstretched hands overcame his enemies with their own weapon. He, too, is the praise of his brothers, the apostles, whose praise is found in their confession and preaching of his name to the ends of the earth. They preached Christ crucified, they preached him who like a bunch of grapes hung from the vine-like tree of the cross to shed his blood for the redemption of the world. This blood takes away sin, but in so doing, it also gives life for it is the very blood that is poured out into all the chalices of Christendom: blood shed from the cross into your mouths.

In like manner, too, Joseph’s name has meaning in the man Jesus. His name cries out for the Lord to increase. And in him, in Jesus this has been fulfilled as John proclaimed: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” And he does for his grace has no limit, just as the Word of the Lord grows and the church multiplies and is blessed in him. He is the blessing of the Virgin Mary, his mother. He is the good word spoken to her by the angel, through which he is conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of her womb. He is the blessing of his Father. He is the good Word uttered in the Father’s heart for he is in the bosom of the Father. And you, too, therefore are blessed in him. You prevail by reason of this womb and breast for you are born of the Word in the womb of your Mother the Church in Holy Baptism and are given nourishment at her breast in the pure spiritual milk of the Word.

And so by a series of blessings given and prophecies fulfilled, your names, too, have meaning in Jesus. You are, like unto Judah, the object of praise: “Well done my good and faithful servant.” And, like Joseph, you increase in faith and love, and your names are added to the book of life. You are Christians, that is you are those who are in Christ, those who bear his name in the form of a cross upon your forehead and upon your hearts to mark you as the redeemed by him. Jesus Christ has fulfilled all things and fills all things. All things, likewise, are yours because you belong to him. Amen.