Behold The Pierced One by Pope Benedict Xvi

Author:Pope Benedict Xvi [XVI, Pope Benedict]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Catholicism
ISBN: 9780898700879
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2011-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

3. The secular roots of the concept κοινωνία and what they imply in terms of the new Christian reality

a. The transformation of the secular meaning in Luke’s Gospel

Human words, at least the great fundamental words, always carry with them a whole history of human experiences, human questionings, understandings and the sufferings wrought by reality. The great watchwords of the Bible draw mankind’s basic experience, in acceptance and rejection, into the process of revelation. In order to understand the Bible properly, therefore, we must always go back to the historical experience preserved in its words. With this in mind, let us endeavor to appreciate the historical burden of the concept of κοινωνία.

We discern an initial, secular significance of the word in a passage in Luke’s Gospel which illuminates the beginnings of the reality which we call Church. I refer to the first eleven verses of chapter 5, where the Evangelist narrates the calling of the first disciples in a scene of incomparable beauty. After a night in which the fishermen had toiled in vain on the Lake of Gennesareth, the new morning dawns together with the dawning Gospel, and the Lord bestows on them a superabundant catch of fish and calls Peter and his companions to become fishers of men. In the Fourth Gospel this scene will be repeated after the Resurrection (Jn 21:1-14)—after Peter’s denial, and then it will contain a definitive mission to go out onto the vast ocean of the whole world.

I think it very significant that our word occurs in this scene of Luke’s, which is like a vision of what is to come: James and John are referred to as κοινωνοί of Simon (v. 10), which is translated inadequately as “partners”—obliterating the associations of the word which particularly interest us. The three men, whose fellowship (as we saw) will be continued in the “pillars” of the Letter to the Galatians, are there at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and form a “commune”. It is clear that the word at this point has no theological connotation; it is used as a generally current term for fellow tradesmen. James and John are Simon’s “associates”, “partners” in fishing; the three of them are in “partnership”. They are joint owners of a small business, with Simon in overall charge.8 Here, then, is the original, secular sense of the word, which will remain important for an understanding of its new religious sense: κοινωνία implies common property, working together, shared values. In Jesus’ “Henceforth you will be catching men”, Simon’s erstwhile trade becomes an allegory of his future vocation. Similarly the fishing partnership becomes a sign of the new “partnership”, the new communio. Christians will be the “company of the tiny bark of the Church”, one in their calling by Jesus, one by the miracle of grace which harvests the wealth of the sea after nights of hopelessness. Since they are one in grace, they will also be one in their mission, which is itself grace.

The ancient Church, in reflecting on

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.