God and the World: Believing and Living in Our Time by Peter Seewald & Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Author:Peter Seewald & Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [Seewald, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898708684
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2002-08-01T05:00:00+00:00

One time, when Jesus was among the Gentiles in the neighborhood of the cities of Tyre and Sidon, he was unwilling either to teach or to work miracles. Even when a mother absolutely implored him to heal her daughter, who was being horribly tortured by an evil spirit, Jesus brusquely rejected her: “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

One of the characteristic features of the life of Jesus is that he himself does not embark on the mission to the Gentiles. Not until after his Resurrection does he entrust his disciples with this mission. First of all Israel, we might say, takes priority. This is the people chosen by God, the point at which God decides to start work. And so Jesus keeps to this prerogative that Israel holds in the history of salvation. In his earthly life, Jesus engages in a struggle for the heart of Israel; he struggles to get Israel as such to recognize him as the Promised One and to unite with him so that, beginning from there, history can be transformed.

Paul, too, keeps to this scheme at first. Wherever he goes, he always starts his mission in the synagogue. Even when he comes to Rome, he first of all calls his Jewish compatriots together. And only when he fails to unite the fellowship of faith in Jesus with the history of faith in Israel does he then turn to the Gentiles. Paul himself, the one responsible for overcoming the hesitation in taking the great step, says that the message is first meant for Israel and then for the Gentiles.

Thus one of the rules of salvation history is being adhered to. God remains faithful to himself, and Jesus is faithful. Even if he does renew and transform the Jewish Law from within, he is not simply a rebel who wants to do everything differently, but acts on the basis of this inner faithfulness. Thus, the confirmation of God’s faithfulness removes any appearance of betrayal from the imperative transition to the Gentiles—and lets it appear, on the contrary, as part of the logic of his Resurrection, whereby in the final analysis the death of the grain of wheat becomes the transition into greatness and universality.

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.