John J. Kilgallen

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Each Gospel has its own way of presenting what each thought necessary to know about Jesus that John the Baptist was a witness to the identity of Jesus nbsp John s witness was extremely powerful because John was so greatly admired by everyone nbsp Though he did not beco

The central point of the Magi story is clear gentiles treat Jesus as a king whereas all Jerusalem is greatly disturbed by news of a newly born King of the Jews the title currently held by Herod the Great as a gift from Rome nbsp One finds little openness to gentiles from Jesus in his publ

This O-antiphon explicitly looks to the universality of Jesus nbsp Thus King of the nations is a title which brings up the subject of the Gentiles within Jewish thinking nbsp A few brief remarks about this are in order First as Acts points out the acceptance of Gentiles into the Christian c

Because of the tender mercy of our God the Dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in the darkenss and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace Luke 1 78-79 nbsp In his famous Spirit-inspired hymn Zachary praises God first for sending a savior to His P

I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder when he opens no one shall shut when he shuts no one shall open nbsp Isaiah 22 22 nbsp The word of God through Isaiah promised a nbsp king nbsp to replace a nbsp monarch who ruled Israel badly nbsp The nbsp Christian tradition

Among all the grand titles we ascribe to Jesus perhaps root of Jesse is the least remarkable nbsp This title however serves to underline the humanness of Jesus he is born as one of many descendants in a history of generations of human beings nbsp As such root of Jesse forms part of that

Lord is the title given Jesus in the second antiphon nbsp before Christmas nbsp There are a number of times Jesus is called Lord in the Gospels and the New Testament nbsp Some scholars would like to read this title as honorific without reference to divinity and at times the title is used this

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp It is instructive to compare the reading from St Paul and the reading from St Matthew nbsp St Paul in Romans tersely describes the coming of Jesus his Son descended from David according to the flesh nbsp As for today s Gospel nbsp St Matthew tells nbsp gives

Beginning with December 17 and running through December 23 Evening Prayer of the breviary includes prayers that begin with O nbsp These are prayers or more specifically antiphons which indicate titles given to Jesus of Nazareth nbsp The first of these that of December 17 is O Wisdom nb

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp The Gospel today is what we know as Matthew 4 18-22 nbsp This is an account of Jesus call to Peter and Andrew on the one hand and to James and John on the other – all four to follow me nbsp There are two observations about this story which deserve some reflection