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GARDEN, STABLE AND CITY OF GOD (Part 2)
ACT OF FAITH1. Our meditation is called "Garden, Stable and the City of God" (Part 2). If you believe what Isaiah said—and it takes a profound act of faith—that “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots” [Isa 11:1], then you believe that God can and will overturn all natural laws, the spiritual order, the demands of his own justice and every human expectation to redeem our fallen race. 2. Recall the words of "Eucharistic Prayer IV" of the Mass: “Even when (man) disobeyed you and lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you.” [SACRAMENTARY EP IV p. 557] GIVING WAY3. As beautiful as it was, the Garden of Eden could be only a shadow, an ultimately imperfect and faint representation of something far, far greater to come: the infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger [cf. Lk 2:7]—“God from God, light from light, true God from true God” [SACRAMENTARY “Profession of Faith” p. 368]—who would establish God’s Kingdom in glory. [cf. Mt 25:31] For it was a far, far better thing for Christ to enter the suffering world to perfect it, than for Adam and Eve to be situated in the perfect Garden to complete it. 4. In part two of "Garden, Stable and the City of God", we will consider how the material world must give way to the spiritual world. Amazing as it is, that God as a helpless, innocent child came to redeem this helpless and guilty world, it's positively astonishing that God in Jesus Christ—“the way, and the truth, and the life” [Jn 14:6]—has prepared a place for us and will come again and take us to himself. [Jn 14:1-3] SCANDAL OF CROSS5. We will learn how the Garden of Eden (the sign of things past) and the stable of Bethlehem (the sign of things present) point to the heavenly city Jerusalem (the reality of our future), the crown jewel of the Kingdom of God. 6. You’ve heard people speak of the “scandal of the cross”. The words “scandal of the cross” are so easy to say but so very hard to understand and accept. The word “scandal” refers to the breakdown of confidence and trust, in a word disgrace. PICTURE OF SHAME7. Scandal is the disgraceful conduct of someone who represents God and religion. So when we speak of the “scandal of the cross”, we are speaking about disgrace. The cross is disgraceful; it is a sign of reproach; it is a picture of shame. But I must immediately make a clarification. Christians, whether they are weak or strong in faith, accept the “scandal of the cross”. They’re familiar with the words of scripture:
8. People who are not Christian, however, take offense at the “scandal of the cross”. If non-Christians don’t believe in God at all, they think the story of the cross is a worthless footnote of Roman history. They think the Garden of Eden and the Stable of Bethlehem are myths. For them, the cross is an embarrassment, even an offense. HUMANITY'S DREAM9. For non-Christians who do believe in some kind of God, however, the “scandal of the cross” is a stumbling block. [cf. 1Cor 1:23] They can understand the Garden of Eden but not the stable. They can understand heaven but not the cross. A true God would never take the form of a slave, or be tortured and die as a condemned criminal. How could God choose to die a disgraceful public death? Why would God choose to do such a disgusting thing? 10. If anything today, the Garden of Eden represents a dream, a dream of humanity for what was, for what could have been, for what was lost. The garden represents a kind of beauty and original innocence that is very far from the suffering, troubled world of today. It was a perfect world, and the first human beings whom we know as Adam and Eve were perfect as well. LONG SHADOWS11. When we say “perfect”, we mean that no sin or death was known in Eden, no aging, no hurting, no tears or sadness, no drudgery or fatiguing labor. The garden was the visible natural image of the invisible supernatural heaven. In short, it’s so easy to believe in the Garden of Eden because we want the best for ourselves. We want the best for our world. Who doesn't believe in "dreams come true"? 12. But look around you. Look around you objectively and realistically. Yes, the planet earth evidences extraordinary beauty. Humanity itself reveals men and women of goodwill everywhere. But personal reflections or feelings aside, what else do you see? Honestly, you see humanity brought down by sin and death. You see the long shadows of hatred and the darkness of war. PRESENT SITUATION13. Everywhere, people are hurting. Everywhere, there are tears and sadness. Everywhere, people toil in drudgery and fatiguing labor to keep their families going. Rudeness, incivility, selfishness, faithlessness, exhaustion and violent aggression and terror are everywhere. The world is weary of itself and yearns, in the words of St. Paul, to “be set free from its bondage to decay”. [Rom 8:21] No wonder, man looks back at Eden with indescribable longing and desire. 14. We have to be objective. We have to face reality. No account of man’s present situation is realistic unless it takes into account his dark past. Humanity cannot be saved by a dream, even the most powerful dream in the world. Humanity cannot be rescued by what was lost. A dream is not God. What was “lost” is not God. The Garden of Eden, for all that it represents, is useless to us now—a mirage in the desert. DARK BEAUTY15. We cannot resuscitate it, nor can we invent it anew. In spite of mankind’s power and self-satisfaction, in spite of all his wild speculation and ambitions, the hard reality remains that the Lord God “drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life”. [Gen 3:24] God barred man’s way back to the Garden, but it was man’s sin that concealed the Garden from his vision to this day. 16. With all this said, we cannot look to the past for the fulfillment of our hope. We must look to the present, in the dark beauty of the present age, to find our way. We begin by realizing that all human beings desire fulfillment, and they are searching for fulfillment. Moreover, all human beings share in common many of the same aspects of the search for fulfillment. ENTRUSTMENT17. No sin, not even the worst sort of sin, can obliterate completely the desire, the longing for goodness and human fulfillment. Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory, identified the single most important aspect uniting all human beings in their search. One thing, and one thing only stands out above all other things that can be said about humanity’s longing for ultimate happiness. Here are the pope’s words:
18. Who is the person to whom we may entrust ourserves? Very quickly we realize that this “person” must be God, a divine and supreme being “from whom all blessings flow” [cf. "Doxology"]: the blessings of human life, law and liberty, creation “seen and unseen” [SACRAMENTARY Profession of Faith “Nicene Creed” p. 368], order, love and human fulfillment. HUMAN AND DIVINE19. This “person” must also be a human being, a human being like us in all things, a human being like us in all things but sin. This person who is God, and possessing the fullness of the divine and human natures, must be the very excellence of the creaturely human and the very essence of the creator God. In summation, the human being who is incarnate of Mary must be “God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, (and) not made”. ["Nicene Creed"] 20. So considering that the person to whom man may entrust himself is spiritual and temporal, divine and human, God and man, where does a human being look? How may men and women of goodwill discover him in the spiritual realm? Again John Paul II offers us a marvelous insight, a profound truth:
CHRIST'S PEACE21. We cannot speak these wonderful words often enough: “Christian faith immerses human beings in the order of grace”! In these words of truth and hope, you hear the echo of your baptismal purification! All men and women of good will, who do not yet know Christ, hear in these words the hope of having Jesus wash away their sins! 22. Both Christian and non-Christian alike may perceive in these words the peace which only Christ can give. Who can hear the truth that “Christian faith immerses human beings in the order of grace” and not intuit the fulfillment of their hopes and dreams? The possibility of true freedom? The promise of “times of refreshing”? [Acts 3:19] FIND HIM23. So where in this material realm, in this troubled world when renewal and purification are desperately needed, may we look for the God who is human? How may men and women of goodwill discover the God-made-man in the world in which they live? Will we find him in a palace or a boardroom? Can he be found in a gated-community or on a yacht? 24. Perhaps, but he’ll only be passing through these privileged places. He will not make his home there. Rather, look for an orphan. You’ll find him there. Look for the widow. He’ll be there, too. Look for the poor, and you’ll find him. You won’t have to look very hard. Wherever good men and women “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow” [Isa 1:17], they will find him. GOOD NEWS25. For the God of heaven to be the saviour of the world, he had to become one like us. And to be the saviour of the whole world, he had to find us—all of us. To find us, he had to fall like us--even with us. He had to fall all the way, lest even one hopeful human being, however tiny his body and soul, would be left behind unwillingly. For God to be God and God to be Man, the good news of salvation would have to be so powerful, so strong, and yet so gentle and so tender, that it could reach the saddest soul, the hardest heart, the little lamb, the baby bird. 26. His name is Jesus, and we call him Lord. We call him Lord because he is a man like us, and he is God like the heavenly father. As Jesus, we know him as man. As Lord, we know him as God. The Lord Jesus:
WE REMEMBER27. And so the Son of God willingly fell for all of us, and his fall in love began when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a young woman named Mary and born in a lowly stable in Bethlehem of Judea, on a cold, clear night, with the magical star above and surrounded by the animals: “And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” [Lk 2:7] 28. Though born unclean in the sight of officials who cared about such things, his mother Mary cared for him as God. It staggers the human imagination when we think that the Son of God was born unclean and laid in a feed trough. It only begins to make sense when we remember that many years later the Lord Jesus, in a borrowed room, would take bread, bless it and break it, and give it to his disciples saying: “Take, eat; this is my body.” And then take a cup and bless it likewise, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” [Mt 26:26-28] BIRD NEST29. The Lord Jesus fell down for all of us, and his fall ended with profound suffering and disgrace in the “scandal of the cross”. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, so that not one of us would be left behind against his will. The Lord Jesus did not deserve to die, especially a scandalous death. But he died unclean for us who do deserve death because of our sins. And he was buried in a borrowed grave after the most perfect and most supreme act of faith the world has ever known: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” [Mt 23:46]:
30. So you see, the Garden of Eden was a place of natural light and warmth, a place of beauty and joy, but it was like a bird nest. Man fell out and down to the ground, to his toil and death. And it was there, on the cold hard ground, that the Lord Jesus—born in a stable—found man cowering in a cave, “a people robbed and plundered (in the words of Isaiah the prophet), they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, 'Restore!'" [Isa 42:22] WORD OF RECONCILIATION31. Surely the Lord Jesus confronted mankind’s greatest fear—that Christ the Son of the Living God, having found us, would leave us behind when he returned to heaven, that he would not take us with him to his heavenly Father. Knowing the Father’s plan and mindful of our anguish, the Lord Jesus whispers to all of us a word of reconciliation:
OUR FUTURE32. If the Garden of Eden is the sign of man’s past, and the Stable of Bethlehem is the sign of man’s present, where is our future? Where is the Father’s house? Where are its many rooms?
CAREFUL AIM33. You who have fallen in the garden of your hopes and dreams, if you stand on Jesus’ name and grasp Bethlehem’s stable like a bow to steady your trembling arms, take careful aim using the cross of Christ as your guide. Your spirit will visit the house of God in prayer, like an arrow seeks the heart of its target. You will see the Father’s great mansion and its uncounted rooms. For the house of the Father is glory, and the name of his holiness is “Glory!”
LIVING WOOD34. This city is the heavenly city Jerusalem. The one who makes all things new [cf. Rev 21:5] will cleanse and renew all of heaven and earth and destroy evil and its vile practitioners. Then the holy city—your city!—will come down “out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. [Rev 21:2] And on that day, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord in glory, you will hear:
35. God’s holy city, the glorious Eden of heaven and earth, will need no star to guide the pilgrim's way to the throne of grace, for “the Lord god will be (our) light”. [Rev 22:5] Nor will a cherubim angel be needed for God’s city to bar its gate or a “flaming sword (to turn) every way to guard the way to the tree of life”. [cf. Gen 3:24] For the Tree of Life standing at “the middle of the street of the city” will be the living Wood of the Cross “with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree (are) for the healing of the nations”. [Rev 22:2] GLORY OF GOD36. The visionary John writes:
SURRENDER TOTALLY37. The stable is a sign that the whole created order (e.g. straw, animals, earth, forest, stars, time itself ) will be healed. Are you visibly and forever changed by your encounter with the risen Christ? Go to Bethlehem and give gifts to the Son of David that are greater than those of the magi. Under the sign of gold, give the gift of your faith and reason! Hold nothing back! 38. Under the sign of frankincense, give Christ the gift of your prayer life, of your devotion, reverence, worship, adoration and love! Give child Jesus your humble submission. Don’t shrink back from serving the crown prince of a holy and royal household. Surrender totally to Jesus’ divinity and high priesthood for which he was found worthy on the cross. ABOVE ALL40. Under the sign of myrrh, give Christ the gift of your humility and meekness! Give him the gift of your humanity by dying to your old self and rising again to the new man in the Sacrament of Baptism! [cf. Rom 6:4-6] Give Christ the total gift of your true hope fed by his Divine Revelation and nourished by his promise of heavenly immortality! And above all, love the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. [cf. Mt 22:25-40]
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