Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Hebrews 2:5-12
Jesus, Man's Brother, was Crowned with Glory and Honor
Above the Angels
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[5] For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. [6] It has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? [7] Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, [8] putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. [9] But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.
[10] For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. [11] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, [12] saying. "I will proclaim thy name to thy brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee."
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Commentary:
5-9. The saving dimension of the Incarnation is being explored here with the help of quotations from Psalm 2 and other psalms. Christians should stay true to Christ, because in addition to his being the cause and beginning of salvation he has been made Lord of the universe; everything is subject to him. God the Father, in other words, has established Christ--not the angels--as Lord of "the world to come".
God has put everything under Christ as man. The words of Psalm 8 are quoted as applying to Christ as man, for he is the perfection of manhood, the perfect man, and he merited being crowned with glory and honor because of his obedience, humility, and passion and death (cf. Phil 2:6-11; 1 Pet 2:21-25); even death itself has become subject to him (cf. 1 Cor 15:22-28). His enemies have been made his footstool (cf. Ps 8:6; 110:1; Mt 22:44); he will channel everything back to God, and God will be all in all.
5. "The world to come" was a term the Jews used to refer to the period immediately following the coming of the Messiah. The rabbis distinguished three periods in the history of the world--the "present world", the time when they were waiting for the Messiah; the "day of the Messiah", the point at which his kingdom would be established; and the "world to come", which would begin with the Resurrection of the dead and the judging of the nations. Many teachers of the Law tended to confuse the "world to come" in some way with the "day of the Messiah", which was its initial stage.
The author of the epistle seems to be saying that the government of the present world is entrusted by God to angels (cf. Deut 32:8; Dan 10: 13f), but that in the world to come that is, in the definitive Kingdom--God the Creator's original plan will be implemented: Christ, true God and true man, with his glorified manhood, will be the King of Creation and the holy angels and the blessed will reign with him. The "world to come", although it has begun with the Resurrection and glorification of Jesus, will not reach its fullness until the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Until then, there exists a tension between "this world" and the "world to come": the former has received a mortal wound but it is still alive; the latter has begun to exist but it has not yet attained its final full expression.
6. Psalm 8 is a hymn praising God for creating all things; particularly man, whom he has made master of all creation. The words of the Psalm quoted here are those which praise God's caring love, as shown by his making man, despite his limitations, lord of Creation.
However, the text of the epistle shows us that the words of the Psalm have a deeper meaning: they refer to Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:22) and particularly to his degradation. "Although these words can be applied to every man," St John Chrysostom comments "they do however most properly apply to Christ. For the words 'thou hast put everything in subjection under his feet' (v. 8) are more suitable to him than to us, for the Son of God visited us who were of no account and having taken and loved our condition, he became higher than us all" ("Hom. On Heb.", 4).
The author of Hebrews uses Psalm 8 to demonstrate Christ's superiority over angels by giving it a deeply messianic interpretation. Thus, the man "crowned with glory and honor" is the risen Christ, now seated at the right hand of the Father; and the one to whom everything has been subjected is also the same Christ (cf. 1:13), as St Paul proclaims in 1 Cor 15:27; Eph 1:22; Phil 3:21.
8. In keeping with its application to Christ of the words of Psalm 8: 4-6, the epistle says that God the Father has subjected everything to him. This does not mean that there is inequality or difference in power or nature between Father and Son, as if the Son himself were subject to the Father, and the Father had given him, as he would a subordinate, authority over the world. "Arius argued in this way," writes St Thomas: "the Father subjected everything to the Son; therefore, the Son is less than the Father. I reply that it is true that the Father subjected everything to the Son according to his human nature, in respect of which he is less than the Father, as St John says, 'the Father is greater than I' (14:28). But according to his divine nature, Christ himself subjected all things to himself" ("Commentary on Heb.", 2, 2).
Christ's dominion over the universe is something which men cannot see and it will not become manifest until his second coming as Lord and Judge of the living and the dead. "Christ, true God and true man, lives and reigns. He is the Lord of the universe. Everything that lives is kept in existence only through him. Why, then, does he not appear to us in all his glory? Because his kingdom is 'not of this world' (Jn 18:36), though it is in this world [...]. Those who expected the Messiah to have visible temporal power were mistaken. [...] When Christ began to preach on earth he did not put forward a political program. He said, 'Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand' (Mt 3:2; 4:17). He commissioned his disciples to proclaim this good news (cf. Lk 10:9) and he taught them to pray for the coming of the Kingdom (cf. Mt 6:10)" (St J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 180).
9. The words "who for a little while was made lower than the angels" refer to Jesus in the crisis of his Passion and Death, when he freely humbled himself and lowered himself to suffer punishment and death-- sufferings to which angels are not subject.
"For a little while" is a translation of the Greek word which the New Vulgate renders as "paulo minus" (a little less than), and which also occurs in Hebrews 2:7 in the quotation from Psalm 8. The RSV translation in both instances is "for a little while".
Every human creature, including Christ as man, can be seen in some sense as lower than the angels. This inferiority basically has to do with the fact that human knowledge is inferior to that of angels because it is dependent on sense experience, and also because angels cannot experience suffering and death. "The angels cannot suffer and are immortal by nature, so that when Christ deigned to submit to his passion and death he made himself lower than them, not because he lost his sublimity or in any way was diminished, but because he took on our weakness. He made himself lower than the angels, not as far as his divinity or his soul were concerned but only in respect of his body" ("Commentary on Heb.", 2, 2).
Christ's self-abasement is a permanent example to us to strive to respond to his love. St John Chrysostom suggests that we draw from it this practical lesson: "If he whom the angels worship consented, out of love for us, to become for a time lower than them, you for your part should endure everything out of love for him" ("Hom. on Heb.", 4).
One of the results of Christ's passion was his exaltation and glorification. Because Christ attained victory on the Cross, to the benefit of all mankind, the Cross is the only route to heaven: "The holy cross is shining upon us", the Church says. "In the cross is victory, in the cross is power. By the cross every sin is overcome" ("Liturgy of the Hours", Exaltation of the Cross, Morning Prayer, Ant. 3). But virtue of Christ's passion, the Cross is no longer an ignominious scaffold; it is a glorious throne. Tradition attributes to St Andrew the Apostle these words in praise of the cross on which he was going to die: "O goodly Cross, glorified by the limbs of our Lord, O Cross so long desired, so ardently loved, so tirelessly sought and now offered to me: take me to my Master so that he who redeemed me through thee, may welcome me through thee" ("Ex Passione S. Andreae", Reading).
Through his death, Christ has been crowned with glory and honor; moreover he has died on our behalf. His death and glorification are the cause and model of our salvation and glorification. Sacrifice, atonement and merit are indissolubly linked to the redemptive work of Christ and constitute a "grace of God", that is, a gratuitous gift from God. St Thomas Aquinas explains that "the passion of Christ is here alluded to in three ways. Firstly, its cause is referred to, for the text says 'by the grace of God'; then, its usefulness, when it says 'for every one'; thirdly, its outcome, when it says 'might taste"' ("Commentary on Heb.", 2, 3): Jesus did indeed, by the will of the Father, experience or "taste" death. His death is described as being like a bitter drink which he chose to take in sips, as if savoring it. The "cup" or chalice of the agony in the garden comes immediately to mind (cf. Mt 26:39; Mk 14:26; Lk 22:42; In 18:11; cf. also Mt 20:22f and Mk 10:38f).
Christian tradition has seen these words about "tasting death" as underlining that Christ underwent a most severe passion voluntarily, accepting it to atone for all the sins of mankind. These words also show that he accepted death without ceasing to be Lord of life: "This expression", St John Chrysostom states, "is very precise. It does not say 'that by the grace of God he might die', for the Lord once he tasted death delayed there only for a moment and immediately rose [...]. All men fear death; therefore, to enable us to take death in our stride, he tasted death even though it was not necessary for him to do so" ("Hom. on Heb.", 4).
10. After pointing to the results of Christ's death, the text stresses how appropriate it was that he should be abased in this way: he had to make himself in every way like his brethren in order to help them.
God the Father, who is the beginning and end of all things, desired to bring men to glory by means of his Son. Christ was to be the author of their salvation and therefore it was fitting that he should be made perfect through suffering. The Father made his Son "perfect" in the sense that by becoming man and therefore being able to suffer and die, he was fully equipped to be mankind's representative. "God has acted in a manner in keeping with his kindness towards us: he has clothed his first-born in a glory greater than that of all mankind and made him outstanding as a champion. Suffering is, therefore, a way to attain perfection and a source of salvation" ("Hom. on Heb.", 4). By perfectly obeying his Father, offering his life and especially his passion and death, Christ offers a perfect and superabundant sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind and makes full atonement to the Father. As a reward for his obedience, Christ, as man, is made Head of the Church and King of the universe. It is in that sense that he is made "perfect" by the Father.
Ever since the Redemption, human suffering has become a way to perfection: it acts as expiation for personal sins, it spurs man to assert his spiritual and transcendental dimension, it makes for solidarity with others and links man to Christ's sacrifice. "Suffering must serve for conversion, that is, for the rebuilding of goodness in the subject, who can recognize the divine mercy in this call to repentance [...] . But in order to perceive the true answer to the 'why' of suffering, we must look to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists [...]. Christ causes us to enter into the mystery and to discover the 'why' of suffering, as far as we are capable of grasping the sublimity of divine love" (John Paul II, "Salvifici Doloris", 12-13).
11. To accomplish the salvation of men Christ needed to be one of them --to share, with them, a human nature. This is why Christ is the only "true sanctifier", that is, the priest who performs rites and sacrifices, taking things stained by sin and making them pure and pleasing to God, that is, holy. Our Lord said something similar in the Gospel: "For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth" (In 17:19).
"Have all one origin". Various interpretations have been given to these words. Most have to do with the parallelism between the first man and Christ (cf. Acts 17:26; Rom 5:15-19), seeing this "origin" as Adam—in which case the text would mean that Christ and other men are children of Adam. A more usual interpretation sees the "one" origin as being God, thus stressing that Christ's holy humanity and the humanity of men both stem from the one Creator and derive from the first man. In either case, Christ and the rest of men can rightly be called "brethren". "As to his divine generation he has no brethren or co-heirs, being the only-begotten Son of the Father, while we mortals are the work of his hands. But if we consider his birth as man, he not only calls many by the name of brethren, but treats them as such, since he admits them to share with him the glory of his paternal inheritance" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 3, 10).
12. Psalm 22, which begins with the words, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?", speaks of the sufferings and exaltation of the Messiah, as perfect Servant of Yahweh. Christ prayed this psalm on the Cross, applying it to himself and thereby revealing it to be a prophecy of his passion (cf. Mt 27:35, 46; Mk 15:34). For this reason it is a psalm which is highly revered and much used by Christian tradition. It had a special place in divine services in the synagogue and is used by the Church in the liturgical ceremonies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
The Servant of Yahweh, after being freed by God from the suffering and abuse inflicted on him, expresses his gratitude to his liberator. That is why he wishes to "proclaim", that is, extol the name of Yahweh before the faithful who meet in the congregation and whom he calls "brethren". The evangelists see this psalm as being fulfilled in our Lord's passion (cf. Mt 27:35 and In 19:23-24 compared with Ps 22:18). But in Hebrews 2:12 other words of the same Psalm (Ps 22:23) are applied not so much to our Lord's passion as to Christ's revelation of the Father: he proclaims the name of the true God, that is, his inner life, his mercy and power. This passage of Hebrews echoes the words of Jesus in John 17:6, 26: "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they are, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word [...]. I have made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
Jesus in the Synagogue of Capernaum
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[21] And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. [22] And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. [23] And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; [24] and he cried out, "What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God." [25] But Jesus rebuked him saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" [26] And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. [27] And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." [28] And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
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Commentary:
21. "Synagogue" means meeting, assembly, community. It was—and is--used by the Jews to describe the place where they met to hear the Scriptures read, and to pray. Synagogues seem to have originated in the social gatherings of the Jews during their exile in Babylon, but this phenomenon did not spread until much later. In our Lord's time there were synagogues, in Palestine, in every city and town of any importance; and, outside Palestine, wherever the Jewish community was large enough. The synagogue consisted mainly of a rectangular room built in such a way that those attending were facing Jerusalem when seated. There was a rostrum or pulpit from which Sacred Scripture was read and explained.
22. Here we can see how Jesus showed His authority to teach. Even when He took Scripture as His basis--as in the Sermon on the Mount--He was different from other teachers, for He spoke in His own name: "But I say to you" (Matthew 7:28-29). Our Lord speaks about the mysteries of God, and about human relationships; He teaches in a simple and authoritative way because He speaks of what He knows and testifies to what He has seen (John 3:11). The scribes also taught the people, St. Bede comments, about what is written in Moses and the prophets; but Jesus preached to them as God and Lord of Moses himself (St. Bede, "In Marci Evangelium Expositio"). Moreover, first He does and then He preaches (Acts 1:1)--not like the scribes who teach and do not do (Matthew 23:1-5).
23-26. The Gospels give us many accounts of miraculous cures, among the most outstanding of which are those of people possessed by the devil. Victory over the unclean spirit, as the devil is usually described, is a clear sign that God's salvation has come: by overcoming the Evil One, Jesus shows that He is the Messiah, the Savior, more powerful than the demons: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out" (John 12:31). Throughout the Gospel we see many accounts of this continuous and successful struggle of our Lord against the devil.
As time goes on the devil's opposition to Jesus becomes ever clearer; in the wilderness it is hidden and subtle; it is noticeable and violent in the case of possessed people; and radical and total during the Passion, the devil's "hour and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). And Jesus' victory also becomes ever clearer, until He triumphs completely by rising from the dead.
The devil is called unclean, St. John Chrysostom says, because of his impiety and withdrawal from God. In some ways he does recognize Christ's holiness, but this knowledge is not accompanied by charity. In addition to the historical fact of this cure, we can also see, in this possessed man, those sinners who must be converted to God and freed from the slavery to sin and the devil. They may have to struggle for a long time but victory will come: the Evil One is powerless against Christ (cf. note on Matthew 12:22-24).
27. The same authority that Jesus showed in His teaching (1:22) is now to be seen in His actions. His will is His command: He has no need of long prayers or incantations. Jesus' words and actions already have a divine power which provokes wonder and fear in those who hear and see Him.
Jesus continues to impress people in this way (Mark 2:12; 5:20-42; 7:37; 15:39; Luke 19:48; John 7:46). Jesus of Nazareth is the long-awaited Savior. He knows this Himself and He lets it be known by His actions and by His words; according to the gospel accounts (Mark 1:38-39; 2:10-11; 4:39) there is complete continuity and consistency between what He says and He does. As Vatican II teaches ("Dei Verbum", 2) Revelation is realized by deeds and words intimately connected with each other: the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them; the deeds confirm the teaching. In this way Jesus progressively reveals the mystery of His Person: first the people sense His exceptional authority; later on, the Apostles, enlightened by God's grace, recognize the deepest source of this authority: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).