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Friday, December 24, 2004
Alipio: The fullness of time
By Fr. Jose Alipio
Lk 1:5-25
THE gospel according to Luke takes pains to show that the birth of Christ was no afterthought.
Everything happened according to God's timetable. The ground had been laid many centuries before the Messiah's birth. The Law and the Prophets of ancient Israel were given to point and prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
These two ancient Messianic traditions had existed side by side for well over a thousand years among the Jews. Often they complemented one another while at other times, they stood in sharp contrast to one another.
But those twin sources were brought together symbolically and literally in the miraculous birth of John. John was born into a priestly family and he became the greatest prophet. Thus, John marked the arrival in salvation history of the fullness of time.
The birth of Jesus came in the fullness of time. This notion of "the fullness of time" expresses a religious rather than a secular outlook on human history. In a secular outlook, things happen with no clear order or purpose.
Human life is full of surprises because no one is in control of human history. The good and the bad are equally the outcome of chance and circumstance. But in a Christian view of things, there is always some underlying rhyme or reason for what happens.
This is not to say that God controls historical events and human outcomes like a puppeteer controls his puppets. It simply means that God is never taken by surprise. He is never left without recourse. God weaves anything and everything that happens into a pattern of meaning and purpose. The times - good and bad - are always full of the presence of God.
(December 24, 2004 issue)
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