Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)
Sacra theologia
44 ATTILA THORDAY ing to Matthew 2:6, Micah has named the place where the “ruler of Israel” is to be bom, whose “origin (...) goes back to ancient times” (Mic 5:1-5). Jeremiah promises a “righteous offspring” who will be the glory of Israel and the restorer of the nation. Ezekiel proclaims the Shepherd who will come as the new David to feed his people (Ezek 34:23f; i.e. 37:24f). Zechariah sees the exultant court of the Messiah-King marching into Jerusalem on the back of a humble animal as a harbinger of peace (Zech 9:9f). The fulfilment of the promise took a strange and astonishing form when God sent his angel to a Nazarean girl to ask her for her consent to fulfil his own promise. Mary’s unconditional ‘yes’, by faith, opened up a space in the relationship between God and man that allowed her people to receive God’s holiness in a way they had never hoped for.14 The realisation of the promise “I am with you”, which had been taking shape for centuries, enters a new phase when the ancient promise is embraced and becomes incarnate in Mary. In this encounter, too, we can discover the characteristics of God’s promises: on the one hand, the promise is always fulfilled, even if it has been preceded by centuries of waiting; on the other hand, the fulfilment takes an unexpected and astonishing form.15 Finally, like all God’s promises, it is for the benefit of his beloved creation, man. Moreover, through the coming of the Messiah, God has widened the circle of his chosen ones, not limited to the Jewish people, but “all who believe in him have eternal life” (i.e. Jn 6:47). VIII. Jesus Christ, the bearer of all promises God calls man to unceasing cooperation. In the example of Abraham and Mary, we have already seen what it means to follow the path of faith and to accept unconditionally the personal relationship that God offers to share his holiness with man. In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul, after speaking of the promise of blessing and of Abraham’s faith, points to the turning point in salvation history with these words: ‘When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, bom of a woman’ (Gal 4:4). Through Mary’s unconditional yes, God was able to fulfil His eternal plan to send His Son to humanity. The evangelist Matthew expressed the early Church’s conviction: “The word of the Lord, spoken through the prophet, has been fulfilled: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel’. This means: God is with us.” (Mt 1:23). God, who had so often demonstrated to His elect that He is with them, that He is for them, that He is their protector, that He is accompanying them on 14 de Taizé, J., L’aventure de la sainteté, 69-74. 15 von Rad, G., Theologie des alten Testaments, II. München 1960. 308.
