Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi
Title of Series: "What's the Word? Dei Verbum 40 Years Later"

"The Old Testament: Always Old, Always New"

Session 5 - February 4th, 2005

Welcome to the first gathering on First Friday for 2005! Thank you for your continued presence. We continue our reflections this morning on that great document of the Vatican Council Dei Verbum (The Word of God)--the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. This morning's reflection is the first of two meditations on scripture. Today is Chapter IV on the Old Testament and our March reflection is on the New Testament (Chapter V).

I have entitled this meditation "The Old Testament: Always Old, Always New." It is important to know at the outset that the Council's treatment of the Old Testament was not merely as a collection of books (46 books; 45 books if Jeremiah and Lamentations are treated as one) but instead as a series of events in God's plan or economy of salvation. Dei Verbum highlights the intervention of God in salvation history, a God who reveals Himself continually and gradually, in "words and deeds," a God who continues to communicate Himself, and His love, to you and me as we ponder the Old Testament in our day. The Old Testament is not a dead letter. It is a part of the living Word of God. It is a continual part of our prayer and worship lives.

Article 14--The History of Salvation in the Old Testament

In carefully planning and preparing the salvation of the whole human race the God of infinite love, by a special dispensation, chose for Himself a people to whom He would entrust His promises. First He entered into a covenant with Abraham (see Gen. 15:18) and, through Moses, with the people of Israel (see Ex. 24:8). To this people which He had acquired for Himself, He so manifested Himself through words and deeds as the one true and living God that Israel came to know by experience the ways of God with men. Then too, when God Himself spoke to them through the mouth of the prophets, Israel daily gained a deeper and clearer understanding of His ways and made them more widely known among the nations (see Ps. 21:29; 95:1-3; Is. 2:1-5; Jer. 3:17). The plan of salvation foretold by the sacred authors, recounted and explained by them, is found as the true word of God in the books of the Old Testament: these books, therefore, written under divine inspiration, remain permanently valuable. "For all that was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4).

In this article, we see a panoramic view of God's plan for our salvation. Article14 sets forth the stages in the Old Testament where our God gradually reveals His designs. As always, God takes the initiative. He does so by His election of the people of Israel, an obviously integral and initial part of His larger plan of salvation for the entire human race. He chose the Hebrew people, made a promise of land to them and entered into various covenant relationships with them. (Election, Promise, Covenant, Mission (salvation))

It began with a promise of land for His people and a covenant with the patriarch Abraham. It would have begun in Ur of the Chaldees, in present-day Iraq.(Read#1).

Years after the time of the patriarchs, the Hebrew people were enslaved by the Egyptians, and so that God's promise would continue, He raised up Moses to be leader of His people. (Read #2)

In His relations, for example, with Abraham and Moses, the people of Israel, and each of us, begins to see how God intervenes concretely in history. Through words and deeds, He continually revealed Himself to them, and us, "as the one, true, living God, so that Israel might experience the ways of God" the ever-active and evolving character of His divine action in history.

Dei Verbum then speaks of the prophets. Through their preaching, the people of Israel "had daily to understand His ways more fully and more clearly, and make them more widely known among the nations." Particularly when the Israelite people went astray from the one true God, the prophets would warn the kings and people of the dire consequences of their continued waywardness. Often His Word was unheeded. But God would talk through them.

In time, the divine economy of salvation-- experienced, explained and narrated-- was consigned to writing in what we have come to know as the Old Testament. They were divinely inspired and thus have lasting and permanent value and the old covenant has never been revoked. For as St. Paul wrote, speaking of the Old Testament, to the early church at Rome: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Rom 15:4

Article 15--Lasting Importance of the Old Testament

15. The principal purpose to which the plan of the old covenant was directed was to prepare for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all and of the messianic kingdom, to announce this coming by prophecy (see Luke 24:44; John 5:39; 1 Peter 1:10), and to indicate its meaning through various types (see 1 Cor. 10:12). Now the books of the Old Testament, in accordance with the state of mankind before the time of salvation established by Christ, reveal to all men the knowledge of God and of man and the ways in which God, just and merciful, deals with men. These books, though they also contain some things which are incomplete and temporary, nevertheless show us true divine pedagogy. (1) These same books, then, give expression to a lively sense of God, contain a store of sublime teachings about God, sound wisdom about human life, and a wonderful treasury of prayers, and in them the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way. Christians should receive them with reverence.

If the Old Testament has lasting value and is an indispensable part of the scripture, particularly for you and me as Christians, how is it that we should read and ponder it? How does it help us?

At its heart, the economy of salvation in the Old Testament is fundamentally preparatory for the culminating act of salvation in Jesus Christ. It must always be read through Christian eyeglasses--in our prayer and worship. As Jesus would say on the road to Emmaus: " These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms must be fulfilled." Lk 24: 44 Or in John's Gospel, we hear Jesus--speaking of the Hebrew scriptures-- saying: "You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf." Jn 5:39 He states further: " If you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me." Jn 5: 46

Or the Catechism says it this way: "From the beginning until 'the fulness of time,' the joint mission of the Father's Word and the Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God's Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation. So, for this reason, when the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, 'who has spoken through the prophets,' wants to tell us about Christ." CCC 702

This happens at Mass when often the first reading is from the Old Testament and always the responsorial psalms are from the 150 psalms in the Old Testament or the many writings of the Fathers of the Church where so often the Hebrew scriptures are mentioned and analyzed.

Dei Verbum mentions "types." There is something underneath the letter of the Old Testament. It is the mystery of Christ. "It is called 'typological' because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of 'figures' (types) which announce him in the deeds, words and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, 'the true bread from heaven." CCC 1094 "Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord Himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament." CCC 129 "

Even though [the Old Testament books] contain matters imperfect and provisional, nevertheless [they] show us authentic divine teaching." This is at the heart of Dei Verbum's understanding of the Old Testament as revelation which stands on its own, which nevertheless points to the fulness of revelation in Christ Jesus. "Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages." CCC 130 For sure, once Christ comes, the full meaning of the preparatory and partial is disclosed in Him.

We are nevertheless challenged to see in these books an understanding of how God and man interact throughout history and how just and merciful our God consistently deals with us. We are challenged to accept with veneration these writings "which give expression to a lively sense of God, which are a storehouse of sublime teaching on God and of sound wisdom on human life, as well as a wonderful treasury of prayers; in them, too, the mystery of our salvation is present in a hidden way."

When we speak of the wound wisdom on human life, how can we not forget the wisdom literature- particularly the proverbs? For example, we read in Sirach 6:14: "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure." True friendship, we come to see, is born of Christ. "I have called you friends..." John 15:15 When we speak of a wonderful treasury of prayers, how can we not forget the actual prayers that Jesus prayed and that we prayer each day at Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours--the psalms, called the "masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament?" CCC 2585 They are very personal and at the same time communal prayers. The prayer of the psalms " recalls the saving events of the past, yet extends into the future, even to the end of history; it commemorates the promises God has already kept and awaits the Messiah who will fulfill them definitively. Prayed by Christ and fulfilled in Him, the Psalms remain essential to the prayer of the Church." CCC 2586 Do these psalms and the prophetic writings--which call us to a conversion of heart-- not give us a lively sense of God?

Article 16--The Unity of the Two Testaments

16. God, the inspirer and author of both Testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be made manifest in the New. (2) For, though Christ established the new covenant in His blood (see Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25), still the books of the Old Testament with all their parts, caught up into the proclamation of the Gospel, (3) acquire and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament (see Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:27; Rom. 16:25-26; 2 Cor. 14:16) and in turn shed light on it and explain

In summary fashion, this last article underscores that the two testaments must be read together. God does not undo His Word. What is written, inspired by God in the Old Testament, has lasting validity for us Christians today. At the same time, it has been said that the old foreshadows the new and the new fulfills the old. Or stated somewhat differently, in the words of Augustine: "The New should be hidden in the Old and that the Old should be made manifest in the New."

When we read the Old Testament in the light of Christ, it takes on a new meaning. Understood in this way, the Old Testament becomes a Christian book. As Dei Verbum teaches: "the books of the Old Testament, all of them caught up into the Gospel message, attain and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament and , in their turn, shed light on it and explain it."

Is this not beautifully shown in that great Easter Week text from St. Luke--the road to Emmaus when Christ joins His dejected disciples and at one point "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures." Lk 24:27 This is the best example of how it is that the Risen Lord Himself demonstrates so clearly the continuing validity of the Old Testament in the church and how the two testaments help explain each other.

As if we need another example, how can we forget the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew's gospel, where He teaches so clearly: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." Mt 5:17 Yes, in the very person of Jesus, the Old gives light to the New. That is why I have entitled this February meditation: "The Old Testament--Always Old, Always New."

Amen.