Posted on 12/25/2010 10:04:52 AM PST by Not gonna take it anymore
. . . "Mary gave birth to her first-born son" (Lk 2:7). In this sentence Saint Luke recounts quite soberly the great event to which the prophecies from Israel's history had pointed. Luke calls the child the "first-born." In the language which developed within the sacred Scripture of the Old Covenant, "first-born" does not mean the first of a series of children.
The word "first-born" is a title of honor, quite independently of whether other brothers and sisters follow or not. So Israel is designated by God in the Book of Exodus (4:22) as "my first-born Son," and this expresses Israel's election, its singular dignity, the particular love of God the Father.
The early Church knew that in Jesus this saying had acquired a new depth, that the promises made to Israel were summed up in him. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews calls Jesus "the first-born," simply in order to designate him as the Son sent into the world by God (cf. 1:5-7) after the ground had been prepared by Old Testament prophecy.
The first-born belongs to God in a special way and therefore he had to be handed over to God in a special way as in many religions and he had to be ransomed through a vicarious sacrifice, as Saint Luke recounts in the episode of the Presentation in the Temple. The first-born belongs to God in a special way, and is as it were destined for sacrifice. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."... Matt 19:26
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