Here
March 1, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
There’s a small chapel on the lower level of the Basilica of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Archaeologists estimate that Nazareth in the first century was a mostly agrarian village, with very conservative Jewish beliefs. It would have been quite small, with perhaps 400 residents or so. That means, obviously, everybody knew everybody. It also means that when we walk around the ancient, first-century remains of the village, we’re very close to where Mary and Joseph lived.
In that lower chapel in the Basilica of the Annunciation there is a marker in front of the altar. “Verbum caro factum est.” The Word was made flesh … here.
Right here. Or, if not “here,” pretty darn close, as the village was so small that it has to be close to the place where a young teenage girl on a very real day encountered an angel (!) who had been sent by God to invite her to be the mother of the One through whom the universe was created so that the world might be rescued from Death, Sin and Satan.
I’m fortunate to be there this week, in Nazareth, and Galilee, and Jerusalem, and other nearby places. It’s virtually impossible to put into words what it’s like to see and pray in these locations.
The Holy Land is often referred to as “the fifth Gospel,” as it forever changes the way a person reads the Bible. For those who have never been there, when the Bible is read or proclaimed, it can sound like a fairy tale. But to be there and to see where everything happened makes it all come alive. Towns like Capernaum and Magdala suddenly come to life and are no longer just names in a book. Sites like the Garden of Gethsemane, the Sea of Galilee, Calvary or Jesus’ tomb – the tomb! – are right there, in front of your eyes. Going from place to place and site to site is a spiritual overload that leaves most people shaking their heads in amazement: “It happened right here!”
One of the important things about Christianity is how incarnational it is. Dates and places matter for Christians. This is because God acts in time. He’s not distant, “out there” somewhere, and uninvolved. He became Man, not in a galaxy long, long ago, but when Caesar Augustus was the Emperor of Rome. If you walk the streets of Rome near the ancient Forum you can still see statues of Augustus, statues from the 1st century. We can see the face of the man who ruled the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. Suddenly, you realize that 2,000 years is a blip in terms of world history. Americans often forget this, since our country is still so young.
This powerfully comes home in the Holy Land. Here is the lake that Jesus lived near (and walked on!). These were the remains of the towns He grew up in, lived in and visited. This was the Garden where He sweated blood. This is where He died … and rose. Would that we had a statue of Him with His face!
The point of all this is to remind us that God is not absent. He is not some celestial clock-maker, who simply wound up the universe billions of years ago, and left us on our own. He loves this world, so much so that He not only created it but became Man and walked it, suffered for it, and redeemed it from its slavery. The Holy Land reminds us that we’re not on our own. God is with us. You and I have reasons for hope – not wishful thinking, hope. Certainty. Surety. You and I matter to God, so much so that He has done all that He has done in Jesus. And He’s not done. He will finish what He began with Jesus’ resurrection. He will bring to completion the good work He has begun here.
So trust Him, people of God. Trust Him. God didn’t just do great things long ago over there in the Holy Land. He’s acting right now. Here. In your life, and mine. He knows what He’s doing, even if many days it doesn’t make sense to us.
May God give us eyes to see Him moving among us today, and ears to hear His voice today – the same voice that spoke in Nazareth, Capernaum, and Jerusalem.