WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Fourteen of the names

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that were read in the genealogy of our Lord were

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kings. And what we got in those names before

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and after and including the kings was not exactly

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a history. but an encompassing in those names

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of Israel. And Israel is very important. The

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name, the people, and their connection to the

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Christian message, obviously to our Lord, to

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the meaning of His name, Emmanuel, God with us,

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and to His church. Let me begin with the name

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itself, Israel. Israel is a divinely given name.

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If we go back to the grandson of Abraham, Jacob,

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we find him in Genesis 32 in a lonely place.

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He's running away from his brother whom he cheated

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of his inheritance. And his brother understandably

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wants to kill him. So he's on the lam. And as

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he seeks to sleep in this lonely place, a man

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appears to him and wrestles with him. And toward

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morning they wrestle all night. The man says,

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let me go. And Jacob says, I won't let you go

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until you bless me. And the man blesses him and

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says, what is your name? And Jacob replies, Jacob.

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And the man says, you are no longer Jacob. Now

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you are Israel. You have struggled, for you have

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struggled with God and with man and have prevailed.

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And Jacob says, bless me. And the man blesses

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him. And Jacob said, what's your name? And the

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man says, why do you want to know that? And goes

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away before giving it. And Jacob finally concludes

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the episode by saying, I have seen the face of

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God and yet have survived. And he named the place

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Peniel, which means God's face. Now the ancient

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fathers universally read this episode as an appearance

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of our Lord to Jacob. As they understood every

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appearance of God in the Old Testament, from

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the walking of God in the Garden of Eden, to

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the revelation of God to Israel on Sinai, to

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the appearance of God in the temple that Isaiah

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saw, and Ezekiel's vision of the chariot of fire

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in Babylon. Always it is our Lord. And on this

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occasion, he gives the name that his people will

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own ever after. And note, it is a personal name.

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Israel means first the man Jacob, the patriarch.

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But, and here is the important thing, It also

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means the people that came out of him. The people

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who bore the promise that God made to Abraham.

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In you all nations of the world shall be blessed.

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This is God's Israel that carries on the blessing

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given to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. The

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promises made to them. This is a people that

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grows to a great nation. That has kings of whom

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14 figured in today's Gospels. At least their

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names. They were lousy kings, almost all of them.

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Really bad. Even David, the next to best of them,

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even David was an adulterer and a murderer. To

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say nothing of someone like Manasseh, who was

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the one who ordered Isaiah's son into. And that's

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why the belief grew up when the kings were finally

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done away with by the Babylonians. Why the belief

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grew up that a king would come, that God would

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send a Christ, an anointed one, who would perfectly

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represent his will in the way the kings of Israel

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never had. But for now I want to stress that

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connection between Jacob and Israel and the fact

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that the word Israel is always a personal name

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and a collective name. At one and the same time

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it is Jacob and the people that come out of him.

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Because that is the root of the meaning of church.

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What is the church? It is, as St. Paul tells

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us, the body of the risen Christ. That body which,

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because it is now animated, no longer by merely

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a life force, as we all have, but by the very

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Spirit of God. It has become a new creation in

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which the laws of the old creation no longer

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apply. It is the beginning of the world to come.

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This body, risen body of Messiah into which we

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are all incorporated. As we just saw this morning.

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In the child clothed with light. The child clothed

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with Christ. From among us. My grandniece actually.

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And just like her. I am part of that body. As

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are you. All you who are baptized. We are all.

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He is our Emmanuel because indeed he is among

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and in us. Through his church. And this comes

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from Israel, this idea. And it's why St. Paul

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refers at the end of Galatians to the church

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as the Israel of God. Because it is once one

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single person. who is Christ and the nation which

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is his and in which we dwell and in which we

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are. This is our nation, as the epistle says.

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This is the city whose founder and builder was

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God. The city which will endure the end of the

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age. The city which will survive the end of the

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universe. The city which is God's place. Which

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in turn we are. To him be glory who has saved

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us. and made us His own, with the Father and

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the Spirit, forever. Amen.