In the Beginning by J. Ratzinger - Homily 4, Part 2

The first Adam through his disobedience brought a legacy of sin & death upon all his children, who to this day have continue to seek a replacement for God & to build a paradise on earth without his help, an effort that always brings hellish tragedy & leaves man himself degraded.  The New Testament offers a remedy for our situation.

As noted earlier, the Church reads the Old Testament, not exclusively for its own sake, but as the story of God’s revelation of himself to his people, a revelation fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, we can see that the catastrophic fall of the first Adam into sin & death in the Old Testament gives way to the atoning sacrifice of the second Adam in the New, a sacrifice that reconciles God & man & brings new life.  Man was originally created to be in a relationship of love with God; in Christ, this relationship is not only possible again, but reaches new & previously unimagined heights.

Ratzinger notes that, “Jesus Christ goes Adam’s route, but in reverse.  In contrast to Adam he is really “like God.”  But this being like God… is being a Son, & hence it is totally relational… Therefore [he] does not hold graspingly to his autonomy… [but] he becomes a slave… he does not go the route of power but that of love (p.75).”  So, from the beginning, man has asked “Who am I?”  “What is my purpose?”  “Does my life have meaning?”  “For what was I made?”   Not “for what,” but “for whom.”  He was not made to be alone or autonomous.  He is made to be a son, even a son of God.

But how can the new Adam undo the damage caused by the first one & bridge the chasm between God & man?  How do we receive our sonship?  The answer is the Cross: “…the place of [Christ’s] obedience, is the true tree of life…. now approachable… and… the true pole of the earth, by which it is itself once more set aright (p.76).”  The first man was not allowed to eat of the fruit of the tree of life lest “he live forever (Gen 3:22),” but now by way of Christ’s obedience, man is welcomed to approach the divine.  His destiny in Christ is now to be “partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4).”

And now, something quite surprising: “Therefore the Eucharist, as the presence of the cross, is the abiding tree of life, which… to receive it, to eat of the tree of life, thus means to receive the crucified Lord & consequently to accept… his life, his obedience, his ‘yes’… It means to accept the love of God… our truth – that dependence on God which is no more an imposition from without than is the Son’s sonship.  It is precisely this dependence that is freedom, because it is truth & love (pp.76-77).”

Were you expecting that!?!  To start with the words of the creation of the world & end up with the Flesh & Blood of Christ Jesus in the Eucharist that is offered & received at every Mass?  Will this change your view of the sacred Scriptures?  The way that you approach Holy Communion?  Your relationship with God?  Ratzinger ends his fourth homily with the hope that his listeners “be touched by the words of Jesus in their entirety: ‘The kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:15).”

Photo of Christ as the Tree of Life taken at Munich's Marienplatz. in 2008.