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Transcript of Homily
I’m sure that when you hear that opening
verse it kind of jolts you.
That God has saved me from the clutches
of Herod and the plans of the Jews.
I mean it always kind of sounds, I don’t
know, anti semitic.
That’s not true at all. The fact
is....
I personally maintain that to use the word
"Jew" as a translation in scripture is anachronistic....
It’s inappropriate because it’s out
of time....
The word in the Greek text is Ioudaios,
which means a Judean.
So.... you could just as well.... or perhaps
better translate it:
“He saved me from the clutches of Herod
and the plans of the Judeans.”
You see the, who we would call Jews, at
that time referred to themselves often as Hebrews.
St. Paul speaks about himself as a Hebrew....
The religions of the Hebrews....
And perhaps anywhere between five and ten
percent in the inhabitants of the Roman empire were members of this religion
of the Hebrews.
We would call them Jews.
But, again.... I believe that the word
"Jew" is a very modern word.
So....
There were Galileans.... they lived in
the north.
The Judeans lived in the south.
There were Essenes who were mostly from
the tribe of Levy.... they were Levites.
They wouldn’t have called themselves
Judeans.
There were people from the tribe of Benjamin.
Who sometimes, as St. Paul refers to himself
as a member of the tribe of Benjamin....
But, then at another time he refers to
himself as a Judean or a Jew.
I suspect that the term Judean was a political
term....
As much as it was a religious term....
It was not an ethnic term.
There were factions within what we would
call, as I said, the Jewish community.
I think it’s very important to understand
this, to understand the New Testament.
Now the first part of that verse.... you’ve
noticed....
You know, I noticed people are really sort
of singing, was that just me?
We're starting to sing more....
Thank you.
We’re singing the scriptures.
And the verses that we're singing come
from the Bible.
And, I really believe that in the context
of Mass....
God is speaking to us in all of the verses
of scripture that we are offering.
And the opening verse was that:
“God has saved me from the clutches of
Herod and the plans of the Judeans.”
I think it’s very important to understand
this....
In order to grasp the new testament....
Especially the Gospels and the Acts of
the Apostles....
Because they happened in historical context.
Herod the Great, is a very, very important
person in the Gospel.
Herod the Great is the backdrop, the scenery,
against which the Gospels are played.
You know.... when you go to the play you
never think of the scenery....
But. the scenery really sets the tone for
the play.
And Herod was the backdrop.
You need to know about Herod.
Herod the Great, was born, I think, 73
years before Christ and died 4 A.D.
So.... he was the king at the time Jesus
was born.
The king of what we would now call Palestine
and parts of Syria and Lebanon.
And.... he was a dangerous man.
He killed his own sons.
You know the story in the Bible about Herod
the Great killing the babies in Jerusalem....
But.... he also killed his own sons....
Because they thought that they were more
important than Herod.
They were descended from the Maccabees
- - - who had been kings in Israel.
And their mother was Mariamne.... daughter
of the Maccabees.
And Herod was nobody from nowhere.
Herod wasn't an aristocrat.
Herod wasn't even Jewish.
Herod was a political conniver, who had
always wand up at the right side of the fight.
And.... finally after the Roman civil war,
you know....
I’m sure all of you have seen “Cleopatra”
with Richard Burton And Elizabeth Taylor.
All that mess.
Herod’s big patroness was Cleopatra.
She was his mentor and backed him politically.
And somehow he always wand up on the right
side of the fight when it was over....
Even if he had started on the wrong side.
And finally.... forty years before Christ....
Herod after conniving.... and bribery....
And political maneuvering.... was elected
the king of Israel...
The king of the Jews.... by the Roman Senate.
He was from an Arab family that had converted
to Judaism a few generations before....
He was the son of an Arab princess....
Wasn’t a drop of Jewish blood in the
man....
And the Jews resented that.
Herod not only didn’t have any Jewish
ethnicity....
Herod was essentially a Greek.
This is what you have to understand about
the New Testament.....
Like today, there was a world culture.
Alexander the Great....
Don’t fall asleep.... this is history....
I know it's painful....
But.... hang in there with me.... for just
a minute yet
Alexander the Great.... three hundred years
before Christ....
Had rampaged through the world and had
setup cities all throughout Europe....
Well.... not Europe so much, but Africa
and Asia.
Many of them he called Alexandria.
And these were outposts of Greek culture
and language.
And the Greek language became, well, the
language of trade.
You could speak Greek and be understood
from India all the way to Spain.
All across the ancient world you could
be understood if you knew Greek.
Alexander the Great created a world culture.
Greek was it’s language and Greek culture
was it’s assumption.
We have a world culture today, don’t
we?
We have a world culture today.
There was an Arab comedian I was watching
on the tv the other day.
He says he goes back home, visits his family....
There's this guy saying, "Americans this....
Americans that...."
Of course he’s wearing a Michael Jordan
t-shirt, a Cubs hat and blue jeans.
Drive him around and say: "Ya hungry, ya
want something to eat?"
Americans are.... the source of all evil.
"We could go to McDonalds...." this is
in Amman, Jordan....
"We could go to McDonalds, we could go
to Burger King, we could go to Kentucky Fried."
And finally this guy says, “Listen...."
"We’re gonna take McDonalds and Burger
King and Kentucky Fried and we’ll go home.”
And he says, “Leave Kentucky Fried, please.”
You know there’s a world culture.
And it’s dominated by American popular
culture.
It was similar at the time of Christ.
Except the world culture was Greek.
What Greeks thought were all right, was
well, all right.
And Herod was much more Greek than he was
Arab or Jewish.
He was Greek in his culture.... he spoke
Greek most probably.
His grandchildren, who are the Herods we
read about later in the Bible, were....
They were raised in the royal palace at
Rome.
They were taken to Rome as client hostages....
And they were raised as good Roman noblemen.
And they probably spoke Greek and Latin
better than they did Aramaic.
And then they would be sent home.... when
they were adults....
To take over the leadership of the country....
from Grandpa.
Grandpa Herod....
Remember.... he killed his sons.
Well... that was the world in which Peter
and Paul lived.
That was the world in which Jesus taught.
It had certain culture assumptions.
Now...
Herod was a great builder.
Herod loved to build.
And he believed he could put his stamp
on the world.... by building.
And he built for political reasons.
When Herod was made king.... by the Romans....
40 years before Christ....
The temple was a beat up little old building
that had been built three hundred....
Four hundred years ago after the Jews returned
from exile....
There was nothing special about it....
Herod decided to make it something wonderful.
He trained ten thousand priests and Levites
as stonemasons and carpenters and builders.
And they tore down the temple from the
inside out....
Because of course, only a priest or Levite
could go into the inner part of the temple.
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