Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus

And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21)

The word “Jesus” is glorious, and worthy of all adoration and worship. It is “the name above every name.” It was not fitting that this name should first be given by men or brought into the world by them, but by some more excellent and greater nature. The evangelist indicated this when he added, “His name was called ‘Jesus,’ which He had been called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”

Origen, Homilies on Luke 14.1

He therefore received in the flesh the circumcision decreed by the law, although he appeared in the flesh absolutely without any blemish of pollution. He who came in the likeness of sinful flesh—not in sinful flesh—did not turn away from the remedy by which sinful flesh was ordinarily made clean. Similarly, not because of necessity but for the sake of example, he also submitted to the water of baptism, by which he wanted the people of the new law of grace to be washed from the stain of sins.…

The reason “the child who was born to us, the son who was given to us,” received the name Jesus (that is, “Savior”) does not need explanation in order to be understood by us, but we need eager and vigilant zeal so that we too may be saved by sharing in his name. Indeed, we read how the angel interprets the name of Jesus: “He will save his people from their sins.” And without a doubt we believe and hope that the one who saves us from sins is not failing to save us also from the corruptions which happen because of sins, and from death itself, as the psalmist testifies when he says, “Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.” Indeed, with the pardoning of all of our iniquities, all our diseases will be completely healed when, with the appearance of the glory of the resurrection, our last enemy, death, will be destroyed.

Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Christmas Day

Because of this, my people will know my name in that day, that I myself am the one who speaks. I am present as an hour upon the mountains, as the feet of one who brings the good news of peace, as the one who brings the good news of good things, for I will make your salvation heard, saying, “O Zion, your God will reign!” For the voice of those who guard you will be lifted up, and with their voice they will be cheerful together, for eyes will look to eyes, when the Lord shows mercy to Zion. Let the deserted places of Jerusalem break forth together with cheer, because the Lord has shown mercy to her and has rescued Jerusalem. The Lord will reveal his holy arm before all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation that is from our God. (Isaiah 52:6–10)

When the Jewish people were led into captivity and the city was burned, an inhabitant of Jerusalem was either rare or nonexistent. But after the one who spoke first in the prophets and was in the beginning with God, God the Word, dwelt among us and became flesh, the deserts of Jerusalem were refreshed, and he came, of whom it is written, “He shall build my city and lead back the captivity of my people.” Thus Jeremiah does not lament for her: “How does the city that was filled with people sit solitary! She has become as a widow, she who was magnified among the nations.” Instead she hears David singing, “When the Lord converted the captivity of Zion, we became as comforted ones,” and a little later, “We were made to rejoice.”.

And that we may know that these things are not being said about the Jewish people, but about all who will come to believe in the Lord through the apostles, he records and says, He who has comforted her, or “has had mercy upon her,” and he who “has delivered” or redeemed her, has himself prepared or “revealed his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” From this it is clear that the arm of the Lord is being revealed to all nations, and all the ends of the earth are seeing his salvation, when the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, the church, which had been forsaken by the Jews, is built by the apostles.

Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 14

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Advent

And the Lord continued to speak to Ahaz, saying, “Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, up to a depth or up to a height.” And Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not test the Lord.” And he said, “Hear now, house of David! Is it not a small thing for you to put up a fight with human? And how do you put up a fight with the Lord? Because of this, the Lord himself will give you a sign: Look, the virgin will conceive in the womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Immanuel. He will eat butter and honey before he knows either to prefer evil or choose the good.” Because before the child knows good or bad, he resists wickedness to choose good; and the land that you fear because of the face of the two kings will be forsaken. But God will bring upon you and upon your people and upon the house of your father days that have not yet come since the day when Ephraim took away the king of the Assyrians from Judah. (Isaiah 7:10–17 LXX)

When will you stop contending with the men of God? For I say that the prophets of God are surrounded by filth and hardship and strife for the sake of your salvation. But then you even vex and provoke a fight with my God, whom you do not know and whose promises you refuse to believe. For indeed, because of his abounding benevolence, God commands you to ask for a sign of salvation from him, through which it is to be proved that you will be saved and delivered from the two kings who are waging war against you. And you remain in your wickedness and provoke a fight with him and likewise cause trouble for his prophets as well as for him, and in your disbelief you repeatedly contrived schemes against them.

But although you are such sinners, God again proves himself to be so merciful and does not let you fall to the side and perish, and even though you do not wish it, he will offer you a sign of salvation. And what is this sign? A certain paradoxical wonder will appear among humanity, such a sign as never before has been heard of from the beginning of time. A virgin will conceive, apart from relations with a man, and she will give birth to God, the Savior of the human race. Therefore, God is about to allow himself to undergo such a birth, and this is the sign of salvation that he offers you. Then what was in the depths will reach even to the heights. He says in the depths because he will go down to Hades, and to the heights because he will ascend to heaven.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah 7

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Advent

Rejoice, thirsty deserted land! Let a deserted land be cheerful, and let it blossom like a lily. And the desolate places of the Jordan will blossom and rejoice. The glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honor of Carmel. And my people will see the glory of the Lord and the exaltation of God. Be strong, hands at ease and feeble knees! Give comfort, fainthearted in mind! Be strong; do not be frightened! Look, our God is repaying judgment, and he will repay! He himself will come and save us! Then blind people’s eyes will be opened, and dumb people’s ears will hear. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the stammerer’s tongue will be clear, because water has broken forth in the desert, and a ravine in a thirsting land. And the waterless place will turn into marshes, and there will be a spring of water in the thirsty land; there birds’ cheerfulness will be a dwelling of reed and marshes. A pure path will be there, and it will be called a holy path, and certainly no impure person will pass by there, nor will there be an impure path there, but those who are scattered abroad will walk on it; they will certainly not be misguided. And there will be no lion there, and certainly none of the evil beasts will come up to it or be found there, but rather a people will walk in it that are redeemed and gathered because of the Lord; and they will return and come into Zion with cheerfulness, and eternal cheerfulness will be over their head. There will be praise and rejoicing, and cheerfulness will overtake them; pangs and sorrow and groaning have fled away! (Isaiah 35:1–10 LXX)

Now the reason the eyes will be opened, the ears will hear, the blind will leap and the tongue of the mute will be free, is because the waters of the baptism of the Savior have broken out or “burst forth” in the onetime desert of the church, and streams or torrents in the wilderness, namely, the various spiritual graces; and that which was dry land has been turned into a pool and swamp, so that not only has burning thirst ended, but it has become passable by boat and well watered, and it has very many springs, for which the deer longs. The one who drinks from them is able to bless the Lord, as it is written: “Bless the Lord from the springs of Israel.” In the dens of the souls of the Gentiles, in which dragons dwelt before, there will be reeds and bulrushes, on which is written the faith of the Lord, and on which formerly weary limbs may rest; or “there will be a joy of birds and a sheepfold for flocks,” that the doves might receive wings, and the lowly ones who remain may hurry to the heights and be able to say with the Psalmist, “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want; he makes me lie down in the place of pasture, he has led me out to the waters of refreshment”.

There will be there a path and a most clean way, which shall be called holy, and which itself says of itself, “I am the way,” through which he who is polluted shall not be able to pass. This is also why it is said in the psalm: “Blessed are the blameless in the way.” And this way, that is our God, will be for us so straight and level and flat that it shall hold no error, and the foolish and the senseless are able to walk on it, to whom wisdom speaks in Proverbs, “If anyone is a little one, let him come to me, and to the foolish she said: ‘Come and eat my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mixed for you, leave infancy, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence.’”

Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 10

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday in Advent

And a rod will emerge from the root of Jesse, and a flower will come up from the root. And God’s spirit will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and intelligence, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and piety. He will fill him with a spirit of the fear of God; he will not judge according to reputation or reprove according to speech. Rather, he will render fair judgment to a low one, and he will reprove the low of the land; and he will strike the land with the word of his mouth, and with breath through his lips he will destroy ungodly things. And he will be girded at the waist with righteousness and enclosed with truth at his sides. And a wolf will feed together with a lamb, and a leopard will rest with a kid, and a little calf and a bull and a lion will feed together, and a small young child will lead them. And an ox and a bear will feed together, and they will be together with their young, and a lion will eat straw like an ox. And an infant child will lay its hand on an asp’s hole and on a bed of asps’ offspring. And they shall surely do no wrong, nor will they be able to destroy anyone on my holy mountain because the whole land was filled with knowing the Lord, as much water covers the seas. And in that day there will be the root of Jesse and the one who rises up to rule nations; nations will put their hope in him, and his rest will be honor. (Isaiah 11:1–10 LXX)

This is He who, after the manner of a dove, when our Lord was baptized, came and abode upon Him, dwelling in Christ full and entire, and not maimed in any measure or portion; but with His whole overflow copiously distributed and sent forth, so that from Him others might receive some enjoyment of His graces: the source of the entire Holy Spirit remaining in Christ, so that from Him might be drawn streams of gifts and works, while the Holy Spirit dwelt affluently in Christ. For truly Isaiah, prophesying this, said: “And the Spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety; and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill Him.” This self-same thing also he said in the person of the Lord Himself, in another place, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me, He has sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor.”

Novation, On the Trinity 29

The one who would proceed “from the root of Jesse” was none other than Christ, and the children of the Jews themselves confess that this is so when they say that the prophecy discussed above is clearly about the expected and anointed one who would come among them. But now, even after a thousand years have passed from the time of the prophet Isaiah and the time of Christ to us, they maintain that the prophecy still has not happened. They are forever reflecting, but their theories have run aground, and they so extend the time-frame of the prophecy in order to discredit it as untrue. They rob themselves of the hope of the prophecies. Furthermore, they try to interpret the sense of the prophetic sayings, as the apostle says, “without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.” But in order that we might attain what was discussed above, he then prophesied that the one who is raised from the root of Jesse shall rule the nations. And he adds: nations shall hope in him. He is certainly remembering the Jewish faction in what was discussed above, and he does not assume that anything prophesied would benefit the people of the circumcision.

Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah 11