A thought:

Indeed the today's readings are particularly rich. First there is a moral contemplation: the injustice done to Ismael and his mother and the killing of the kids of Betlehem. We can not stay impartial in front of such scandals. Neither does God remain indifferent. As for Ismael God promises to make him a great nation, not as compensation but because he is son of Abraham, because he is a believer and a prophet and therefore he has his proper source to draw from. The Word of God will take the yoke of humanity's sins on his shoulders on Easter especially for the kids of Betlehem and for their murderers. He does not object or accuse anybody. He does criticize where he finds hypocrites. His criticisms however are to educate, to ask for moral conversion, not to accuse.

The letter of St. Paul to the Galatians is one of the most astonishing pages in the whole Bible. Shouldn't be Sara the mother of the Jewish? Shouldn't Hagar be the symbol of the other nations? In a ingenious way St. Paul turns all upside down. What might have been the reaction of the Jews reading this page the first time two thousand years ago, what the is feeling of a Jew today? Anyhow, St. Paul affirms strongly the role of the Jews and does not doubt a moment of his life that they are the chosen people. But he criticizes them - again for their good. The Apostle of the heathen did not intend to say that the Jews should live in slavery, but that the good news of the coming of the son of God should be given to the entire humanity through them.

The word of God, Jesus Christ, gave himself to every tradition and nation. There is no other condition for this gift than to order the our own lifes and to believe that God is actually entering into history and in each ones life. Thus the emphasis is not on Hagar and Ismael, knowing that both are already chosen by God, but on the astonishing affirmation that humans of all nations and traditions are rightful daughters and sons of Abraham and Sara.

These considerations open then the eyes to what happens when the three Magus, the three wise men, come to prostrate in front of the newborn Jesus. Magus denominates the priestly class of the Persian society certainly outside of the jewish nation. Thus they are a symbol of the very new kind of rule that the son of God introduces.

St. Matthew in fact is giving us in his first four chapters a great explanation about who Jesus Christ is and what his role is.

In the first chapter he is established as King of Israel. In the second the nations follow him because of the signs of the heaven (the star) they observed at their homes. Which implies that there is prophecy and valid tradition proper to each singular people and nation outside of the Jewish -/Christian- one. These prophecies prepare the nations to recognize the special role of the messiah in the prospect of the completion divine design of the creation. In the third chapter Jesus Christ is recognized as son of God by the testimony of the Father. And finally in the fourth the spiritual world submits itself to Christ and serves him after he suffered and was tempted by Satan. In a way these four chapters are an introduction to the whole thematic of the report given by St. Matthew and to all four reports of the Gospel. Already here he affirms firmly that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Messiah.

St. Mattew does also an other thing: He welds together the old and new testament. After the first four chapters of his report it is not anymore possible to give preference to one or the other part of the Bible. Does he want to reduce Christianity to a mere continuation of judaism? I do not think so. What he is doing is giving us the instruments for the research in any tradition on the traces of the "rays of the light of truth". When ever we find them we rather should rejoice and be happy like the woman that finds her coin instead of criticizing the differences. In right time we will understand even these.

Mass:

First Reading

And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.

² For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him-- whom Sarah bore to him-- Isaac.

⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶ And Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me."

⁷ She also said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac."

¹¹ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son.

¹² But God said to Abraham, "Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

¹³ "Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed."

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.

¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, "Let me not see the death of the boy." So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

¹⁸ "Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation."

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.

²⁰ So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

(Gen 21:1-21 NKJ)

Second Reading

⁹ But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

¹⁰ You observe days and months and seasons and years.

¹¹ I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

¹² Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

¹³ You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

¹⁴ And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

¹⁶ Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

¹⁷ They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

¹⁸ But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

¹⁹ My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

²⁰ I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.

²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,

²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar--

²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children--

²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

²⁷ For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband."

²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

²⁹ But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

³⁰ Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."

³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

(Gal 4:9-31 NKJ)

² but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

(Gal 3:15-6 NKJ)

The Gospel

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

² saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴ And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

⁵ So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

⁶ `But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

⁷ Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.

⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."

⁹ When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

¹¹ And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹² Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."

¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

¹⁸ "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more."

¹⁹ But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

²⁰ saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead."

²¹ Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.

²³ And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

(Mat 2:1-23 NKJ)