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Dear Father Angelo,
I’m writing to ask for your advice. My son G. is currently in Modena studying to become a car designer and he asked for a Bible as a gift for Christmas. I questioned him about this request and he replied “There are several reasons, Mom. One is that I saw a video of a Muslim who asked: how many Christians know the Bible? And how many Muslims know the Koran? So I understood that it is important in our Faith to know the revealed Word. If both Muslims and Hebrews, who only have part of the Word, know it by heart, why shouldn’t we, who have it in its entirety?
Another reason is that yesterday (Sunday 10th 2022) while listening to the Gospel, I was trying to understand: John the Baptist was waiting for human justice and not divine justice and he doubted that Jesus was the Messiah because he had read the Old Testament. I therefore want to know the Old Testament through the lens of the New and especially through a modern lens, since I was trying to understand how the Word applies to our times; for example: the blind, the lame, the lepers: who are they today? Who are we in the context of history? Are we like John the Baptist who was waiting for human justice?”.
I thank you.
Sara

Priest’s answer

Dear Sara,

  1. I’m happy to hear that your son asked for a Bible as a Christmas present.
    He seems to be conscious of what St. Paul said: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3 16:17).
    In Sacred Scripture, it is God who speaks to us and, according to Saint Paul, knowledge of Sacred Scripture is useful for four reasons.
    First, to teach the truth about God, about man and his eternal destiny.
    Second, to persuade in order to give reason for the hope that is in us, as Saint Paul says (see 1 Pet 3:15).
    Third, it is useful to correct vice and therefore keep us from evil and sin, and to help us in walking according to the ways of God.
    Fourth, it is useful to instill a sense of justice which, according to Sacred Scripture, is often synonymous with sanctity.
    It is, therefore, the best present you can give your son.
    Truth to be told, it would have been more useful to give it to him before now.
  2. Your son apparently said that Muslims and Jews have part of the Word. I agree in regards to Jews, since we share the revelation expressed in the Old Testament, which is, by the way, entirely oriented toward Christ.
    When it comes to Muslims, on the other hand, they don’t have the Word. They have the revelation received from Muhammad, which isn’t the Word (oriented toward Christ).
    There are, in the Koran, references to the Old Testament and to Christ as well. This, however, is not sufficient to say that it is the Word, especially since, when it comes to the New Testaments, the references are mainly to the apocryphal gospels. 
  3. In regards to John the Baptist and the fact that he sent some of his disciples to question Jesus asking if He was the one who was supposed to come, it is necessary to remember that John the Baptist had no doubt that Christ was the Messiah.
    He had presented Him to the world as the Messiah during His baptism when he said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” (John 1:29-30).
    On that same occasion Saint John says: “I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” (John 1:33-34). 
  4. Some people argued that, even though John knew Christ was the Messiah, he had doubts due to Christ’s humility and willingness to be crucified.
    However, Saint Thomas rebuts this interpretation by citing Saint John Chrysostom: “John was not in ignorance of His death, but was the first to preach it, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. For thus calling Him the Lamb, he plainly shews forth the Cross; and no otherwise than by the Cross did He take away the sins of the world. Also how is he a greater prophet than these, if he knew not those things which all the prophets knew, for Isaiah says, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. (Is. 53:7)”.
  5. Since we read in the Gospel that John sent some of his disciples to ask Christ if He was the one who was supposed to come, Saint Thomas says: “he does not ask as being himself ignorant. But as the Saviour asks where Lazarus is buried (John 11:34.), in order that they who shewed Him the sepulcher might be so far prepared for faith, and believe that the dead was verily raised again.”. 
  6. Finally, you ask how the Old Testament should be read in light of the New, especially when, in proving Himself to be the Messiah, Jesus points out what was obvious to everybody: the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the dumb could speak, the lame could walk and the dead were resurrected (He had just resurrected the son of the widow of Nain).
    We should then recall that the blessing promised in the Old Testament was of the temporal order, while the blessing that the Lord brought us in the New Testament is a spiritual blessing, as clearly stated by Saint Paul when he says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph 1:3).
    We should keep in mind that Jesus performed miracles so they could be signs. We know that Saint John never uses the term miracles when referring to Christ, but uses “signs” instead because the miracles He performed pointed to something else.
    With the coming of Christ, the blind can see because Christ gives new eyes to blind and sighted people alike – these are the eyes of the faith that allow us to see in the supernatural order of things. The deaf can hear in the sense that they have the opportunity to hear the evangelical doctrine, which greatly surpassed that of the Old Testament, which was a prefiguration of the New. The dumb being able to speak means that they can proclaim the Word which is Christ. The lame walk because Christ takes us back from evil and makes us walk steadily in the Way which is He Himself (see Jhn 10:10). The dead rise again in the sense that there is, finally, the possibility to move from sin to grace and rise again according to the same words the Lord used in the parable of the prodigal son when He says: “your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” (Lk 15:32). 

I wish you every good and a serene and Holy Christmas.
I bless you and remember you in prayer. 

Father Angelo