By his wounds we are healed

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time our church invites us to reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Micah (3: 1-12) entitled “Jerusalem will be destroyed because of its leader’s sins”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a treatise On the Incarnation of the Lord by Theodoret of Cyr, bishop.

Micah is the sixth of twelve Old Testament books. Most of this book explores Micah's accusations and warnings of God's impending judgment on Israel, but Micah also had a message of hope that countered these warnings and told of the restoration that God would one day bring about. The main message of the Book of Micah is that the people and their leaders need to leave behind their lives of sin and corruption in order to receive the grace of God. If they do not do this, their cities will be destroyed.

Theodoret of Cyr was fifth century influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrus. He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine Church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms.

On the Incarnation of the Lord by Theodoret of Cyr was written about 431 attributed to Christ an integral human consciousness with a distinct psychological ego. In it Theodoret writes: “Of his own free will Jesus ran to meet those sufferings that were foretold in the Scriptures concerning him. He had forewarned his disciples about them several times; he had rebuked Peter for being reluctant to accept the announcement of his passion, and he had made it clear that it was by means of his suffering that the world’s salvation was to be accomplished. This was why he stepped forward and presented himself to those who came in search of him, saying: I am the one you are looking for. For the same reason he made no reply when he was accused, and refused to hide when he could have done so; although in the past he had slipped away on more than one occasion when they had tried to apprehend him.”