Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
NAZARETH T HERE, TOO, ONE MAY SEE NAZARETH, which means, the flower. It was here the infant God born in Bethlehem grew to maturity, as the fruit matures within the flower, so that the scent of the flower may precede the savor of the fruit, and the holy liquor seep from the nostrils of the prophets to the throat of the apostles. The Jews had to content themselves with an ephemeral perfume, while Christians might nourish themselves on solid food. Nathanael indeed perceived this flower whose scent was sweeter than any ointment.1 This is why he asked, Can anything good come from Nazareth?2 Not content with the scent alone, he accepted Philip's invitation to come and see.3 In fact, he was already captivated by the whiff of this wondrous sweetness and made more eager to taste the fruit by inhaling its fragrance. Drawn on by the odor, he took pains to arrive at the fruit without delay. He wanted to experience more fully what he had as yet only faintly sensed, and taste what he had sniffed from afar.
Let us see if we can not perhaps shed some small light on this passage by comparing it to the sense of smell of Isaac [the patriarch].
Scripture says of him that, As soon as he caught the scent of his garments (meaning of course, his son Jacob), he said, 'Behold, the odor of my son is like the odor of a fruitful field which the Lord has blessed.'4 He caught the scent of the garments, but he did not recognize the person wearing them. Delighted exteriorly by the
Song 4:10.
Jn 1:46.
Ibid.
Gen 27:27.
In Praise of the New Knighthood mere odor of these garments, as if of a flower, he did not, as it were, taste the sweetness of the interior fruit, and he remained deceived in recognizing the sacred destiny for which this son had been chosen.5
What is the meaning of all this? The garment is clearly the spirit of the Word, and the letter his flesh. But now the Jews are not able to recognize either the Word in flesh, the divinity in man, or the spiritual sense hidden beneath the written word. They feel only the goat skin covering which resembles the elder brother,6 that is, the first and ancient sinner [Adam], and are not able to arrive at the naked truth. Not in the flesh of sin, but in the likeness of the flesh of sin'7—for he could not commit sin,8 but came to take sin away9—he appeared for the reason he never concealed, so that the blind might see, and the clear—sighted might become blind.10
By this likeness 11 the deluded prophet and the blind of our day bless him whom they do not know.12 Although they read of him in their books,13 they fail to recognize him in his mighty deeds.
They have touched him with their own hands,14 bound him,15 scourged him16 and buffeted him,17 but without realizing that he was to rise from the dead.18 If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.19
Gen 25:23.
Gen 27:22-23.
Rom 8:3.
1 Pet 2:22.
Jn 1:29.
10 Jn 9:39.
11 Gen 27:27.
12 Jn 4:22.
13 2 Cor 3:15.
14 Gen 27:12.
15 Jn 18:12.
16 Jn 19:1:
17 Mt 26:67.
18 Jn 2:20-21.
1 Cor 2:8.
Nazareth
We will say a few words about the other holy places—if not all of them, then at least some. Our incapacity obliges us to leave much unsaid but at least we may speak briefly about some of their more striking aspects.
