O Adonai

O Giver of the Law on Sinai, the Leader of your chosen people Israel, appearing in the burning bush revealed to Moses face to face, O come, stretch out your mighty arms to set us free.

Adonai? It's a Jewish term. It's a place holder for the name of God, sometimes referred to as the Tetragrammaton YHVH. Jews do not say aloud the name of God. So they refer to him as Lord. Adonai.

The fact that medieval monks take this name and make it part of the "Come Lord Jesus" prayer of the O Antiphons links us to our Jewish heritage but also makes it so clearly stated that we believe that Christ is the son of God, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God. Wisdom, Flower of Jesse, Key of David, King of Nations--all lovely titles, but this one, Adonai, is the one that names Jesus as God.

In my Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training, our teacher quoted a Jesuit scholar regarding this divinity of Christ. God poured out love into the person of Jesus in the same measure that Jesus then poured out his life on the cross. Christians who share the Creed may debate many many things--the Eucharist, the role of women, laity, the priesthood--but we all stand firm on this one point. Jesus and God the Creator share the same divinity.

We say it all the time. But consider it. He preached to thousands who didn't know exactly what they were searching for, but they were searching. He spoke with authority in the Temple. Creation obeyed him, he healed the wounded and sick and troubled. Even as an infant he drew to him pilgrims from far away and simple shepherds from fields nearby. The wicked were troubled, the sinners repented. God is irresistible.

In this antiphon, we pray to the law-giver of Sinai. Wisdom first, then the law. But his yoke is easy to bear. In Christ there is the fulfillment of law. He is Adonai.