A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VIII)

The time was fulfilled "The time of the coming of the Messiah has been foretold by the state of the Jewish people, by the state of the pagans, by the state of the temple, by the number of years: it needed four monarchies, the removal of the scepter from Judah and the seventy weeks to coincide, and all this before the second Temple was destroyed." (Blaise Pascal - Pensées 708 and 709.) The pagans also had the advantage of additional signs; there was a intense focusing of attention, a pinnacle of waiting never before seen in the history of the world exactly around the time when Jesus appeared. It is a proven fact of history: however inexplicable it may seem, that the world's attention, in the first century, was concentrating on a single point, that far-off province of Rome. This unique feeling of waiting was one which Mary carried above all other in her heart, in her prayers at the Holy of Holies. This was fulfilled for her and for all Christians with the coming of the Savior when the preordained time had come. But for those who have not recognized it, the missing of this rendezvous will long remain a question. As the Talmud itself notes, "All dates that have been calculated for the coming of the Messiah have now passed" (Sanhedrin Treatise 97). And, suffering from this disappointment, the scholars of Israel resort to trying to reinterpret the expectation of the Messiah. However, the time was fulfilled, and the kingdom of God close at hand (cf. Mk 1:15). The vicissitudes of human existence seemed to be suspended for a second and to stand still when Augustus offered the world one of the rare periods of peace in History, the 25 years of the Pax Romana, as the star announcing the coming of the Prince of Peace shined brightly over Palestine.