The First Gospel (10th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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The Fall of humanity was an occasion of great sorrow, for from it come all the evils of this world. Wars, oppressions, and death itself, all come to us because of that primordial transgression. Yet even in this tragedy, God gives a signal of hope that all will be made right. This comes in Genesis 3:15, which is the first declaration of the Gospel. The Catechism tells us about the significance of this passage:

“After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium (“first gospel”): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers.” (CCC 410)

How this is fulfilled can be seen in salvation history: God chooses a people for Himself, through whom He will bring blessing to the nations through the coming of a Messiah (Genesis 12:1-3). Out of that nation, God selects a young Jewish girl named Mary, who gives her “yes” to the angel Gabriel and then gives birth to Jesus (Luke 1:26-36). St. Paul tells us that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, Satan and the powers of this world are defeated and put to shame (Colossians 2:15). Satan is thus crushed in two senses: First by Mary, when she consents to become the mother of our Saviour, and after that by Jesus, when He triumphs over Satan on the Cross. As the Catechism points out:

“The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the ‘New Adam’ who, because he ‘became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,’ makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the ‘new Eve.’ Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (CCC 411)

But there is a third sense in which the Serpent is crushed. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, He establishes His Church out of redeemed men and women of every nation. To this Church, Paul writes: “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). This means we are in constant battle against Satan. Whenever the Gospel is preached and sinners are saved, we gain a small victory against him. But the final victory will come at the end of time, when Christ returns and vanquishes Satan for good. When He does, we will be right alongside Him and achieve victory with Him.

J. Luis Dizon