Isaac of Juttah
This Judean is one of the shepherds of the Nativity.[1]
He is greatly tried by life:"In my dark misery, in my dreary illness there was always a sky strewn with stars above me: the face of my mother, the only joy of my orphan life, the face of a bride, who was never mine and whom I continued to love even after her death."[2]The massacre of the innocents drives him onto the roads like all the other shepherds. He ends up at Juttah, a town near Judea, where his kidney disease worsens to the point of making him crippled.[3] He lives there miserably, helped as best as possible by the other shepherds of the Nativity, such as Elijah, as well as by Joachim and Sarah, compassionate neighbors.[4] Healed by Jesus,[5] he will become an important disciple entrusted with a real mission of evangelization of Judah,[6] then with training the disciples and guiding their work.
"In the meantime you will become formed with Isaac. He is so good and the Spirit of God has really instructed him during his long disease. And he is the man who has always forgiven everything…" said Jesus to John of Endor.[7]One of his first missions is precisely to evangelize Judea "exactly as you did at Juttah".[8] His hut in Juttah will be transformed by the inhabitants into a prayer room to meditate on the teaching of Jesus.[9]
Thus, if not for the Upper Room and the foundation of the Eucharist, as well as all the places where Jesus teaches, this place would be the first Christian Church.
An indefatigable evangelizer, he is very active and is given pastoral responsibilities. By chance during his travels, he meets at Enon the young Benjamin whom he tries to rescue from Alexander, his cruel and violent master by redeeming him. Lost cause, the money is pocketed and the shepherd is still kept there and mistreated, until Jesus arrives, confronts Alexander and performs two miracles.[10]
Character and Appearance
The tireless pilgrim,[11] in his fifties, short. He is a faithful character tempered by illness:"I would have rather rejected my own life, or I would have lived in torture, rather than reject You, My blessed remembrance, my New-Born Jesus! [...] Now, if I look back, now from an old man I have become young, what do I see of my past? Nothing. It is past."[12]
"Isaac, during his long sickness, must have destroyed all feelings of impatience, grudge and anger… He never reacts! Even if they box his ears, he smiles… What a peaceful man!"[13]
Apostolic Journey
Witness to the Nativity,[14] to the Crucifixion,[15] to the Resurrection,[16] to the Ascension.[17]
Isaac quickly appears as a leader of the group of disciples, active, taking initiatives and entrusted with responsibilities by Jesus. "I do in my mission what I did during my sickness."[18] Isaac willingly teams up with Joseph of Emmaus the merchant accused of incest (unwittingly) and Timon of Aera, the synagogue leader of Clear Water.[19] He is appointed pastor of this small group[20] enlarged by the first disciples.[21] It is as a good "chief" of the disciples that Jesus names him.[22]
Having devoted his life to Jesus "from his birth to his Death", he begs the Resurrected One to take him with him:"Now this is what I would like: to follow You. But let it be done as You wish, now and always."[23]His wish will be granted: on the night following the Ascension, Isaac will die, thus ending a life consecrated actively, in pain and effort, to Jesus.[24]
His Name
Isaac (Iş'hac) expresses the joy "May (God) laugh!". Historical reference: the son Abraham had with Sarah, despite her old age and sterility. Isaac was the one almost offered as a holocaust.
Where is he mentioned in the work?
The adoration of the shepherds: GRM 30Apostolic journey in Judea: GRM 75 GRM 76 GRM 79 GRM 81
Selection of the last apostles: GRM 87 GRM 88 GRM 89 GRM 90 GRM 104 GRM 105
In Judea before common life: GRM 112 GRM 116 GRM 117 GRM 118
Teachings on the Ten Commandments: GRM 119 GRM 124
End of year celebrations: GRM 136 GRM 141 GRM 162 GRM 164 GRM 169 GRM 170 GRM 171 GRM 172 GRM 173 GRM 180 GRM 190 GRM 193 GRM 198 GRM 202 GRM 206 GRM 206 GRM 209 GRM 210 GRM 212 GRM 237 GRM 248 GRM 250 GRM 251 GRM 252 GRM 253 GRM 270 GRM 275 GRM 237 GRM 277 GRM 278 GRM 333 GRM 334 GRM 344 GRM 346 GRM 347 GRM 348 GRM 349 GRM 350 GRM 362 GRM 363 GRM 368 GRM 375 GRM 387 GRM 404 GRM 427 GRM 440 GRM 443 GRM 446 GRM 466 GRM 485 GRM 488 GRM 493 GRM 495 GRM 497 GRM 499 GRM 500 GRM 504 GRM 505 GRM 509 GRM 510 GRM 535 GRM 538
The exile in Samaria: GRM 565 GRM 574
The return to Jerusalem: GRM 581 GRM 584
Holy Week: GRM 590 GRM 598 GRM 623 GRM 624 GRM 626 GRM 635 GRM 638 GRM 639