At the heart of Christian proclamation

We live in very controversial times. The most intellectual giants are becoming fools both in their thinking and behavior, while the unschooled among the fishermen, farmers, poor laborers and the unemployed masses think and act with wisdom. This is much like the time when Jesus had just recruited His first disciples who returned from the mission Jesus had given them and who reported: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of Your Name." Jesus said: "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you . . ." At that very moment, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" (Lk 10:17-22). Already here, there is a very clear assertion of Godhead and Manhood in Jesus, necessary everytime there is question of Jesus Christ’s identity.

The very first revelation about His identity was made to very simple people who became Jesus’ disciples because in their humble childlikeness, they believed without question. What is the person of Christ to the living community in our time? The beliefs are varied usually with more emphasis on the human side of Jesus. The human side is preferred to the divine nature. Why? Because they can easily identify with the human side. So we get such identities as Jesus Christ, superstar; the laughing Christ; the dancing Christ; Jesus, mad with rage seeing the sellers in the temple. Biblical students in the school of theology are more fascinated with some minimal portrait of Jesus’ personal characteristics inferred from the Gospels: Jesus exorcising, the breach of the Sabbath commandment, the abandonment of ritual purifications, condemnations against Jewish legalism, fellowship with outcast, publicans, harlots and sinners, sympathy for women and children. They see Jesus as not living the ascetic life like St. John the Baptist; He gladly ate and drank wine at banquets. Perhaps it can be added that Jesus assembled about Him a small company of followers – men and women. He allowed Mary Magdalene to pour precious ointment on His feet kissing them wet with her tears and wiping it with her thick long hair. Worldly, one might think and those who think so shake their heads saying, "Oh, Jesus? He is just human like us."

All such thinking certainly falls short of even the barest biography of Jesus, but what is more important is that it tells us what kind of man Jesus is. But is this all what we need to know about the historical Jesus? To know that He was one who taught that in the face of the end men are called to radical self-giving love, and that He Himself lived this way even to the point where He gives Himself up to death – this is the essence of Jesus’ life on earth and the effects of which life is still accessible to us. Neither Jesus nor His message would have been remembered unless He was indeed the kind of person portrayed in the Gospels. What is the importance of affirming this truth about Jesus? This truth will forever be in our creed that there was indeed a historic Person who was conceived in the womb of a humble Virgin by the divine power of the Spirit, whose manner of life was of the kind portrayed in the Gospels, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, the third day He rose from the dead.

Jesus Christ and the life He preached by Word and example is at the very heart of Christian proclamation. This life He wants us to live in all its human dimension is not something utopian or belonging to a wish-world, but something that has been realized in the course of history. One of the most balanced statements of Jesus Christ’s Person is the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews: It begins with a strong assertion of Christ’s close relation to the Father. "He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His Word of power"; but soon the letter points to the necessity for a true humanity in anyone who could be a genuine mediator between God and man. "He had to be made like His brethren in every respect, except sin, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb 1:3; 2:17-18).

Christ has His Person on both sides of the divide and is thus both God and Man. Christhood means Incarnation and Incarnation is bringing together in one Person both Godhood and Manhood. To be Christlike we have to keep our humanity in God always being wary of the warning if we do not accept the truth about Christ: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the Cornerstone. Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away and given to a people that will produce its fruit" (Mt. 21:42-43).

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 21:33-44.