-   THE   SON   -  P A G E   T H R E E   -

At the beginning of this chapter, we saw briefly that the two titles "Son of God" and "Son" (without further qualification) need to be distinguished; their origin and significance are quite different, even though the two meanings overlapped and blended together as the Christian faith took shape. Since I have already dealt quite extensively with the whole question in my Introduction to Christianity, I offer only a brief summary here as an analysis of the term "Son of God."

The term "Son of God" derived from the political theology of the ancient Near East. In both Egypt and Babylon the king was considered to be his "begetting" as the son of God which the Egyptians may really have understood in the sense of a mysterious origination from God, while the Babylonians apparently viewed it more soberly as a juridical act, a divine adoption. Israel took over these ideas in two "today" to which the Psalms refers. God has now appointed his king, and has truly given him possession of the peoples of the earth as a heritage.

But this "dominion" over the peoples of the earth has lost its political character. The king does not break the peoples with an iron rod (Psalms 2:9) - he rules from the Cross, and does so in an entirely new way. Universality is achieved through the humility of communion in faith; this king rules by faith and love, and in no other way. This makes possible an entirely new and definitive way of understanding God's words: "You are my son, today I have begotten you." The term "son of God" is now detached from the sphere of political power and becomes an expression of a special oneness with God that is displaced in the Cross and Resurrection. How far this oneness, this divine Sonship, actually extends cannot, of course, be explained on the basis of this Old Testament context. Other currents of biblical faith and of Jesus' own testimony have to converge in order to give this term its full meaning.

Before we move on to consider Jesus' simple designation of himself as "the Son" which finally gives the originally political title "Son of God" its definitive, Christian significance, we must complete the history of the title itself. For it is part of that history that the Emperor Augustus, under whose dominion Jesus was born, transferred the ancient Near Eastern theology of kingship to Rome and proclaimed himself the "Son of the Divine Caesar," the son of God (cf. P.W. v. Martitz, TDNT, VIII, pp.334-40,esp.p.336). While Augustus himself took this step with great caution, the cult of the Roman emperors that soon followed involved the full claim to divine sonship and the worship of the emperor in Rome as a god was made binding throughout the empire.

At this particular historical moment, then, the Roman emperor's claim to divine kingship encounters the Christian belief that the risen Christ is the true Son of God, the Lord of all the peoples of the earth, to whom alone belongs worship in the unity of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The title: "Son of God" then, the fundamental apolitical Christian faith, which does not demand political power but acknowledges the legitimate authorities (cf. Romans 13:1-7), inevitably collides with the total claim made by the imperial political power. Indeed, it will always come into conflict with totalitarian political regimes and will be driven into the situation of martyrdom - into communion with the Crucified, who reigns solely from the wood of the Cross.

A clear distinction needs to be made between the term "Son of God" with its complex prehistory, and the simple term "the Son," which essentially we find only on the lips of Jesus. Outside the Gospels, it occurs five times in the Letter to the Hebrews (cf. 1:2; 1:8; 3:6; 5:8; 7:28) a letter that is related to the Gospel of John, and it occurs once in Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28). It also occurs five times in the 1st Letter of John and once in the 2nd Letter of John, harking back to Jesus' self-testimony in the Gospel of John (where we find the word eighteen times) and the Messianic Jubelruf (joyful shout) recorded by Saint Matthew and Saint Luke which is typically - and - correctly - described as a Johannine text within the framework of the Synoptic tradition. To begin with, let us examine this messianic Jubelruf: "At the time Jesus declared, 'I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes [to little ones]; yea, Father for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him." (Matthew 11:25-27; Luke 10:21-23). 

Let us begin with this last sentence which is the key to the whole passage. Only the Son truly "knows" the Father. Knowing always involves some sort of equality. "If the eye were not sun-like, it could never see the sun" as Goethe once said, alluding to an idea of Plotinus. Every process of coming to know something includes in one form or another a process assimilation, a sort of inner unification of the knower with the known. This process differs according to the respective level of being on which the knowing subject and the known object exist. Truly to know God presupposes communion with him, it presupposes oneness of being with him. In this sense, what the Lord himself now proclaims in prayer is identical with what we hear in the concluding words of the prologue of John's Gospel which we have quoted frequently: "No one has ever seen God: it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father's heart, who has made him known" (John 1:38). This fundamental saying - it now becomes plain - is an explanation of what comes to light in Jesus' prayer, in his filial dialogue. At the same time, it also becomes clear what "the Son" is and what this term means: perfect communion in knowledge which is at the same time communion in being. Unity in knowing is possible only because it is unity in being.

Only the "Son " knows the Father and all real knowledge of the Father is a participation in the Son's filial knowledge of him, a revelation that he grants ("he has made him known," John tells us). Only those to whom the Son "wills to reveal him" know the Father. But to whom does the Son will to reveal him? The Son's will is not arbitrary. What we read in Matthew 11:27 about the Son's will to reveal the Father brings us back to the initial verse 25, where the Lord thanks the Father for having revealed it to the little ones. We have already noted the unity of knowledge between Father and Son. The connection between verses 25 and 27 now enables us to see their unity of will.

The will of the Son is one with the will of the Father. This, in fact, a motif that constantly recurs throughout the Gospels. The Gospel of John places particular emphasis on the fact that Jesus unites his own will totally with the Father's will. The act of uniting and merging the two wills is presented dramatically on the Mount of Olives, when Jesus draws his human will up into his filial will and thus into unity with the will of the Father. The second petition of the Our Father has its proper setting here. When we pray it, we are asking that the drama of the Mount of Olives, the struggle of Jesus' entire life and work, be brought to completion in us; that together with him, the Son, we may unite our wills with the Father's will, thus becoming sons and daughters in our turn, in union of will that becomes union of knowledge.

This enables us to understand the opening of Jesus' Jubelruf, which on the first sight may seem strange. The Son wills to draw into his filial knowledge all those whom the Father wills should be there. This is what Jesus means when he says in the bread of life discourse at Capernaum: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me so wills (John 6:44). But whom does the Father will? Not "the wise and understanding," the Lord tells us, but the simple.

Taken in the most straightforward sense, these words reflect Jesus' actual experience: It is not the Scripture experts, those who are professionally concerned with God, who recognize him; they are too caught up in the intricates of their detailed knowledge. Their great learning distracts them from simply gazing upon the whole, upon the reality of God as he reveals himself - for people who know so much about the complexity of the issues, it seems that it just cannot be so simple. Paul describes this same experience and then goes on to reflect upon it: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart' [Isaiah 29:14].......For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong... so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:18f., 26-29). "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise" (1 Cor. 3:18). What, though, is meant by "becoming a fool, by being" a little one," through which we are opened up for the will, and so for the knowledge of God?

The Sermon on the Mount provides the key that discloses the inner basis of this remarkable experience and also the path of conversion that opens us up to being drawn into the Son's filial knowledge: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Purity of heart is what enables us to see. Therein consist the ultimate simplicity that opens up our life to Jesus' will to reveal. We might also say that our will has to become a filial will. When it does, then we can see. But to be a son is to be in relation: it is a relational concept. It involves giving up the autonomy that is closed in upon itself; it includes what Jesus means by saying that we have to become like children. This also helps us understand the paradox that is more fully developed in John's Gospel: While Jesus subordinates himself as Son entirely to the Father, it is this that is more fully developed in John's Gospel: While Jesus subordinates himself as Son entirely to the Father, it is this that makes him fully equal with the Father, truly equal to and truly one with the Father.

Let us return to the Jubelruf. The equality in being that we saw expressed in verses 25 and 27 (of Matthew 11) as oneness in will and in knowledge is now linked in the first half of verse 27 with Jesus' universal mission and so with the history of the world: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father." When we consider the Synoptic Jubelruf  in its full depth, what we find is that it actually already contains the entire Johan-nine theology of the Son. There too, Sonship is presented as mutual knowing and as oneness in willing. There too, the Father is presented as the Giver who has delivered "everything" to the Son, and in doing so has made him the Son, equal to himself: "All that is mine is thine and all that is thine is mine" (John 17:10). And there too, this fatherly giving then extends into the creation, into the "world": "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3;16). On one hand, the word only here points back to the prologue to John's Gospel, where the Logos is called "the only Son, who is God" (John 1:18). On the other hand, however, it also recalls Abraham, who did not withhold his son, his "only" son from God (Genesis 22:2,12). The Father's act of "giving" is fully accomplished in the love of the Son "to the end" (John 13:1), that is, to the Cross. The mystery of Trinitarian love that comes to light in the term "the Son" is perfectly one with the Paschal Mystery of love that Jesus brings to fulfillment in history.

Finally, Jesus' prayer is seen also by John to be the interior locus of the term "the Son." Of course, Jesus' prayer is different from the prayer of a creature: It is the dialogue of love within God himself - the dialogue that God is. The term "the Son" thus goes hand in hand with the simple appellation "Father" that the Evangelist Mark has preserved for us in its original Aramaic form in his account of the scene on the Mount of Olives: "Abba."

Joachim Jeremias has devoted a number of in-depth studies to demonstrating the uniqueness of this form of address that Jesus used for God, since it implied an intimacy that was impossible in the world of his time. It expresses the "unity" of the "Son". Paul tells us that Jesus' gift of participation in his Spirit of Sonship empowers Christians to say: "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Paul makes it clear that this new form of Christian prayer is possible only through Jesus, through the only-begotten Son.

The term "Son" along with its correlate "Father (Abba)" gives us a true glimpse into the inner being of Jesus - indeed, into the inner being of God himself. Jesus' prayer is the true origin of the term "the Son". It has no prehistory, just as the Son himself is "new" even though Moses and the Prophets prefigure him. The attempt has been made to use postbiblical literature - for example, the Odes of Solomon (dating from the second century A.D.) - as a source for constructing a pre-Christian, "Gnostic" prehistory of this term, and to argue that John draws upon that tradition. If we respect the possibilities and limits of the historical method at all, this attempt makes no sense. We have to reckon with the originality of Jesus. Only he is "the Son."

"I  AM" - The sayings of Jesus that the Gospels transmit to us include - predominantly in John, but also (albeit less conspicuously and to a lesser degree) in the Synoptics - a group of "I am" sayings. They fall into two different categories. In the first............ - " I  AM " -  PAGE  FOUR  -    

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 -If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -  

The first one is Luke 12:8f: "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he/she who denies me before men will be denied before angels of God." The second text is Luke 17:24ff: "For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." The reason why these texts are looked upon with approval is that they seem to distinguish between the Son of Man and Jesus; especially the first saying, it is argued, makes it quite clear that the Son of Man is not identical with the Jesus who is speaking.

Now, the first thing to note in this regard is that the most ancient tradition, at any rate, did not understand it in that way. The parallel text in Mark 8:38 ("For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels") does not state the identification explicitly, but the structure of the sentence makes it crystal clear. In Matthew's version of the same text, the term Son of Man is missing. This makes even the identity of the earthly Jesus with the judge who is to come: "So everyone who acknowledge me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 10:32f. - But even in Lukan text, the identity is perfectly clear from the overall content. It is true that Jesus speaks in the riddle form that is characteristic of him, leaving the listener to take the final step toward understanding. But there is a functional identification in the parallelism of confession and denial - now and at the judgement, before Jesus and before the Son of Man - and this only make sense on the basis of ontological identity.

The judges of the Sanhedrin actually understood Jesus properly: he did not correct them by saying something like: "But you misunderstand me; the coming Son of Man is someone else." The inner unity between Jesus' lived kenosis - cf. Philippians 2:5-11 - and his coming in glory is the constant motif of his words and actions; this is what  is authentically new about Jesus, it is no invention - on the contrary, it is epitome of his figure and his words. The individual  texts have to be seen in context - they are not better understood in isolation. Even if Luke 12:8f. might appear to lend itself to a different interpretation, the second text is much clearer: Luke 17:24ff. unambiguously identifies the two figures. The Son of Man will not come here or there, but will appear like a flash of lightning from one end of heaven to the other, so that everyone will behold him, the Pierced One (cf. Revelation 1:7); before that, however, he - this same Son of Man - will have to suffer much and be rejected. The prophecy of the Passion and the announcement of future glory are inextricably interwoven. It is clearly one and the same person who is the subject of both: the very person, in fact, who, as he speaks those words, is already on the way to his suffering.

Similarly, the sayings in which Jesus speaks of his present activity illustrate both aspects. We have already briefly examined his claim that, as Son of Man, he is Lord of the Sabbath (cf. Mark 2:28). This passage exactly illustrates something that Mark describes elsewhere. "They were dismayed at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22). Jesus placed himself on the side of the Lawgiver, God; he is not an interpreter, but the Lord.

This become clearly still in the account of the paralytic, whose friends lower him from the roof to the Lord's feet on a stretcher. Instead of speaking a word of healing, as the paralytic and his friends were expecting, Jesus says first of all to the suffering man: "My son, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5). For giving sins is the prerogative of God alone, as the scribes rightly objected. If Jesus ascribes this authority to the Son of Man, then he is claiming to possess the dignity of God himself and to act on that basis. Only after the promise of forgiveness does he say what the sick man was hoping to hear: "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' - he said to the paralytic - 'I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home'" (Mark 2:10-11). This divine claim is what leads to the Passion. In that sense, what Jesus says about his authority points toward his suffering.

Let us move on now to the third group of Jesus' sayings about the Son of Man: the predictions of his Passion. We have already seen that the three predictions in Mark's Gospel, which recur at intervals in the course of Jesus' journey, announce with increasing clarity his approaching destiny and its inner necessity. They reach their inner center and their culmination in the statement that follows the third prediction of the Passion and the closely connected discourse on ruling and serving: "For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

This saying incorporates a citation from the Suffering Servant Songs (cf. Isaiah 53) and thus weaves another strand of Old Testament tradition into the picture of the Son of Man. Jesus, while on one hand identifying himself with the coming judge of the world, also identifies himself here with the suffering and dying Servant of God whom the Prophet foretells in his Songs. The unity of suffering and "exaltation," of abasement and majesty, becomes visible. Service is the true form of rule and it gives us an insight into God's way of being Lord, of "God's lordship." In suffering and in death, the life of the Son of Man becomes sheer "pro-existence." He becomes the Redeemer and bringer of salvation for the "many": not only for the scattered children of Israel, but for all the scattered children of God - cf. John 11:52 - for humanity. In his death  "for many" he transcends the boundaries of place and time, and the universality of his mission comes to fulfillment.

Earlier exegesis considered the blending together of Daniel's vision of the coming Son of Man with the images of the Suffering Servant of God transmitted by Isaiah to be the characteristically new and specific feature of Jesus' idea of the Son of Man - indeed, as the center of his self-understand overall. It was quite right to do so. We must add, though, that the synthesis of Old Testament traditions that make up Jesus' image of the Son of Man is more inclusive still, and it brings together even more strands and currents of Old Testament tradition.

First of all, Jesus' answer to the question as to whether he is the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed, combines Daniel 7 with Psalm 110: Jesus presents himself as the one who sits "at the right hand of Power," corresponding to what the Psalm prophesies of the future priest-king. Furthermore, the third prediction of the Passion, which speaks of the rejection of the Son of Man by the scribes, elders, and high priests (cf. Mark 8:31), blends in the passage from Psalm 118:22 concerning the stone rejected by the builders that has become the chief cornerstone. This also establishes a connection with the parable of the unjust vintners, in which the lord cites these words in order to prophesy his rejection, his Resurrection, and the new communion that will follow. This connection with the parable also brings to light the identity between the "Son of Man" and the "beloved Son" (Mark 12:1-12). Finally, the Wisdom Literature provides another of the currents present here. The second chapter of the Book of Wisdom depicts the enmity of the "ungodly" against the righteous man: "He boasts that God is his father... If the righteous man is God's son, he will help him... Let us condemn him to a shameful death" (Wisdom 2:16-20). V. Hampel holds that Jesus' words about the "ransom for many" are derived not from Isaiah 53:10-12, but from Proverbs 21:18 and Isaiah 43:3 (cited in Schnackenburg, Jesus in the Gospels, p. 59). This strikes me as very unlikely. The actual reference point is and remains Isaiah 53; others texts demonstrate only that this basic vision may be linked to a wide range of references.

Jesus lived by the whole of the Law and the Prophets, as he constantly told his disciples. He regarded his own being and activity as the unification and interpretation of this "whole." John later expressed this in his prologue, where he wrote that Jesus himself is "the Word." "Jesus Christ is the 'yes' to all that God promised," is how Paul puts it (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20). The enigmatic term "Son of Man" presents us in concentrated form with all that is most original and distinctive about the figure of Jesus, his mission, and his being. He comes from God and he is God. But that is precisely what makes him - having assumed human nature - the bringer of true humanity.

According to the Letter to the Hebrews, he says to his Father, "A body hast thou prepared for me" (Hebrews 10:5). In saying this, he transforms a citation from the Psalms that read: "My ears hast thou opened" (Psalms 40:6). In the context of the Psalm, this means that what brings life is obedience, saying Yes to God's Word, not to holocausts and sin offerings. Now the one who is himself the Word takes on a body, he comes from God as a man, and draws the whole of man's being himself, bearing it into the Word of God, making it "ears" for God and thus "obedience" reconciliation between God and man (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Because he is wholly given over to obedience and love, loving to the end (cf. John 13:10), he himself becomes the true "offering." He comes from God and hence establishes the true form of man's being. As Paul says, whereas the first man was and is earth, he is the second, definitive (ultimate) man, the "heavenly" man. "life-giving spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). He comes, and he is at the same time the new "Kingdom". He is not one individual, but rather he makes all of us "one single person" (Galatians 3:28) with himself, a new humanity.

What Daniel glimpsed from afar as a collective ("like a Son of Man") now becomes a person, but this person, existing as he does "for the many," transcends the bounds of the individual and embraces "many," becomes with the many "one body and one spirit" (cf. 1 Cor. 6:17). This the "discipleship" to which he calls us: that we should let ourselves be drawn into his new humanity and from there into communion with God. Let us listen once more to what Paul has to say about this: "Just as the one [the first man, Adam] from the earth was earthly, so too is his posterity. And just as the one who comes from heaven is heavenly, so too is his posterity" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:48).

The title "Son of Man" continued to be applied exclusively to Jesus, but the new vision of the oneness of God and man that is expresses is found throughout the entire New Testament and shapes it. The new humanity that comes from God is what being a disciple of Jesus Christ is all about.

              -   THE   SON   -  At the beginning of this chapter, we saw briefly..............         

                                                                  - P A G E  T W O - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 - 

                             

   -    Jesus  Declares  His  Identity    -   By His Holiness Pope Benedict VI   -  Joseph Ratzinger  -

Already during Jesus' lifetime, people tried to interpret his mysterious figure by applying to him categories that were familiar to them and that were therefore considered apt for deciphering his mystery: He is seen as John the Baptist, as Elijah or Jeremiah returning, or as the Prophet (cf. Matthew 16:14; Mark 8:28; Luke 9:19) In his confession, Peter uses - as we have seen - others, loftier titles: Messiah, Son of the living God. The effort to express the mystery of Jesus in titles that explained his mission, indeed, his essence, continued after Easter. Increasingly, three fundamental titles began to emerge: "Christ" (Messiah), "Kyrios" (Lord) and "Son of God."

The first title, taken by itself, made little sense outside of Semitic culture. It quickly ceased to function as a title and was joined with the name of Jesus: Jesus Christ. What began as an interpretation ended up as a name, and therein lies a deeper message: He is completely one with his office; his task and his person are totally inseparable from each other. It was thus right for his task to become a part of his name.

This leaves the two titles "Kyrios" and "Son" which both point in the same direction. In the development of the Old Testament and of the early Judaism, "Lord" had become a paraphrase for the divine name. Its application to Jesus therefore claimed for him a communion of being with God himself; it identified him as the living God present among us. Similarly, the title "Son of God" connected him with the being of God himself. Of course, the question as to exactly what sort of ontological connection this might be inevitably became the object of strenuous debate from that moment on, as faith strove to prove, and to understand clearly, its own rational content. Is he "Son" in a derivative sense, referring to some special closeness to God, or does the term "Son" imply that within God himself there is Father and Son, that the Son is truly "equal to God" true God from true God? The First Council of Nicea (325) summed up the result of this fierce debate over Jesus' Sonship in the word homoousios, "of the same substance" - the only philosophical term that was incorporated into the Creed. This philosophical term serves, however, to safeguard the reliability of the biblical term. It tells us that when Jesus' witnesses call him "the Son," this statement is not meant in a mythological or political sense - those being the most obvious interpretations given the context of the time. Rather, it is meant to be understood quite literally: Yes, in God himself there is an eternal dialogue between Father and Son, who are both truly and the same God in the Holy Spirit.

The exalted Christological titles contained in the New Testament are the subject of an extensive literature. The debate surrounding them falls outside the scope of this book, which seeks to understand Jesus' earthly path and his preaching, not their theological elaboration in the faith and reflection of the early Church. What we need to do instead is to attend somewhat more closely to the titles that Jesus applies to himself, according to the evidence of the Gospels. There are two. Firstly, his preferred self-designation is "Son of Man"; secondly, there are texts - especially in the Gospel of John - where he speaks of himself simply as the "Son." The title "Messiah" Jesus did not actually apply to himself; in a few passages in John's Gospel we find the title "Son of God" on his lips. Whenever messianic or other related titles are applied to him, as for example by the demons he casts out, or by Peter in his confession, he enjoins silence. It is true, of course, that the title Messiah, "King of the Jews," is placed over the Cross - publicly displayed before the whole world. And it is permissible to place it there - in the three languages of the world of that time (cf. John 19:19f) - because now there is no longer any chance of its being misunderstood. The Cross is his throne and as such it gives the correct interpretation of this title. Regnavit a lingo Deus - God reigns from the wood of the Cross, as the ancient Church sang in celebration of this new kingship.

Let us now turn to the two "titles" that Jesus used for himself, according to the Gospels.

(1) - THE  SON  OF  MAN - Son of Man - this mysterious term is the the title that Jesus most frequently uses to speak of himself. In the Gospel of Mark alone the term occurs fourteen times on Jesus' lips. In fact, in the whole of the New Testament, the term "Son of Man" is found only in Jesus' lips, with the single exception of the vision of the open heavens that is granted to the dying Stephen: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" - Acts 7:56 - At the moment of his death, Stephen sees what Jesus had foretold during his trial before the Sanhedrin: You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven." - Mark 14:62 - Stephen is therefore actually "citing" a saying of Jesus, the truth of which he is privileged to behold at the very moment of his martyrdom.

This is an important finding. The Christology of the New Testament writers, including the Evangelists, builds not on the title "Son of Man" but on the titles that were already beginning to circulate during Jesus' lifetime: "Messiah" (Christ), "Kyrios" (Lord), "Son of God." The designation "Son of Man" is typical for Jesus' own sayings; in the preaching of the Apostles, its content is transferred to the other titles, but this particular title is not used. This is actually a clear finding. And yet a huge debate has developed around it in modern exegesis; anyone who tries to get to the bottom of it finds himself in a graveyard of mutually contradictory hypotheses. A discussion of this debate lies outside the scope of this book. Nevertheless, we do need to consider the main lines of the argument.

Three sets of "Son of Man" statements are commonly distinguished. The first group consists of sayings which Jesus does not point to himself as the Son of Man, but distinguishes between the one who is to come and himself. The second group comprises sayings about the earthly activity of the Son of Man, while the third speaks of his suffering and Resurrection. The predominant trend among exegetes is to regard only the first group - if any - as authentic sayings of Jesus; this reflects the conventional interpretation of Jesus' preaching in terms of imminent eschatology. The second group, which includes sayings about his lordship over the Sabbath, and about his having neither possessions nor home, is said to have developed - according to one main line of argument - in early Palestinian tradition. This would point to quite an early origin, but not as far back as Jesus himself. Finally, the most recent sayings would be those concerning the death and Resurrection of the Son of Man. In Mark's Gospel, they occur at intervals during Jesus' journey up to Jerusalem and naturally, according to this theory, could only have been created after the events in question - perhaps even by the Evangelist Mark himself.

Splitting up the Son of Man sayings in this way is the result of a certain kind of logic that meticulously classifies the different aspects of a title. While that might be appropriate for rigorous professional thinking, it does not suit the complexity of living reality, in which a multilayered whole clamors for expression. The fundamental criterion for this type of interpretation rests, however, on the question as to what we can safely attribute to Jesus, given the circumstances of his life and his cultural world. Very little, apparently! Real claims to authority or predictions of the Passion do not seem to fit. The sort of toned-down apocalyptic expectation that was circulation at the time can be "safely" ascribed to him - but nothing more, it would seem. The problem is that this approach does not do justice to the powerful impact of the Jesus-event. Our reflections on Julicher's exegesis of the parables have already led us to the conclusion that no one would have condemned to the Cross on account of such harmless moralizing.

For such a radical collusion to occur, provoking the extreme step of handing Jesus over to the Romans, something dramatic must have been said and done. The great and stirring events come right at the beginning: the nascent Church could only slowly come to appreciate their full significance, which she came to grasp as, in "remembering" them. she gradually thought through and reflected on these events. The anonymous community is credited with an astonishing level of theological genius - who were the great figures responsible for inventing all this? No, the greatness, the dramatic newness, comes directly from Jesus; within the faith and life of the community it is further developed, but not created. In fact, the "community" would not even have emerged and survived at all unless some extraordinary reality had preceded it. 

The term "Son of Man" with which Jesus both concealed his mystery and at the same time, gradually made it accessible, was new and surprising. It was not in circulation as a title of messianic hope. It fits exactly with the method of Jesus' preaching, inasmuch as he spoke in riddles and parables so as to lead gradually to the hidden reality that can truly be discovered only through discipleship. In both Hebrew and Aramaic usage, the first meaning of the term "Son of Man" is simply "man." That simple word would blends together with a mysterious allusion to a new consciousness of mission in the term "Son of Man." This becomes apparent in a saying about the Sabbath that we find in the Synoptics. It reads as follows in Mark: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" - Mark 2:27f - In Matthew and Luke, the first sentence is missing. They record Jesus as saying simply: "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" - Matthew 12:8; Luke 6:5 - Perhaps the explanation is that Matthew and Luke omit the first sentence for fear that it will be abused. Be that as it may, it is clear that according to Mark the two sentences belong together and interpret one another.

To say that the Sabbath is for man, and not for the Sabbath, is not simply an expression of the sort of modern liberal position that we spontaneously read into these words. We saw in our examination of the Sermon on the Mount that this is exactly how not to understand Jesus' teaching. In the Son of Man, man is revealed as he truly ought to be. In terms of the Son of Man, in term of the criterion that Jesus himself is, man is free and he knows how to use the Sabbath properly as the day of freedom deriving from God and destined for God. "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." The magnitude of Jesus' claim - which is an authoritative interpretation of the Law because he himself is God's primordial Word - becomes fully apparent here. And it also becomes apparent what sort of new freedom devolves upon man as a result - a freedom that has nothing to do with mere caprice. The important thing about this Sabbath saying is the overlapping of "man" and "Son of Man"; we see how this teaching, in itself quite ordinary, becomes as expression of the special dignity of Jesus.

"Son of Man" was not used as a title at the time of Jesus. But we find an early hint of it in the Book of Daniel's vision of four beasts and the "Son of Man" representing the history of the world. The visionary sees the succession of dominant secular powers in the image of four great beasts that come up out of the sea - that come "from below," and thus represent a power based mainly on violence, a power that is "bestial." He thus paints a dark, deeply disturbing picture of world history. Admittedly, the vision does not remain entirely negative. The first beast, a lion with the wings of an eagle, has its wings plucked out: "it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it" - Daniel 7:4 - Power can be humanized even in this age of the world: power can receive a human face. This is only a relative salvation, however, for history continues and becomes darker as it progresses.

But then - after the power of evil has reached its apogee - something totally different happens. The seer perceives as if from afar the real Lord of the world in the image of the Ancient of Days, who puts an end to the horror. And now "with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man....... And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion...... and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed" - Daniel 7:13f - The beasts from the depths are confronted by the man from above. Just as the beasts from the depths represent hitherto existing secular kingdoms, the image of the "Son of Man," who comes with the clouds of heaven," prophesies a totally new kingdom, a kingdom of "humanity," characterized by the real power that comes from God himself. This kingdom also signals the advent of true universality, the definitive positive shape of history that has all along been the object of silent longing. The "Son of Man" who comes from above is thus the antithesis of the beasts from the depths of the sea; as such, he stands not for an individual figure, but for the "kingdom" in which the world attains its goal.

It is widely held among exegetes that this text rests upon an earlier version in which "Son of Man" indicated an individual figure. We do not possess this version, though; it remains a conjecture. The frequently cited texts from 4 Ezra 13 and the Ethiopian Book of Enoch that do portray the Son of Man as an individual figure are more recent than the New Testament and therefore cannot be regarded as one of its sources. Of course, it would have seemed obvious to connect the vision of the Son of Man with messianic hope and with the figure of the Messiah himself, but we have no textual evidence that this was done dating from before Jesus' public ministry. The conclusion therefore remains that the book of Daniel uses the image of the Son of Man to represent the coming kingdom of salvation - a vision that was available for Jesus to build on, but which he reshapes by connecting this expectation with his own person and his work.

Let us turn now to the scriptural passages themselves. We saw that the first group of saying about the Son of Man refers to his future coming. Most of these occur in Jesus' discourse about the end of the world - cf. Mark 13:24-27 - and in his trail before Sanhedrin - cf. Mark 14:62 - Discussion of them therefore belongs in the second volume of this book. There is just one important point that I would like to make here: They are sayings about Jesus' future glory, about his coming to judge and to gather the righteous, the "elect." We must not overlook, however, that they are spoken by a man who stands before his judges, accused and mocked: In these very words glory and the Passion are inextricably intertwined.

Admittedly, they do not expressly mention the Passion, but that is the reality in which Jesus finds himself and in which he is speaking. We encounter this connection in a uniquely concentrated form in the parable about the Last Judgment recounted in Saint Matthew's Gospel - 25:31-46 - in which the Son of Man, in the role of judge, identifies himself with those who hunger and thirst, with the strangers, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned - with all those who suffer in this world - and he describes behaviour toward them as behaviour toward himself. This is no mere fiction about the judge of the world, invented after the resurrection. In becoming incarnate, he accomplished this identification with the utmost literalism. Jesus is the man without property or home who has no place to lay his head. - cf. Matthew 8:19; Luke 9:58 - Jesus is a prisoner, the accused, and he dies naked on the Cross. This identification of the Son of Man who judges the world with those who suffer in every way presupposes the judge's identity with the earthly Jesus and reveals the inner unity of the Cross and glory, of earthly existence in lowliness and future authority to judge the world. The Son of Man is one person alone, and that person is Jesus. This identity shows us the way, shows us the criterion according to which our lives will one day be judged.

It goes without saying that critical scholarship does not regard any of these sayings about the coming Son of Man as the genuine words of Jesus. Only two texts from this group, in the version reported in Luke's Gospel are classified - at least by some critics - as authentic sayings of Jesus that may "safely" be attributed to him. The first one is Luke 12:8f: "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he/she who denies me before men will be denied before angels of God." The second text is Luke 17:24ff: .............        -  P A G E  O N E  -

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -          

                               -  THE  CITY  OF  GOD  -  BY  SAINT  AUGUSTINE  OF  HIPPO  -

- Of the miseries and ills to which the human race is justly exposed through the first sin and from which none can be delivered save by Christ's grace -

That the whole human race has been condemned in its first origin, this life itself, if life it is to be called, bears witness by the host of cruel ills which it is filled. Is not this proved by the profound and dreadful ignorance which produces all the errors that enfold the children of Adam, and from which no man can be delivered without toil, pain and fear? Is it not proved by his love of so many vain and hurtful things, which produces gnawing cares, disquiet, griefs, fears, wild joys, quarrels, law suits, wars, treasons, angers, hatreds, deceit, flattery, fraud, theft, robbery, perfidy, ambition, envy, murders, parricides, cruelty, ferocity, wickedness, luxury, insolence, impudence, shamelessness, fornications, adulteries, incest and numberless uncleanness and unnatural acts of both sexes, which it is shameful so much as to mention; sacrileges, heresies, blasphemies, perjuries, oppression of the innocent, calumnies, plots, falsehoods, false witnessing, unrighteous judgments, violent deeds, plundering and whatever similar wickedness has found its way into the lives of men/women, though it cannot find its way into the conception of pure minds? These are indeed the crimes of wicked men/women, yet they spring from that root of error and misplaced love which is born with every son of Adam. For who is there that has not observed with what profound ignorance, manifesting itself even in infancy and with what superfluity of foolish desires, beginning to appear in boyhood/girlhood, man/women comes into this life, so that, were he/she let to live as he/she pleased, and to do whatever he/she pleased, he/she would plunge into all, or certainly into many of those crimes and iniquities which I mentioned, and could not mention?

But because God does not wholly desert those whom He condemns, nor shuts up in His anger His tender mercies, the human race is restrained by law and instruction which keep guard against the ignorance that besets us, and oppose the assaults of vice, but are themselves full of labour and sorrow. For what mean those multifarious threats which are used to restrain the folly of children? What mean pedagogues, masters, the birch, the strap, the cane, the schooling which Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible says must be given a child, "bearing him/her on the sides lest he/she wax stubborn," "Bend his neck in youth, bruise his ribs while he is a child, or else he will grow stubborn and disobedient, and hurt you very deeply."  - Ecclesiasticus 30:12 - and it be hardly possible or not possible at all to subdue him? Why all these punishments, save to overcome ignorance and bridle evil desires - these evils with which we come into the world? For why is it that we remember with difficulty and without difficulty forget? learn with difficulty and without difficulty remain ignorant? are diligent with difficulty and without difficulty are indolent? Does not this show what vitiated nature inclines and tends to by its own weight, and what succour it needs if it is to be delivered? Inactivity, sloth, laziness, negligence are vices which shun labour, since labor, though useful, is itself a punishment.

But besides the punishment of childhood, without which there would be no learning of what the parents wish - and the parents rarely wish anything useful to be taught - who can describe, who can conceive the number and severity of the punishments which afflict the human race - pains which are not only the accompaniment of the wickedness of godless men, but are a part of the human condition and the common misery - what fear and what grief are caused by bereavement and mourning, by losses and condemnation, by fraud and falsehood, by false suspicions, and all the crimes and wicked deeds of other men? For at their hands we suffer robbery, captivity, chains, imprisonment, exile, torture, mutilation, loss of sight, the violation of chastity to satisfy the lust of the oppressor and many other dreadful evils. What numberless casualties threaten our bodies from without - extremes of heat and cold, storms, floods, inundations, lightning, thunder, hail, earthquakes, houses falling; or from the stumbling or shying, or vice of horses; from countless poisons in fruits, water, air, animals; from the painful or even deadly bites of wild animals; from the madness which a mad dog communicates, so that even the animal which of all others is most gentle and friendly to its own master, becomes an object of intense fear than a lion or dragon, and the man whom it has by chance infected fear than a lion or dragon, and the man whom it has by chance infected with this pestilential contagion becomes so rabid, that his parents, wife, children, dread him more than any wild beast! What disasters are suffered by those who travel by land or sea!

What man can go out of his own house without being exposed on all hands to unforeseen accidents? Returning home sound in limb, he slips on his own door-step, breaks his leg and never recovers. What can seem safer than a man sitting in his chairs? Eli the priest fell from his, and broke his neck. How many accidents do farmers or rather all men, fear that the crops may suffer from the weather, or the soil, or the ravages of destructive animals? Commonly, they feel safe when the crops are gathered and housed. Yet, to my certain knowledge, sudden floods have driven the labourers away, and swept the barns clean of the finest harvest. Is innocence a sufficient protection against the various assaults of demons? That no man might think so, even baptised infants, who are certainly unsurpassed in innocence, are sometimes so tormented, that God, who permits it, teaches us hereby to bewail the calamities of this life, and to desire the felicity of the life to come. As to bodily diseases, they are so numerous that they cannot all be contained even in medical books.

And in many, or almost all of them, the cures and remedies are themselves tortures, so that men are delivered from a pain that destroys by a cure that pains. Has not the madness of thirst driven men to drink human urine, and even their own? Has not hunger driven men to eat human flesh and that the flesh not of bodies found dead, but of bodies slain for the purpose? Have not the fierce pangs of famine driven mothers to eat their own children, incredibly savage as it seems? In fine, sleep itself, which is justly called repose, how little of repose there sometimes is in it when disturbed with dreams and visions; and with what terror is the wretched mind overwhelmed by the appearances of things which are so presented, and which as it were, so stand out before the senses that we cannot distinguished them from realities! How wretchedly do false appearances distract men in certain diseases! With what astonishing variety of appearances are even healthy men sometimes deceived by evil spirits, who produce these delusions for the sake of perplexing the senses of their victims, if they cannot succeed in seducing them to their side!

From this hell upon earth there is no escape, save through the grace of the Saviour Christ, our God and Lord. The very name Jesus shows this, for it means Saviour; and He saves us especially from passing out of this life into a more wretched and eternal state, which is rather a death than a life. For in this life, though holy men and holy pursuits afford us great consolations, yet the blessings which men crave are not in variably bestowed upon them, lest religion should be cultivated for the sake of these temporal advantages, while it ought rather to be cultivated for the sake of that other life from which all evil is excluded. Therefore, also, does grace aid good men in the midst of present calamities, so that they are enabled to endure them with a constancy proportioned to their faith. The world's sages affirm that philosophy contributes something to this - that philosophy which, according to Cicero, the gods have bestowed in its purity only on a few men. They have never given, he says, nor can ever give, a greater gift to men. So that even those against whom we are disputing have been compelled to acknowledge, in some fashion, that the grace of God is necessary for the acquisition, not, indeed, of any philosophy but of the true philosophy. And if the true philosophy - this sole support against the miseries of this life - has been given by Heaven only to a few, it sufficiently appears from this that the human race has been condemned to pay this penalty of wretchedness. And as, according to their acknowledgement, no greater gift has been bestowed by God, so it must be believed that it could be given only by that God whom they themselves recognise as greater than all the gods they worship.    

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -             

                                                     Freely   Embracing   Death 

JESUS TOOK  HIS DEATH seriously, as he did his life. Anointed by the Spirit, he was able to discern the signs of the times and was therefore perfectly aware that his "hour" would soon come (cf. John 2:4; 7:30; 13:1; Matthew 26:45). Paradoxically, however, we find that Jesus at times "hid himself" to escape public notice and persecution (cf. John 7:1; 8:59). Jesus was no coward, but neither was he suicidal. He was hiding from the police, from the assassins, from his enemies, because his hour had still not arrived. The thought of death distressed him (John 12:27), but he accepted the divine will; he left everything in the hands of his Father. Jesus knew that he was going to die, but he did not hand himself over recklessly. He defended his life until "the hour" arrived and so stayed out of sight. This circumstance makes us aware of the painful inner tension that afflicted the heart of Jesus, a tension that became visible at the culminating moment of Gethsemane.

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. - John 13:1 -

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking rest? See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." - Matthew 26:45 -

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say - 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour." - John 12:27 -

The death of Jesus was carried out by human beings, but it was according to God's designs - it was a human deed "worked over" by God. "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again" (Mark 9:31). The words "betray" and "kill" have a technical meaning in the scriptures. "Kill" refers to the slaying of a righteous person, and it designates human beings as the ones responsible for the death. In Greek, on the other hand, the verb "betray" means the same as "hand over" or "give up"; it is used to indicate that God is the one who does the "handing over" as Saint Paul tells us: "He did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us" (Romans 8:32).

When we hear that Jesus was "handed over" by Judas and the chief priests, we should understand that they are agents of the divine will. When Jesus is finally handed over, that is, "the hour," as he himself says: "This is your hour and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). At the same time, it is the hour of his glorification (cf. John 12:23-24).

At all times, Jesus acts with freedom, alternately appearing in public and disappearing from view - and eventually allowing himself to be taken captive. He makes his strategy clear: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father" (John 10:17-18). His freedom is such that he accepts both the plan of the Father (being handed over) and the instrument used (being killed by specified persons in a particular way). As we behold the splendor of Christ's dignity so manifest here, we are moved to exclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb!" (Revelation 5:12). This is the dignity of the person who surrenders in obedience to the Father's will and allows that will to determine how the deed will be done. All of this Jesus does with the utmost freedom.

All dignity is founded on both freedom and surrender. At first sight, the two concepts seem opposed: freedom means the ability to decide for oneself, while surrender suggests leaving the decision in someone else's hands. Nevertheless, freedom's deepest root entails voluntary abandonment because only thus can we find that for which we have been created, and this is called worthiness in the Worthy One, true lordship in the Lord.

For Prayer and Reflection - "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain: but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:23-24). 

THESE REFLECTIONS, WRITTEN BY JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO chosen for this volume by him, are deeply rooted in the Scriptures and in the pastoral experiences and concerns of the author. They are relevant to everyone who seeks to grow in understanding the call to follow Jesus. They also constitute the best introduction to the energetic and wise spirituality of Pope Francis. 

BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS - Open Mind, Faithful Heart - Reflection on Following Jesus -

     -   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -