- Called Despite Our Fears - BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS - Open Mind, Faithful Heart - 

                                                 -  Reflection on Following Jesus  -

YOU WERE CALLED, and now you are preparing to receive the ministry. You may be thinking, "At last we've arrived!" You may experience this preparation from the perspective of the "big moment". This can be harmful for us because without our being aware of it, it can lead us to relativize the ministry we are going to receive. To avoid doing that, our perspective should be that of the chairos, that is, of "God's time," which transcends all the "moments" of our existence. here, then, our question should be: Where do I stand? What is the foundation of my vocation?

IT WILL HELP US to recall the words of Jesus: "On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I have never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell - and great was it fall!" - Matthew 7:22:27 -

"AND HIS RUIN WAS GREAT." Those words remind me of the Lord's warning about the devil who, after being expelled from a possessed person, attempts to return with seven others so that "the last state of that person was worse than the first" - Luke 11:26 - So again we as the question: What is the foundation of my being?

FOR AN INITIAL MEDITATION, I propose that you consider the ministerial mission you will receive. Having been formally commissioned, you will be confronted yet again with this reality: you are created and saved by the same Jesus who now calls you to serve as ministers, and you will therefore need to exercise the discerning generosity required for greater service in this specific mission.

MUCH TO OUR CONSOLATION, sacred scripture has preserved for us the special relation that was established between the Lord and those he sent on mission: Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Joseph and so many others. All of them felt deeply on their inadequacy, in the face of the Lord's request: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt" - Exodus 3:11 - "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips" - Isaiah 6:5 - "Almighty God! Behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth." - Jeremiah 1:6 - "I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?" - Matthew 3:14 - even Joseph, who made plans "to dismiss Mary quietly". - Matthew 1:19 - There is a initial resistance, the inability to comprehend the magnitude of the call, the fear of the mission. This sign is from the good spirit, especially if it does not stop there but allows the Lord's strength to express itself through human weakness and to infuse that weakness with consistency and solidity. "I will be with you, and this shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain" - Exodus 3:12 - "He touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven" - Isaiah 6:7 - "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and whenever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" - Jeremiah 1:7-8 -; Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" - Matthew 3:15 - "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 1:20 -

IN GIVING US A MISSION, the Lord grounds us; he gives us a solid foundation. And he does not do so with the perfunctory attitude of someone giving us an ordinary task to perform, but with the empowering might of his Spirit, so that our identity is sealed by the very way in which we are made to belong to that mission. Identity is tied up with belonging, and for us belonging means participating in what Jesus grounds - and Jesus grounds us in the Church, in the holy and faithful people, for the glory of the Father. Perhaps, our fears and insecurities arise from the same feelings that moved Moses, Isaiah, John, and the other great figures to fight shy of their mission when it was first proposed to them. If so, then all we have to do is allow the Lord to speak to us and to help us place our fear, our pusillanimity, and our self-regard in their true perspective.

JESUS ESTABLISHED the kingdom of God. By his words and by his life he founded it once and for all. Belonging to that kingdom is for a value we cannot refuse. Jesus establishes us as pastors of his people and that is what he wants us to be. In speaking of our own foundations, we cannot prescind from this pastoral dimension of our lives. I think that for this meditation we may be helped by reviewing a pastoral document that summons us to allow ourselves to be established anew as pastors by Christ our Lord. I therefor propose that you read some passages from Evangelii Nuntiandi. Let us reflect on ourselves in the light of that teaching in order to draw some profit from it. 

JESUS HIMSELF has a mission: "Going from town to town, preaching to the poorest - frequently the most receptive - the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the Covenant offered by God is the mission for which Jesus declares that he is sent by the Father. And all the aspects of his mystery - the Incarnation itself, his miracles, his teaching, the gathering together of the disciples, the sending out of the Twelve, the cross and the resurrection, the permanence of his presence in the midst of his own - were components of his evangelizing activity" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 6). Through this evangelizing activity Christ "proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that by comparison everything else becomes 'the rest' that which is 'given' in addition - cf. Matthew 6:31-33 -. Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8). It is the Lord who establishes the kingdom.

Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" "What will we wear?" For it is the Gentiles strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:31-33 -

We may continue this mediation by contemplating the different ways in which Jesus describes "the happiness of belonging to this kingdom............. - P A G E  O N E - 

   

                                                     -   HUMAN  BEING  FREEDOM   -  

God created man/woman a rational being, conferring on him/her the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his/her own actions. "God willed that man/woman should be 'left in the hand of his/her own counsel,' so that he/she might of his/her own accord seek his/her Creator and freely attain his/her full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God." - CCC 1730, CCC 30 - GS 17; Sirach 15:14 - 

Man/Woman is rational and therefore like God; he/she is created with free will and is master over his/her acts. - St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres, 4, 4, 3,: PG 7/1, 983 -

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude. - CCC 1731, CCC 1721 - 

As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach. - CCC 1732, CCC 396, CCC 1849, CCC 2006 - 

The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin." - Cf. Romans 6:17 - CCC 1733, 1803 - 

Freedom makes man/woman responsible for his/her acts to the extent that they are voluntary. progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its act. - CCC 1734, 1036, 1804 -

Imputability  and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments and other psychological or social factors. - CCC 1735, CCC 597 -

Every act directly willed is imputable to its author: - CCC 1736, CCC 2568 - Thus the Lord asked Eve after the sin in the garden: "What is this that you have done?" - Genesis 3:13 - God asked Cain the same question. - Cf. Genesis 4:10 - The prophet Nathan questioned David in the same way after he committed adultery with the wife of Uriah and had him murdered. - Cf. 2 Samuel 12:7-15 -

An action can be indirectly voluntary when it results from negligence regarding something one should have known or done: for example, an accident arising from ignorance of traffic laws.

An effect can be tolerated without being willed by its agent, for instance, a mother's exhaustion from tending her sick child. A bad effect is not imputable if it was not willed either as an end or as a means of an action, for example, a death a person incurs in aiding someone in danger. For a bad effect to be imputable it must be foreseeable and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it, as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken driver. - CCC 1737, 2263 -

Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognised as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order. - CCC 1738, 2106 - Cf. DH 2&7 -

                 -  HUMAN  BEING  FREEDOM  IN  THE  ECONOMY  OF  SALVATION  -

Freedom and sin. Human being freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man/woman failed. He/She freely sinned. By refusing God's plan of love, he/she deceived himself/herself and became a slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom. - CCC 1739, 387, 401 -

Threats to freedom. The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man/woman, "the subject of this freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interest in the enjoyment of earthly goods." - CDF, Instr. Libertatis conscientia 13 - Moreover, the economic, social, political and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man/woman violates his/her own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself/herself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth. - CCC 1740, 2108, 1887 -

Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men/women. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free." - Galatians 5:1 - In him we have communion with the "truth that makes us free." - Cf. John 8:32 - The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of God." - Romans 8:21 - CCC 1741, 782 -

Freedom and grace. The grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trails, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world:  - CCC 1742, 2002, 1784 - 

Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness take away from us all that is harmful, so that, made ready both in mind and body, we may freely accomplish your will. - Missale Romanum, 32nd Sunday, Opening Prayer: Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude, ut, mente et corpore pariter expediti, quae tua sunt liberis mentibus exsequamur.  

IN BRIEF

CCC 1743 - "God willed that man/woman should be left in the hand of his own counsel (cf. Sirach 15:14), so that he/she might of his/her own accord seek his/her creator and freely attain his/her full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him." (GS 17&1)

CCC 1744 - Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of one's own. Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the sovereign Good.

CCC 1745 - Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he/she is the voluntary agent. His/Her deliberate acts properly  belong to him/her. 

CCC 1746 - The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear and other psychological or social factors.

CCC 1747 - The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man/woman. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.

CCC 1748 - "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1). 

-     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 -

An Old Testament prophetic book that portrays the coming glory of the MESSIAH. Prophet Zechariah describe as "the most Messianic of all the Old Testament books" describe by many scholars, academic, intellectual person as "the most Messianic of all the Old Testament books" because it contains many specific references to the Messiah in its brief 14 chapters. The 14 chapters of Zechariah fall naturally into two important chapters, that is, the prophet's encouragement to the people to finish the work of rebuilding the Temple, and in chapters 9 to 14, Zechariah's picture of Israel's glorious future and the coming of the Messiah.

In the first section, Zechariah introduces himself as God's prophet and calls the people to repent and turn from their wicked and evil ways. Part of their sin was their failure to finish the work of rebuilding the Temple after returning from the Captivity in Babylon. In a series of eight symbolic night visions that came to the prophet. Zechariah encourages the people to finish this important task. These visions are followed by a coronation scene. In which a high priest named Joshua is crowned as priest and king, symbolizing the Messiah who is to come. This is considered one of the classic Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

- A summons to conversion - In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, Cry out to the remnant of this people and say to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets in the past cried: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Turn back from your wicked and evil ways and deeds. But - it is Yahweh who speaks - they would not listen and pay attention to me. Where are your ancestors now? Are those prophets still alive? Did not my words and my orders, with which I charged my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors? Yahweh was stirred to anger against your ancestors." This reduced them to such confusion that they said, 'Yahweh Sabaoth has treated us as he resolved to do, and as our ways and deeds deserved.' - Zechariah 1:1-6b -    

In Chapters 7 and 8 also continue another important element of the Messianic hope: the One to come will reign in justice from Zion, the city of Jerusalem. - Zechariah 8:3; 15-16 -

The second major section of Zechariah's book: chapters 9 to 14, contains God's promises for the new age to come. Chapter 9 has a remarkable description of the manner in which the ruling Messiah will enter the city of Jerusalem: "Behold, your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. - Zechariah 9:9 - These were the words used by Saint Matthew to describe Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem about 400 years after Zechariah, made this startling prediction - Matthew 21:5; Mark 11:-7-10 - 

Other promises for the future in this section of the book include the restoration of the nation of Israel (Chapter 10) and Jerusalem's deliverance from her enemies (Chapter 12) as well as her purification as the holy city (Chapter 13). Like the Book of Revelation, Zechariah closes on the theme of the universal reign of God. All nations will come to worship Him as He extends His rule throughout the world (Chapter 14).

Most conservative scholars agree that the entire Book of Zechariah was written by the prophet of that name, who identifies himself in the book's introduction as "the son of Berechiah" - (1:1) But some scholars insist the second major section of the book, Chapter 9 to 14, was written by an unknown author. These scholars believe this section was added to the book about 30 or 40 years after Zechariah the prophet wrote Chapters 1 to 8. 

It is true that these two sections of the Book have their own unique characteristics. In the first section Zechariah encourages the people to finish the Temple, while in the second section he is more concerned about the glorious age of the future. The language and style of these two sections of Zechariah are also quite different. And the prophecies in these two sections seem to be in different times. 

Chapter 1 to 8, Zechariah tells us, were delivered as prophecies "in the eighth months of the second years of Darius" - 1:11 - and "in the fourth year of king Darius" - 7:1 - These references to Darius I of Persia (ruled 521-486 B. C.) But chapters 9-14 contain a reference to Greece (9:13), probably indicating it was written after 480 B.C., when the balance of world power was shifting from the Persians to the Greeks. How can these major differences between these two sections of the book explained unless we accept the theory that they were written by two different people?

One possible explanation is that Zechariah was a young man when he delivered his prophecies in the first section of the book. The book itself contains a clue that this may have been the case. In one of his visions, two angels speak to one another about the prophet, referring to him as "this young man" (2:4). Thus it is quite possible that Zechariah could have encouraged the Jewish captives in Jerusalem in the early part of his ministry and could have delivered the messages about the future, contained in the second section of the book, during his final years as a prophet.

After all the evidence is examined, there is no convincing reason to dispute the traditional view that Zechariah the prophet wrote the entire book that bears his name. These prophecies were first delivered and then reduced to writing over a period of about 45 years - from 520 to 475 B.C.

As for the prophet himself, very little is known about him beyond the few facts he reveals in his book. He was a descendant, perhaps the grandson of Iddo the priest (1:1) - one of the family leaders who returned from the Captivity in Babylon - Nehemiah 12:16 - This means that Zechariah probably was a priest as well as a prophet - an unusual circumstance because most of the prophets of Israel spoke out against the priestly class. Since he was a young man when he began to prophesy in 520 B. C., Zechariah was probably born in Babylon while the Jewish people were in captivity. He probably returned with his family with the first wave of captives who reached Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, that is, about 536 B.C. 

The setting at the beginning of the Book is the same as the setting of the Book of Haggai. The prophet Haggai spoke directly to the issue of the rebuilding of the Temple, encouraging those whose returned from captivity in Babylon to finish the task. Zechariah spoke to that issue as well, according to the Book of Ezra 5:1. But Zechariah wished to bring about a complete spiritual renewal through faith, hope and love in God. He spoke about the nature of God love and of the hope which God promised to those who were faithful to Him. 

The second portion of Zechariah was written in the period between the times of the prophets Haggai (520 B.C.) and Malachi (450 B.C.) The Persian empire was ruled by two great kings during these years, Darius 1 (552-486 B.C.) and Xerxes 1 (585-465 B.C.) This was a period when the Jewish people in Jerusalem were settled in their new land with a walled city and their beloved Temple. But they were unhappy and dissatisfied. Some of the people had expected that Zerubbabel, governor of Jerusalem, might be the Messiah, but this had proven to be false. The people needed a new word concerning God's future for them. This message from God was given in a most dramatic fashion by the great prophet Zechariah.

One of the greatest contribution of the Book of Zechariah is the merger of the best from the priestly and prophetic elements in Israel's history. Zechariah realized the need for both these elements in an authentic faith. He called the people to repent and turn from their sins. He also realized that the Temple and religious ritual played an important role in keeping the people close to God. He brought these elements together in his own ministry, Zechariah helped prepare the way for the Christian community's understanding of Christ as both priest and prophet.

Zechariah is also noted for his development of an apocalyptic-prophetic style - highly symbolized and visionary language concerning the events of the end-time. In this, his writing resembles the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. The vision of lampstands and olive trees, horsemen and chariots, measuring lines and horns place him and these other two books in a class by themselves. Zechariah also has a great deal to say about the concept of God as warrior. While this was a well-established image among scriptural/biblical writers, Zechariah ties this idea to the concept of the Day of the Lord (cf. Joel chapter 2) His description of the return of Christ to earth as the great Warrior in the Day of the Lord - 14:1-9 - is one of the most stirring prophecies of the Old Testament.

On that day, according to Zechariah, Christ Jesus will place His feet on the Mount of Olives, causing violent changes and throughout the land (14:3-4). The day will be changed to darkness and the darkness to light (14:5-8). The entire world will worship Him as the Lord spreads His rule as King "over all the earth" - 14:9 - 

Zechariah 12:10 is a remarkable verse that speaks of the response of the nation of Israel to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It describes a day in the future when the Jewish people (the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem) will recognise the significance of the death of Jesus. This recognition will lead to mourning, repentance and salvation (cf. Romans 11:25-27) 

But the most startling thing about this verse is the phrase: "Then they will look on Me whom they have pierced." In speaking through the prophet Zechariah, the Lord Jesus identifies Himself as the one who will be pierced. Along with Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53: these words are a wonder of inspiration as they describe the result of Jesus' death as well as the manner in which He died to deliver us from our sins. Amen! Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! Thank be to God! Alleluia!          

-     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 -

"Ever since God created the world his everlasting power and deity - however invisible - have been there for the mind to see in the things he has made. That is why such people are without excuse: they knew God and yet refused to honour him as God or to thank him; instead, they made nonsense out of logic, and their empty minds were darkened. The more they called themselves philosophers, the more stupid they grew, until they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for a worthless imitation, for the image of mortal man, of birds, of quadrupeds and reptiles. That is why God left them to their filthy enjoyments and the practices with which they dishonour their own bodies, since they have given up divine truth for a lie and have worshipped and served creatures instead of the creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen!" - Romans 1:21-25 -

"Don't delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he sows in the field of Spirit he will get from it a harvest of eternal life. We must never get tired of doing good because if we don't give up the struggle we shall get our harvest at the proper time. While we have the chance, we must do good to all, and especially to our brothers/sisters in the faith." - Galatians 6:7-9 -

"Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. Each one should give what he/she has decided in his/her own mind, not grudgingly or because he/she is made to, for God loves a cheerful giver. And there is no limit to the blessings which God can send you - he will make sure that you will always have all you need for yourselves in every possible circumstance and still have something to spare for all sorts of good works." - 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 - 

"He/She who sows injustice reaps disaster, and the rod of his/her anger falls on himself/herself." - Proverbs 22:8 - 

"I lift my eyes to the mountains: where is help to come? Help comes to me from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. No letting our footsteps slip! This guard of yours, he does not doze! The guardian of Israel does not doze or sleep. Yahweh guards you, shades you. With Yahweh at your right hand sun cannot strike you down by day, nor moon at night. Yahweh guards you from harm, he guards your lives, he guards you leaving, coming back, now and for always." - The Psalms 121 - 

"Never try to get revenge; leave that, my friends, to God's anger. As Scripture says: Vengeance is mine - I will pay them back, the Lord promises........ Resist evil and conquer it with good." - Romans 12:19 -21 -

"I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us." - Romans 8:18 -

"As Sacred Scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives generously to the humble. Give in to God, then; resist devil and the evil one, and the devil will run away from you. The nearer you go to God, the nearer the devil will come to you." - James 4:7-8 - 

"Everything will soon come to an end, so, to pray better, keep a calm and sober mind. Above all, never let your love for each other grow insincere, since love covers over many a sin. Welcome each other into your houses without grumbling. Each one of you has received a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, put yourselves at the service of others. If your are a speaker, speak in words which seem to come from God; if you are a helper, help as though every action was done at God's orders: so that in everything God may receive the glory, through Jesus Christ, since to him alone belong to all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen." - 1 Peter 4:7-11 - 

*** No one can ever fully develop his/her character who does not understand the law; to use is to have. The wise get wiser, the rich get richer and "those who have, get." Hence the general complaint at raffles is that it is always the one who has the automobile who gets the prize; those who do not need money receive the inheritance. But it is not just windfall wealth that is received; rather, those who have capital are apt to put it out successfully for investment and thus double or triple their income. Treasure grows when it is used, but when hidden in the ground and not used it rusts. "To him /her who has, more shall be given."

Even in the higher realms of the moral order, the more one uses what is good, the more one develops and enriches it. The more the intellect is used for the high purposes to which it is destined, the more agile and profound it becomes. On the contrary, those who substitute eyes for the mind, or looking at pictures for thinking, eventually reach a point where reading a solid work is a positive trial. When everything is made easy, the noblest parts of man wither through disuse.

In the moral order as well, when the voice of conscience is used, respected, obeyed and followed, it becomes more sensitive to duty, more sympathetic to the burdens of others and more solicitous about the aches and worries of neighbours. On the contrary, when the voice of conscience is thrust aside; when the carnal and the erotic are allowed to dominate it; when the animal instincts are used to the detriment of the God-like imperatives, conscience begins to dwindle until it becomes "seared as if with a hot iron". Everyone is born with "moral capital" which is conscience. If he/she uses that capital he/she gets more of it, namely, an increase of goodness and honesty. Moral power is lost by inattention as the eyes of the mole lost their vision by groveling in the earth. Neglect has terrible penalties: talents are taken away and, after awhile, one becomes like the profligate woman in the Book of Proverbs who "wipes the mouth and says: 'I have done no wrong'."

This law explains why some intellectuals who seem to know so much have not always a virtue comparable to their knowledge. Some teachers know all the proofs of Aristotle for the existence of God, and yet they never say any prayers. Because they have not acted on the little knowledge atrophies like a parched tree, bearing no more fruit. It is the use of brains and not their mere possession to which the reward attaches. Any truth that is meant to influence life, if held lightly or indifferently, generally evaporates. The moral truths that we already know, if not followed through with some discipline and effort, soon become unwelcome truths, because they are at variance with the way we live.

Every D.D. ought to be a saint; every Ph.D. ought to be as good as Plato or Socrates but, as a matter of fact, there are more saints among the non-D.D.s, and more good moral pagans among the non-Ph.D.s. If the mind, the will and the moral sense of duty are to grow, they must be pressed to the heart with hoops of steel, allowed to dominate us until they begin to produce their capital of a happy and a peaceful life.

What is true in the order of nature is true in the order of super nature or grace. Only those who use the graces they are given are given more. As in the order of nature, we get our second wind only when we have used up our first, so in the order of the spirit, as we exhaust ourselves in the pursuit of the Divine and the Kingdom of God, are we given increments and compound interest of new insights and energies.

The law is written in every heart: Whatever we cultivate, bestial or divine, will grow; whatever we repress or neglect will die. Disregarded truth becomes disliked truth; truth acted on grows more rapidly than money produces interest. It is up to us to choose - everyone is reaping what he/she sows.

*** By VENERABLE  FULTON  J.  SHEEN 

-     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 -

- Jesus Declares His Identity - By His Holiness Pope Benedict VI - Joseph Ratzinger - Pages:1 - 4 -

"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 type, Jesus simply says "I am" or "I am he" without any further additions. In the second type, figurative expressions specify the content of the "I am" in more detail: I am the light of the world, the true vine the Good Shepherd and so on. If at first sight the second group appears to be immediately intelligible, this only makes the first group even more puzzling.

I would like to consider just three passages from John's Gospel that present the formula in its strictest and simplest form. I would then like to examine a passage from the Synoptics that has a clear parallel in John.

The two most important expressions of this sort occur in Jesus' dispute with the Jews that immediately follows the words in which he presents himself as the source of living water at the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. John 7:37f). This led to division among the people some started asking themselves whether he might be the awaited Prophet after all, whereas others pointed out that no prophets is supposed to come from Galilee (cf. John 7:40, 52). At this point, Jesus says to them: "You do not know where I come or whether I am going... You know neither me nor my Father" (John 8:14, 19). Jesus make his point even clearer by adding: "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world" (John 8:23). It is here that the crucial statement comes: "You will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he" (John 8:24).

What does this mean? We want to ask: What are you, then? Who are you? And that, in fact, is just how the Jews respond: "Who are you?" (John 8:25). So what does it mean when Jesus says "I am he"? Exegesis understandably set out in search of the origins of this saying in order to make sense of it, and we will have to do the same in our own efforts to understand. Various possibilities have been suggested" typical Revelation discourses from the East (E. Norden), Mandaean scriptures (E. Schweitzer), although these are much later than the books of the New Testament.

By now most exegetes have come to realize that we should look not just anywhere and everywhere for the spiritual roots of this saying, but rather in the world where Jesus was at home, in the Old Testament and in the Judaism of his lifetime. Scholars have since brought to light an extensive background of Old Testament texts, which we need not examine here. I would like to mention just the two essential texts on which the matter hingers.

The first one is Exodus 3:14 - the scene with the burning bush. God calls from the bush to Moses, who is his turn asks the God who thus calls him: "What is your name?" In answer, he is given the enigmatic name YHWH, whose meaning the divine speaker himself interprets with the equally enigmatic statement: "I am who I am." The manifold interpretations of this statement need not occupy us here. The key point remains: This God designates himself simply as the "I am." He just is, without any qualification. And that also means, of course, that he is always there - for human beings, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

At the great tome of hope for a new Exodus at the end of the Babylonian exile, Deutero-Isaiah took up once again the message of the burning bush and developed it in a new direction: "' You are my witnesses', says the LORD, 'and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am YHWH, and besides me there is no saviour'" (Isaiah 43:10f). "That you may know and believe me and understand that I am he" - the old formula 'ani YHWH is now abbreviated to 'ani bu' - "I he," "I am he." The "I am" has become more emphatic, and while it remains a mystery, it has also become clearer.

During the time when Israel was deprived of land and Temple, God - according to the traditional criteria - could not compete with other gods, for a god who had no land and could not be worshiped was not a god at all. It was during this period that the people learned to understand fully what was different and new about Israel's God: that in fact he was not just Israel's god, the god of one people and one land, but quite simply God, the God of the universe, to whom all lands, all heaven and earth belong; the God who is master of all; the God who has no need of worship based on sacrifices of goats and bulls, but who is truly worshiped only through right conduct.

Once again: Israel came to recognize that its God was simply "God" without any qualification. And so the "I am" of the burning bush found its true meaning once more: This God simply is. When he says "I am," he is presenting himself precisely as the one who is, in his utter oneness. At one level, this is of course a way of setting him apart from the many divinities of the time. On the other hand, its primary meaning was entirely positive: the manifestation of his indescribable oneness and singularity.

When Jesus says "I am he," he is taking up this story and referring it to himself. He is indicating his oneness. In him, the mystery of the one God is personally present: "I and the Father are one." H. Zimmerman has rightly emphasized that when Jesus says "I am," he is not placing himself alongside the "I" of the Father ("Das absolute 'Ich bin,'" p. 6) but is pointing to the Father. And yet precisely by so doing, he is also speaking of himself. At issue here is the inseparability of Father and Son. Because he is the Son, he has every right to utter with his own lips the Father's self-designation. "He who sees me, sees the Father" (John 14:9). And conversely: Because this is truly so, Jesus is entitled to speak the words of the Father's self-revelation in his own name as Son.

This issue at stake in the whole of the dispute in which this verse occurs is precisely the oneness of the Father and Son. In order to understand this correctly, we need above all to recall our reflections on the term "the Son" and its rootedness in the Father-Son dialogue. There we saw that Jesus is wholly "relational," that his whole being is nothing other than relation to the Father. This relationality is the key to understand the use Jesus makes of the formulae of the burning bush and Isaiah. The "I am" is situated completely in the relatedness between Father and Son.

After the Jew ask the question "Who are you?" - which is also our question - Jesus' first response is to point toward the one who sent him and from whom he now speaks to the world. He repeats once again the formula of revelation, the "I am he," but now he expands the formula of revelation, the "I am he," but now he expands it with a reference to future history: "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he" (John 8:28). On the Cross, his Sonship, his oneness with the Father, becomes visible. The Cross is the true "height." It is the height of "love to the end" (John 13:1). On the Cross, Jesus is exalted to the very "height" of the God who is love. It is there that he can be "known" that the "I am he" can be recognized.

The burning bush is the Cross. The highest claim of revelation, the "I am he," and the Cross of Jesus are inseparably one. What we find here is not metaphysical speculation but the self-revelation of God's reality in the midst of history for us. "Then you will know that I am he" - when is this "then" actually realized? It is realized repeatedly throughout history, starting on the day of Pentecost, when the Jews are "cut to the heart" by Peter's preaching (cf. Acts 2:37) and as the Acts of the Apostles reports three thousand people are baptized and join the communion of the Apostles (cf. Acts 2:41). It is realized in the fullest sense at the end of history, when, as the seer of the Book of Revelation says, "Every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him" (Revelation 1:7)

At the end of the disputes reported in chapter 8 of John's Gospel, Jesus utters once again the words "I am," now expanded and interpreted in another direction. The question "Who are you?" remains in the air and it includes the question "Where do you come from?" This leads the discussion on to the Jews' descent from Abraham and, finally, to the Fatherhood of God himself: "Abraham is our father... We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God" (John 8:39,41).

By tracing the origin back beyond Abraham to God as their Father, Jesus' interlocutors give the Lord the opportunity to restate his own origin with unmistakable clarity. In Jesus' origin we see the perfect fulfillment of the mystery of Israel, to which the Jews have alluded by moving beyond descent from Abraham to claim descent from God himself. 

Abraham, Jesus tells us, not only points back beyond himself to God as Father, but above all he points ahead to Jesus, the Son: "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day: he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). At this point, when the Jews objects that Jesus could hardly have seed Abraham, he answers: "Before Abraham came into existence, I am" (John 8:58). "I am" - once again, the simple "I am" stands before us in all its mystery, though now defend in contrast to Abraham's "coming into existence." Jesus' "I am" stands in contrast to the world of birth and death, the world of coming into being and passing away. Schnackenburg correctly points out that what is involved here is not just a temporal category but "a fundamental distinction of nature." We have here a clear statement of "Jesus" claim to a totality unique mode of being which transcends human categories" (Barrett, Gospel II, pp. 8of.).

Let us turn now to the story recounted by Mark about Jesus walking on the water immediately after the first multiplication of the loaves (cf. Mark 6:45-52). a story that closely resembles the parallel account in the Gospel of John (cf. John 6:16-21). H. Zimmermann has produced a painstaking analysis of the text ("Das absolute 'lch bin,'" pp. 12f). We will follow the main lines of his account.

After the multiplication of loaves, Jesus makes the disciples get into the boat and sail to Bethsaida. He himself, however, withdraws to pray "on the mountain." The disciples, in their boat in the middle of the lake, can make no headway because the wind is against them. While he is praying, the Lord sees them, and comes toward them over the waters. Understandably, the disciples are terrified when they see Jesus walking on the water; they cry out in "total confusion." But Jesus kindly speaks words of consolation to them: "Take heart, it is I [I am he]; have no fear." (Mark 6:50).

At first sight, this instance of the words "I am he" seems to be a simple identifying formula by means of which Jesus enables his followers to recognize him, so as to calm their fear. This interpretation does not go far enough, however. For at this point Jesus gets into the boat and the wind ceases; John adds that they then quickly reach the shore. The remarkable thing is that only now do the disciples really begin to fear; they were utterly astounded, as Mark vividly puts it (cf. Mark 6:51). But why? After their initial fright at seeing a ghost, the disciples' fear does not leave them but reaches its greatest intensity at the moment when Jesus gets into the boat and the wind suddenly subsides.

Obviously, their fear is of the kind that is typical of "theophany" - the sort of fear that overwhelms man when he finds himself immediately exposed to the presence of God himself. We have already met an instance of this fear after the abundant catch of fish, where Peter, instead of joyfully thanking Jesus, is terrified to the depths of his soul, falls at Jesus' feet, and says: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). It is this "divine terror" that comes over the disciples here. For walking in the waters is a divine prerogative: God "alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea," we read in the book of Job (Job 9:8; cf. Psalms 76:20 in the Septuagint version; Isaiah 43:16). The Jesus who walks upon the waters is not simply the familiar Jesus; in this new Jesus they suddenly recognize the presence of God himself.

 The calming of the storm is likewise an act that exceeds the limits of man's abilities and indicates the power of God at work. Similarly, in the earlier account of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples ask one another: "Who is this that even wind and water obey him?" (Mark 4:41). In this context too, the "I am" has something different about it. It is more than just a way for Jesus to identify himself. The mysterious "I am he" of the Johannine writings seems to find an echo here too. At any rate, there is no doubt that the whole event is a theophany, and encounter with the mystery of Jesus' divinity. Hence, Matthew quite logically concludes his version of the story with an act of adoration (proskynesis) and the exclamation of the disciples: "Truly, you are the Son of God" (Matthew 14:33).

Let us move on now to the sayings in which the "I am" is given a specific content by the use of some image. In John there are seven such sayings; the fact that there are seven is hardly accidental. "I am the Bread of Life," "the Light of the World," "the Door," "the Good Shepherd," "the Resurrection and the Life," "the Way, the Truth and the Life," "the True Vine." Schnackenburg rightly points out that we could add to these principal images the image of the spring of water - even though it does not literally form part of an "I am" saying, there are nevertheless other sayings in which Jesus presents himself as this spring of water (cf. John 4:14; 6:35; 7:38; cf. also 19:34). We have already considered some of these images in detail in the chapter on John. Let it suffice here, then, to summarize briefly the meaning that all these Johan-nine sayings of Jesus have in common.

Schnackenburg draws our attention to the fact that all these images are "variations on the single theme, that Jesus has come so that human beings may have life, and have it in abundance (cf. John 10:10). His only gift is life, and he is able to give it because the divine life is present in him in original and inexhaustible fullness" (Barrett, Gospel II, p. 88). In the end, man both needs and longs for just one thing: life, the fullness of life - "happiness." In one passage in John's Gospel, Jesus calls this one simple thing for which we long "perfect joy" (John 16:24).

This one thing that is the object of man's many wishes and hopes also finds expression in the second petition of the Our Father: thy Kingdom come. The "Kingdom of God" is life in abundance - precisely because it is just private "happiness" not individual joy, but the world having attained its rightful form, the unity of God and the world.

In the end, man needs just one thing, in which everything else is included; but he must first delve beyond his superficial wishes and longings in order to learn to recognize what it is that he truly needs and truly wants. He needs God. And so we now realize what ultimately lies behind all the Johannine images: Jesus gives us "life" because he gives us God. He can give God because he himself is one with God, because he is the Son. He himself is the gift - he is "life." For precisely this reason, his whole being consists in communicating, "in pro-existence." This is exactly what we see in the Cross, which is his true exaltation.

Let us look back. We have found three terms in which Jesus at once conceals and reveals the mystery of his person: "Son of Man," "Son," "I am he." All three of this terms demonstrate how deeply rooted he is in the Word of God, Israel Bible, the Old Testament. And yet all these terms receive their full meaning only in him; it is as if they had been waiting for him.

All three of them bring to light Jesus' originality - his newness, that specific quality unique to him that does not derive from any further source. All three are therefore possible only on his lips - and central to all is the prayer-term "Son", corresponding to the "Abba, Father" that he addresses to God. None of these three terms as such could therefore be straightforwardly adopted as a confessional statement by the "community," by the Church in its early stages of formation.

Instead, the nascent Church took the substance of these three terms, centered on "Son" and applied it to the other term "Son of God," thereby freeing it once and for all from its former mythological and political associations. Placed on the foundation of Israel's theology of election, "Son of God" now acquires a totally new meaning which Jesus had anticipated by speaking of himself as the Son and as the "I am."

This new meaning then had to go through many difficult stages of discernment and fierce debate in order to be fully clarified and secured against attempts to interpret it in light of polytheistic mythology and politics. For this purpose the First Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) adopted the word consubstantial (in Greek, homoousios). This term did not Hellenize the faith or burden it with an alien philosophy. On the contrary, it captured in a stable formula exactly what had emerged as in comparably new and different in Jesus' way of speaking with the Father. In the Nicene Creed, the Church joins Peter in confessing to Jesus ever anew: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16).                                                

                                                                   -  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   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  -    

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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 -