What is the Way of Jesus?
Jesus’ claim was very bold: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. To have seen me is to have seen the Father.” [1] What is the Way of Jesus? What is the Truth of his claim that to have seen him is to have seen the Father? What is the Life that he promises us? If our reading of Scripture is to get us beyond the surface of the words, then these questions are most important ones we must reflect upon.
The Way: “Follow me”
The invitation Jesus makes to his disciples was (is) quite simple: “Follow me.” For us to come to know the Father and to be able to become his children, we have to accept Jesus. The way to the Father is the way of Jesus. The call that Jesus addresses to us today, just as he did to his first disciples, is the same call: “Follow me.”
When we freely choose to follow Jesus, we are required to be more than a Christian in name only, or of being a passive member of a church, or learning a lot about our Christian heritage, or strictly obeying a moral code. Following Jesus involves entering into a personal relationship with him, and acknowledging him as our Lord and Savior. To follow Jesus does not mean that we are to be respectful spectators of the life of Jesus from a distance (if you will). Jesus invites us to walk alongside him in obedience and trust.
To follow Jesus involves more than taking a step on the path that he laid out for us. It also means following after him, day after day. It means constantly renewing our commitment to him. And it means modeling our lives on his. Jesus invites us not simply to “tag along for the ride”, but to imitate him in his ways and to grow up into his image. When we accept the call to follow Jesus, we make him the focus of our lives, the image constantly before our eyes. He must become our way of life.
The way to the Father is the way of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” [2] So it is that we must always turn to Jesus and accept him as Lord in order to have forgiveness of our sins and receive life. This is why his call, “Follow me” has such seriousness when we hear it. Jesus Christ was not simply a great prophet arisen among us; he is the Word of God to us, the way to the Father provided for all of humanity. Only Jesus is the Way.
The Truth: “To see me is to see the Father”
When people saw Jesus, what did they see? The outward appearance of Jesus was certainly not ‘otherworldly’. Yet when he appeared to Peter, James and John during his transfiguration on the mountain, he must have normally looked like an ordinary human being. His neighbors during his time in Nazareth apparently saw nothing extraordinary about him. Considering him to be only the son of a carpenter turned preacher, they failed to believe and have faith in him. Even his relatives were surprised that people would gather in crowds to listen to him: “He went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind” [3] If his appearance had been in any way extraordinary, no doubt greater reverence, would have been shown to him.
Even after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, he did not appear to people in a dazzling light. Mary Magdalene mistook the risen Christ for the gardener [4] - something that would have been unthinkable if Jesus’ appearance was in any way extraordinary. If to see Jesus is to see the Father, we will need to go beyond mere physical appearance: Jesus looked like an ordinary human being of his time.
Perhaps the clue to seeing the Father in Jesus was (is) provided by Jesus himself: “You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason” [5] The works that Jesus did are the clue to seeing the Father.
The works that Jesus did were not mere signs and wonders – or a magic show demonstrating a superhuman power. They had a much deeper significance: they were a direct assault on the kingdom of darkness to repair the sickness and death that afflict man because of sin (from the beginning of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace). They were works of love, works revealing the Father’s love for mankind. Just as we are concerned when our children are sick or hungry; so our Heavenly Father is concerned for each and every one of us. This concern of the Father was expressed in Jesus by his works, works which revealed the Father’s love for all people.
The Life: “Love as I have loved you”
The works of Jesus - carried (carry) a special meaning for his followers. They were (are) not merely signs of God’s infinite love to be admired; they were (are) not only occasions for thanking God for his outpouring of love for us. They were and continue to be, works to be performed by all those following Jesus, in imitation of him. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason. I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father” [6]
The works that we are to do in imitation of Jesus are not primarily extraordinary miracles, but they are the works of love. “I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you for my disciples: your love for one another” [7] This “new command” might not seem revolutionary to us in today’s world, but when Jesus first proclaimed it, it must have struck his disciples as new indeed.
In the Old Testament, the law read: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [8] And whenever the law of love came up during Christ’s ministry he simply reaffirmed this Old Testament law. [9] But during the intimacy of the Lord’s Last Supper, Jesus revealed a new law for his disciples to follow: not merely love of others according to the standard by which we love ourselves, but love of others according to the new standard set by Jesus.
Jesus also demonstrated the meaning of this new command by washing the feet of his disciples before the Last Supper meal. This was a lowly service usually performed by a household slave or servant, and Peter at first rebels at this new idea. But Jesus deliberately washes their feet and then tells the disciples: “What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do” [10] The love of Jesus was a love of humble service – a love that went (goes) far beyond simply extending a form of self-love to others. This was (and still is today) a radically self-sacrificing love.
The love of Jesus for his apostles was love to the point of death. This realization must have ‘come home’ to the apostles during the Last Supper, because they knew that it was to be literally their last meal together before Jesus died. Jesus had told them that ‘his hour had come’, that he was returning to the Father and glorification – but he was returning by way of Calvary, for their sakes (and the sake of all mankind). This too was an important part of the new command: “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” [11] Jesus could not have made the meaning of this new commandment any clearer to his apostles than by presenting it to them on the very eve of his death. “Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other” [12]
In Jesus we see the Father; in the love that Jesus has for us, we see the love that his Father (and our Father) has for us. In following Jesus we have our way to the Father. In listening to the words of Jesus and obeying them, we enter into union with the Father (through Jesus himself): “If any man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him” [13] In Jesus we have life.
Even though Jesus does not physically (in person) walk in our lives today, he is still with us, he is always our life. As he himself confessed to us, through him, we can be in union with God: “In a short time the world will no longer see me; but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you” [14]
As the Way, the Truth, the Life, Jesus is the revelation of God come to man. He gives us not only knowledge about God, but he also gives us knowledge of God; not only a message from a God who is distant from us, but a path to our Father in heaven; not only a description of the good life that is promised to those who believe and obey, but the life itself. And we are given all this through his Holy Spirit.
[1] John 14:6, 9
[2] Acts 4:12
[3] Mark 3:20-21
[4] John 20:15
[5] John 14:11
[6] John 14:11-12
[7] John 13:34-35
[8] Lev 19:18
[9] Matt19:16-19, Luke 10:25-27
[10] John 13:15
[11] John 15:12-13
[12] John 13:34
[13] John 14:23
[14] John 14:19-20
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Triune Majesty of God
It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were riding in the car on our way to a far away place where we were going to visit with some people we had not yet met.
Riding in the car for long distances is a good way to 'catch-up' with many things 'pending'; such as praying a full rosary together and uninterrupted, recalling the plans and options for a family vacation, listening to one another as we talk about things that were perhaps unimportant when not given the time to share at length, spending some quiet time, together. And most importantly, simply enjoying being in each other's presence as we sit side by side riding in the car is a good thing, too.
My favorite part in long rides is looking out the window and taking in all the images of life that pass us by. Sometimes we see a hawk or some large bird flying high, and we wonder how it would feel - to fly free. At other times we spot a dead animal on the road, and our hearts are saddened by the loss - we imagine how it might have happened - who hit who - did someone in a vehicle get injured, too?
On this particular drive, we saw three balloons floating by rising higher in the sky. Could not begin to imagine where they had been released from or if perhaps some small child had lost them after attempting to hold on to them tightly (since helium tends to want to flee, we cannot keep it as it wants to rise freely, too).
The first thought was of God's Triune Majesty. Anytime our eyes capture good things in threes, the Holy Trinity comes to mind. Especially since the colors of the balloons were white and red. One balloon was a reminder of the purity of the spotless Lamb, Jesus (it was white). The other two balloons were red - the Father and the Holy Spirit (in union with the Son). In the mind’s eye, the balloons remind us of a child. In the eyes of faith, the balloons (indirectly, and yet ever so clearly) remind us of God’s creative hand in everything surrounding us at every moment of every day in our lives.
In the course of the drive, my mind goes back-and-forth with the thought of meeting people I have not yet met, and for the first time ever – have to share some time with. Instead of becoming concerned or even ‘alarmed’ by the idea and thinking (with the mind’s eye) of what it is that we will do or say in the presence of some strangers, my eyes of faith fix themselves on the three balloons floating freely. I wish to be like them, trusting that God in his Triune Majesty, will provide me with the words to say in order to bring the message of His Son to the moment we encounter, and share the gift of presence with those who (like us) are in fact other ‘known’ members of our family of faith, just waiting to be ‘found’ and made one, in the Mystical body, the Church.
Riding in the car for long distances is a good way to 'catch-up' with many things 'pending'; such as praying a full rosary together and uninterrupted, recalling the plans and options for a family vacation, listening to one another as we talk about things that were perhaps unimportant when not given the time to share at length, spending some quiet time, together. And most importantly, simply enjoying being in each other's presence as we sit side by side riding in the car is a good thing, too.
My favorite part in long rides is looking out the window and taking in all the images of life that pass us by. Sometimes we see a hawk or some large bird flying high, and we wonder how it would feel - to fly free. At other times we spot a dead animal on the road, and our hearts are saddened by the loss - we imagine how it might have happened - who hit who - did someone in a vehicle get injured, too?
On this particular drive, we saw three balloons floating by rising higher in the sky. Could not begin to imagine where they had been released from or if perhaps some small child had lost them after attempting to hold on to them tightly (since helium tends to want to flee, we cannot keep it as it wants to rise freely, too).
The first thought was of God's Triune Majesty. Anytime our eyes capture good things in threes, the Holy Trinity comes to mind. Especially since the colors of the balloons were white and red. One balloon was a reminder of the purity of the spotless Lamb, Jesus (it was white). The other two balloons were red - the Father and the Holy Spirit (in union with the Son). In the mind’s eye, the balloons remind us of a child. In the eyes of faith, the balloons (indirectly, and yet ever so clearly) remind us of God’s creative hand in everything surrounding us at every moment of every day in our lives.
In the course of the drive, my mind goes back-and-forth with the thought of meeting people I have not yet met, and for the first time ever – have to share some time with. Instead of becoming concerned or even ‘alarmed’ by the idea and thinking (with the mind’s eye) of what it is that we will do or say in the presence of some strangers, my eyes of faith fix themselves on the three balloons floating freely. I wish to be like them, trusting that God in his Triune Majesty, will provide me with the words to say in order to bring the message of His Son to the moment we encounter, and share the gift of presence with those who (like us) are in fact other ‘known’ members of our family of faith, just waiting to be ‘found’ and made one, in the Mystical body, the Church.
The secret power and effects of Love
This is the Spirit of Infinite Love.
The moment we recognize ourselves as one with the Love of God
– which is infinite –
we become so filled with love that we see only the good in all.
And when we realize that we are all one with the infinite God
(in the Holy Spirit, through our Lord, Jesus Christ),
then we realize that
- in a sense -
we are all one with each other.
When we come into a recognition of this fact
(God, creator of all things visible and invisible -
creates us all in His image and likeness),
we can then do no harm to any one, to any thing.
We find that we are all members of the one great (mystical) body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all the other portions (members) suffering, too.
When we fully realize or grasp the great fact of the oneness of all life,
- that we are all partakers from this one Infinite Source,
and so that the same life
is the life in each individual,
then prejudices go and hatreds cease.
Love grows and reigns supreme.
Then, wherever we go, whenever we come in contact with the fellowman (our neighbor), we are able to recognize God’s spirit within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always pays.
The moment we recognize ourselves as one with the Love of God
– which is infinite –
we become so filled with love that we see only the good in all.
And when we realize that we are all one with the infinite God
(in the Holy Spirit, through our Lord, Jesus Christ),
then we realize that
- in a sense -
we are all one with each other.
When we come into a recognition of this fact
(God, creator of all things visible and invisible -
creates us all in His image and likeness),
we can then do no harm to any one, to any thing.
We find that we are all members of the one great (mystical) body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all the other portions (members) suffering, too.
When we fully realize or grasp the great fact of the oneness of all life,
- that we are all partakers from this one Infinite Source,
and so that the same life
is the life in each individual,
then prejudices go and hatreds cease.
Love grows and reigns supreme.
Then, wherever we go, whenever we come in contact with the fellowman (our neighbor), we are able to recognize God’s spirit within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always pays.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Raising our minds to the majesty of God
Prayer: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.” In particular, help me to break open the Word of God as it relates to the Book of Life, so that I may recognize God speaking to me, and be able to have a clear understanding of what God wishes for me to write in this reflection, and also, in all that I do in my life; so that everything will always be directed for the Glory of God in all his triune majesty. Amen.”
Having read from the Bible the stories of Creation and the life of the first Jewish people, the firstborn of God, I come to recognize how God always wishes to remain close to His children as all good fathers tend to do. His children, on the other hand, and mostly due to the sinful precondition of man (a fallen race in Adam) are always turning away in disobedience and distrust. God still waits for us to return to Him. In an infinitely patient way, God continues to guide His children throughout every step of our history, in the persons of the chosen ones who freely submit to the will of the LORD.
In saying yes to God, we acknowledge our fallen condition, our misery and our nothingness without Him. But, in order to receive the blessings from the LORD for a life well-lived, we are to pray, pray, pray. As our prayer from the heart rises to the Father, and we wait, God’s glory shines wondrously in all the events that unfold – for the LORD’s ways are not the ways of man.
This happened to Hannah when she prayed to the LORD in sorrow because she was barren, and wanted a son so desperately. God remembers her and gives her a son, Samuel. She glorifies the LORD in a beautiful prayer that foreshadows the prayer of Mary in the Magnificat. In the same way, God remembers each and every one of His created as we pray for His mercy and help.
God continually reminds us of two things: that there is no other God (“I am the only LORD”) and that we should not fear (“be not afraid”). To those who believed (believe) in the goodness of the LORD, and walked (walk) in His ways, were (are) always gratefully offering holocausts and/or singing praises to God for His majesty, which was (is) clearly manifested by the countless miracles that were (are) seen. However, to those who did (do) not believe and turned (turn) away from God in order to follow the way of what was (is) seen with the eyes of the flesh; the consequences that followed (follow) were (are) doom and despair and finally death in the spirit. For our God is a jealous God.
Having read from the Bible the stories of Creation and the life of the first Jewish people, the firstborn of God, I come to recognize how God always wishes to remain close to His children as all good fathers tend to do. His children, on the other hand, and mostly due to the sinful precondition of man (a fallen race in Adam) are always turning away in disobedience and distrust. God still waits for us to return to Him. In an infinitely patient way, God continues to guide His children throughout every step of our history, in the persons of the chosen ones who freely submit to the will of the LORD.
In saying yes to God, we acknowledge our fallen condition, our misery and our nothingness without Him. But, in order to receive the blessings from the LORD for a life well-lived, we are to pray, pray, pray. As our prayer from the heart rises to the Father, and we wait, God’s glory shines wondrously in all the events that unfold – for the LORD’s ways are not the ways of man.
This happened to Hannah when she prayed to the LORD in sorrow because she was barren, and wanted a son so desperately. God remembers her and gives her a son, Samuel. She glorifies the LORD in a beautiful prayer that foreshadows the prayer of Mary in the Magnificat. In the same way, God remembers each and every one of His created as we pray for His mercy and help.
God continually reminds us of two things: that there is no other God (“I am the only LORD”) and that we should not fear (“be not afraid”). To those who believed (believe) in the goodness of the LORD, and walked (walk) in His ways, were (are) always gratefully offering holocausts and/or singing praises to God for His majesty, which was (is) clearly manifested by the countless miracles that were (are) seen. However, to those who did (do) not believe and turned (turn) away from God in order to follow the way of what was (is) seen with the eyes of the flesh; the consequences that followed (follow) were (are) doom and despair and finally death in the spirit. For our God is a jealous God.
Friday, April 24, 2009
As we look to the sky: A lesson in nature
In the awakening moment of the day’s light (even though the sun is barely peering through the horizon) I find myself looking up to the heavens with my heart filled with joy in the hope of a new day-dawning full of promise and splendor.
The song I sing is in my heart where my beloved hears the words ever so clearly, for he alone understands the inner ways of my soul. He alone can bring the peace that my heart and soul long for day-in-and-day-out. If only I ask for this grace, then peace reigns wherever I go. As if transported by the very wings of God’s morning light, God reigns seated on the very little throne of my heart.
As I get ready to go about my daily tasks, and begin my journeying for the day, the sunshine is revealed in the skies in such a way as to be slightly hidden within the clouds, yet allowing the rays to clearly point the way to the source of light in the center.
An early pilot marks the skies with a thin line of white cloud-like smoke from the engine of its jet-plane, and my eyes follow the course of this diminutive (almost not perceptible) point of contact with the sky (because it is so far up it is hard to see with my naked eye). As I continue to gaze upward (like a child absorbed in awe) by the morning activity in the skies, I notice how the pilot’s course leads him directly into the hidden sun, and vanishes from my sight. In the following moments, even the line of cloud-like smoke is gone, as if the source willed to consume the little bit of evidence of the existence of a trail, together with the little pilot and his plane.
I came to understand that God is the Source, the Light. That in this life He is hidden yet revealed. That, as we are drawn to Him by the Son, the point of union is intense and personal, and culminates our purpose for journeying - in preparation for [what] “eye has not seen, ear has not heard [what] God has ready for those who love him.”
Prayer: Lord, you value us, caring for us so much and thinking so much of us. You set us in order and know where to place us in the hierarchy of being. (Commentary on Psalm 143, 10 St. Augustine)
The song I sing is in my heart where my beloved hears the words ever so clearly, for he alone understands the inner ways of my soul. He alone can bring the peace that my heart and soul long for day-in-and-day-out. If only I ask for this grace, then peace reigns wherever I go. As if transported by the very wings of God’s morning light, God reigns seated on the very little throne of my heart.
As I get ready to go about my daily tasks, and begin my journeying for the day, the sunshine is revealed in the skies in such a way as to be slightly hidden within the clouds, yet allowing the rays to clearly point the way to the source of light in the center.
An early pilot marks the skies with a thin line of white cloud-like smoke from the engine of its jet-plane, and my eyes follow the course of this diminutive (almost not perceptible) point of contact with the sky (because it is so far up it is hard to see with my naked eye). As I continue to gaze upward (like a child absorbed in awe) by the morning activity in the skies, I notice how the pilot’s course leads him directly into the hidden sun, and vanishes from my sight. In the following moments, even the line of cloud-like smoke is gone, as if the source willed to consume the little bit of evidence of the existence of a trail, together with the little pilot and his plane.
I came to understand that God is the Source, the Light. That in this life He is hidden yet revealed. That, as we are drawn to Him by the Son, the point of union is intense and personal, and culminates our purpose for journeying - in preparation for [what] “eye has not seen, ear has not heard [what] God has ready for those who love him.”
Prayer: Lord, you value us, caring for us so much and thinking so much of us. You set us in order and know where to place us in the hierarchy of being. (Commentary on Psalm 143, 10 St. Augustine)
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