Jesus as the Fullness of God's Revelation PDF

UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS TUGUEGARAO Tuguegarao City, Cagayan 3500 Philippines SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, CRIMINOLOGY, ARTS AND PSYCHOLOGY CHRISTIAN FAITH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE...

UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS TUGUEGARAO Tuguegarao City, Cagayan 3500 Philippines SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, CRIMINOLOGY, ARTS AND PSYCHOLOGY CHRISTIAN FAITH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE CFED 1013: God’s Journey with His People LESSON: JESUS AS THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S REVELATION TOPIC LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of the lesson, you should be able to: 1. Identify Jesus in the events of your everyday encounters; 2. Draw insights from Jesus’ Public Ministry especially from the healing and forgiveness He offers; and, 3. Show appreciation to the message of Jesus’ events by being able to relate its relevance into your lives. INTRODUCTION: Who is Jesus according to TV commercials and slogans? This brings out examples such as: Jesus is like Boysen because He is the “Quality you can trust!” Jesus is like Metrobank because in Him, “You’re in good hands.” Jesus is like Meralco because in Him “May liwanag ang buhay.” Jesus is like Mang Inasal because “Hahanap hanapin mo.” Jesus is like Banco de Oro because together “We find ways.” Jesus is like Globe Telecom because He tells me “Abot mo and mundo.” Jesus is like Bayantel because He assures me that “Gaganda pa ang buhay.” How about you? What TV commercials and slogans have you encountered where you can relate the presence of God?  Because of God’s revelation of himself, you are capable of recognizing His presence in the ordinary and unexpected events of your lives. Let us now continue journeying with God through the Public ministry of His Son. A. THE MINISTRY OF JESUS Jesus’ ministry covers his baptism, from the previous lesson, which marks the start of His ministry, His teaching, healing and table fellowship and also, not to be seen separately, His passion, death and resurrection. Jesus’ whole mission and message is centered on His relationship with His Father and of drawing all into His Father’s Kingdom. 1. Teaching Ministry Jesus’ teachings, which often utilized parables and aphorisms, were aimed at changing people’s paradigm of God: from being an authoritative and legalistic God to a compassionate and loving one. “His teaching started from what was already familiar to the people. He built further on that knowledge and led them to a deeper insight. He invited them to make their own decision. He taught with a new authority and his Sermon on the Mount. (2015). a. The Kingdom of God The Kingdom of heaven was inaugurated on earth by Christ. It is central to Jesus’ ministry, everything that he did was directed to its fulfilment. This kingdom shone out before men in the word, in the works, and in the presence of Christ. Thus, when people meet Jesus, they could feel that God was very near. Meeting Jesus was, and still is, meeting God Himself. (Colla 2002, 85) Jesus’ invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the forms of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough; deeds are required. The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the world? What use has he made of the talents he has received? Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to “know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” For those who stay, “outside,” everything remains enigmatic. b. The Primacy of Love Exegetes, on Jesus’ ministry, emphasized that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the Father’s plan of love. In Jesus Christ, the decisive event of the history of God with mankind is fulfilled. Thus, Ian Knox, in his book Encountering Jesus in the Gospels, talks about the impetus behind Jesus’ ministry: The love that inspires Jesus’ ministry among men is the love that He has experienced in His intimate union with the Father. The New Testament allows us to enter deeply into the experience, that Jesus himself lives and communicates, the love of God his Father – “Abba” – and, therefore, it permits us to enter into the very heart of divine life. Jesus announces the liberating mercy of God to those whom He meets on His way, beginning with the poor, the marginalized, the sinners. He invites all to follow Him because He is the  first to obey God’s plan of love, and he does so in a most singular way, as God’s envoy in the world. Jesus’ self-awareness of being the Son is an expression of this primordial experience. For Jesus, recognizing the Father’s love means modelling his actions on God’s gratuitousness and mercy. (Knox 2011) c. Parables A parable can be defined as a short, simple story, usually about a familiar event, from which a moral or religious lesson may be drawn (Colla 2002, 37). A third of Jesus’ teachings recorded in the gospels are ‘in parables’. We possess so many stories and figurative statements of Jesus clearly because it is related to the fact that he was a speaker, not a writer. Jesus did not write down his teachings after due reflection. He spoke left and right on various occasions and to a more or less accidental public. His parables are situational (Hendrickx 1987, 1). The parables are taken from ordinary life. Jesus challenged his audience by frequently making use of parables. They had to decide the right course of action in a situation in which they were not personally involved. But then, they were made to realize that the situation described in the parable was also their own situation. It is a very expedient tool to bring home a message, especially because it is simple. It creates a situation in which a certain action must be taken. The listener is invited to place himself in that situation. He can identify with the character of the story, without getting involved. He can live throughout its action. (Colla 2002, 37) 2. HEALING Stories of Jesus’ healing miracles are abundant in the Gospel Readings. One fact becomes very clear: God was at work in and through Jesus. Jesus’ unshakable faith in God was the power at work in his miracles. Jesus believed in God’s goodness. He believed that the power of goodness is greater than the power of evil. He believed that God wants to liberate humankind from the bonds of evil. He believed that God is love and compassion. a. Outreach to Sinners and Social Outcasts His healing, which included reaching out to the sinners and social outcasts, was a statement that all evils that contribute to human suffering in all its form can only be overcome through acting out of justice and compassion. Jesus was moved with compassion for all who were in need. Compassion made Him reach out to all. It was more than an emotion or feeling. It was the driving force of His life. It made Him respond unrestrainedly to all suffering. Indeed, moved by compassion, Jesus set out to liberate the people from every kind of suffering and anguish. Through his compassion the Kingdom of God became visible. (Colla 2002, 70) b. Cure of Diseases The people were amazed at the works of Jesus, they said, where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers? (Mt 13:54) Let Jesus answer for himself: i. The Power of Faith  Many times, when Jesus performed a miracle of healing, he himself ascribed it to the power of faith, as in the case of the paralytic at Capernaum. There are many more instances where the healing is attributed to faith, among others are: The Story of the Centurion’s Servant (Mt 8: 5-13) where Jesus said, “I assure you, I have never found this much faith in Israel.” The boy was cured because of his father’s faith. The Story of Two Blind Men (Mt 9: 27-31). Jesus said to the two blind men, “Because of your faith it shall be done to you.” They recovered their sight because of their faith. ii. No Miracles without Faith Without faith no miracle could be performed. If faith was evidently the power by which miracles happened, the absence of faith made it impossible to perform any miracle. These are traced from Gospel passages such as: Mt 13: 54-58 (Jesus at Nazareth). People in Jesus’ hometown were amazed that a carpenter’s son could preach and perform miracles as he did. They simply found him too much. Thus, “And He did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” Lk 9: 37-43 (The Story of the Possessed Boy). A father had asked Jesus’ disciples to cure his son who was possessed by an evil spirit. But they had failed. “What unbelieving and perverse lot you are, Jesus exclaimed.” iii. For the Greater Glory of God Jesus did not perform miracles to make a name or to claim authority for himself. On the contrary, whenever a miracle happened, he attributed it to the faith of the people. Often the miracle stories conclude with Jesus’ instruction not to talk about it. Miracles have been defined as unusual acts of God on behalf of man. That was exactly how people understood them. Miracles became an occasion for them to praise God. The following testify to this: “At the sight, a feeling of awe came over the crowd, and they praised God for giving such authority to men” (Mt 9:8). “They glorified the God of Israel” (Mt 15:31). “Fear seized them all and they began to praise God” (Lk 7:16). “And all who saw it marveled at the greatness of God” (Lk 9:43). “One of them came back praising God in a loud voice” (Lk 17:15). 3. TABLE FELLOWSHIP Many Gospel stories speak of Jesus’ compassionate association with people. They relate how he sat at a table with a variety of people from all levels of society. He sat at a table with tax collectors and sinners, with the outcast and with those with whom no one wanted to share his or her table. There can be no doubt about Jesus’ sharing the table with all. The four Gospels agree on this point and testify to it as a regular practice in Jesus’ life. Table community was of great importance among the Jews. To share one’s table meant to share one’s life. Jesus was of the opinion that no one should be excluded from one’s table. In other words, no one should be excluded from one’s social community and Jesus did not exclude anyone. This practice caused scandal in the eyes of the upper and middle class, but was a source of great joy for the people of the lower class. The Pharisees said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Lk 15:2) Jesus was aware that the people spoke ill of this unconventional practice of joining all classes of people at table. He spoke of it when he said, “You say: here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. (Lk 7:34) B. ON JESUS’ PASSION AND DEATH Crucifixion was the most humiliating and painful of all punishment in the Roman Empire. As Ian Knox said: The punishment of crucifixion was carried out by the centurions. The execution was done outside the city walls of Jerusalem, at a place called Golgotha. “Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last” (Mk 15: 37). These words give us a relatively bare statement of Jesus’ death. It was the death of a criminal’s execution at the hands of an occupying army. However, this painful and disgraceful death manifested Jesus’ own identity as Son of God and effected salvation for others. The passion of Jesus is both a historical event rooted in the past and a living dynamic memory that gives meaning to the present. The gospels portray Jesus’ death as the culmination of his mission, the final act of selfless love and service that sealed a life totally committed to others. Jesus’ death was a prophetic witness in the cause of God’s justice. Despite opposition and hostility directed at him and his mission, Jesus remained faithful until the end and ultimately was vindicated by God’s love, a love stronger than death. But for Christian faith, the passion of Jesus is not simply a heroic and poignant death confined to past history. The passion of Jesus lives on in the faith and experience of the Christian community. Through the mysterious communion of God with humanity, Jesus’ sufferings continue in the suffering of every child of God, down to the present moment. The passion of Jesus is indeed a historical event that ultimately gave meaning and force to the entire mission of Jesus and it is a living memory, a powerful grace that gives meaning and hope to all human suffering. The gospels accounts of the passion embrace both dimensions, rooting their narratives in the historical traditions about Jesus’ last days but inviting the reader to find in the passion of Jesus the ultimate meaning of human existence and Christian commitment. By recalling the distinctive portrayal of the suffering Jesus in each of the Gospels, we are invited to enter deeply into the mystery of the passion and to bring one’s own experience into vital contact with this core of the Christian message. It is quite clear from the gospels that Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection were of greater importance to the gospel writers than his infancy and childhood. But even though the passion narratives are more historically detailed than many other parts of the gospel, they are still very much theological reflections which try to understand the working of God in human experience. Jesus understood that he had a mission from his Father to preach the good news of God’s reign and to work for the establishment of that reign. He understood that his mission was to do the will of God and he pursued that goal with a single-minded fidelity which led him to his death. He was not the first or the last person to suffer for his integrity and principles. (Knox, 1999) C. ON JESUS’ RESURRECTION It is important for us to understand the distinct character of the Resurrection of Jesus given the many confusions being attached to it. As Ian Knox emphasized: Christ’s Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raising from the dead that He had performed before Easter: Jairus’ daughter the young man of Naim, Lazarus. In his risen body, He passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus’ resurrection, His body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is “the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15: 30-50) (CCC 646). Besides being the fundamental argument for our Christian belief, the Resurrection is important for the following reasons: It shows the justice of God who exalted Christ to a life of glory, as Christ had humbled Himself unto death (Philippians 2:8-9). The Resurrection completed the mystery of our salvation and redemption; by His death Christ freed us from sin, and by His Resurrection He restored to us the most important privileges lost by sin (Romans 4:25). By His Resurrection we acknowledge Christ as the immortal God, the efficient and exemplary cause of our own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:21; Philippians 3:20-21), and as the model and the support of our new life of grace (Romans 6:4-6 and 911). THE THREE-FOLD MISSION These three ways on how the Church would carry out her mission all originated from Jesus himself which also originated from the prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament. Prophet from the Hebrew word “Nabi” means “speaker” or to speak on behalf of. So, a prophet is the speaker or mouth of God to the people. With this, the main function of a prophet is to preach God’s words to people. (Prophet = preaching/teaching). The Priest’s main function was to preside worship by praying and offering the lamb for thanksgiving and for the forgiveness of people’s sins. This was done by Jesus by offering himself as the lamb for the forgiveness of our sins (clearly explained last week from the letter to the Hebrews), (Priest = worship). For the kingly function, Jesus demonstrated in the washing of the feet that a king should serve and not to be serve. So aside from leading/guiding the people, the king should also serve the people as clearly shown by Jesus. (King = Serve/lead/guide) Note: A prophet is NOT one who will PREDICT the future! Why? By the word “prediction”, it may or it may not happen. The main function of a prophet is to speak God’s words to people. The prophet can only FORECAST (not predict) a future event if God reveals it to him or by reading the signs of the times. Example: if you continue to cut more trees and no longer plant also, it will to more natural calamities in the future.