Pastor's Page: "Jesus of Nazareth: Fully Human and Fully Divine"

      I can recall from my childhood many sermons preached during parish missions and on Sundays that used the phrase "our Divine Lord and Savior Jesus Christ".  I cannot recall a similar phrase referring to the humanity of Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus of Nazareth has tended to lay greater stress on his divinity. We believe that Jesus is God. The fact that He is also human creates difficulty.
      The followers of Jesus during his public ministry; one year according to John's Gospel and perhaps three years in the other Gospels, perceived Jesus as clearly human. Even though He seemed to claim an intimacy with God whom he called uniquely, "Abba"; spoke with great authority in his teaching; and at least implied a closeness to God that was extraordinary.
      The followers of Jesus recognized His divinity and equality with God in doctrine: a Trinity of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, some 400 years after His resurrection from the dead.
      The resurrection was the mysterious and illuminating event that led them to proclaim the divinity of Jesus. After the terrible tragedy of His death on the cross, the disciples were scattered, depressed and deeply grieved. The resurrection drew them out of their despair into the bright light of Christ's victory over death. They believed that through Jesus they too would one day share in eternal life and joy unending.
      The spirituality of my youth put the strong emphasis on our Divine Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet our Christian tradition from ancient days, insists that Jesus was no play actor. The tradition insists that He was a man; human in every way that we are in flesh and blood. The tradition asserts that Jesus had all the emotions we know so well and that like us He did not know exactly what the future might bring. He lived His life in fear and anxiety at times, but also with trust and confidence in the God that He knew intimately as Abba, Father.
      Jesus was a man of his time. He was a first century Palestinian Jew, deeply connected in lineage and prayerful study with the Torah and the prophets, and the rich and wonderful tradition that began with Abraham.
      The unique form of literature that we call a Gospel, the proclamation of the Good News that God "so loved the world that in the fullness of time He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not die but might have eternal life." Neither the eyewitnesses, nor St. Paul who encountered the risen Christ, describe what he looked like or what his personal likes or dislikes were, or how his life developed in biographical form.
      They were most interested in the impact of His coming into the world, His cross and the meaning of it, and the transforming power of His resurrection from the dead and its implications for us who will face death.
      Jesus remains a mystery—fully human and yet fully divine. Yet, He is one like us in everything except sin.

Peace and love,
Father Bruce