Christ In His Own Words
Life is experienced in two stages: preparatory instruction and active engagement. We are meant to first learn how to do something and then to actively pursue doing that same thing. Even though we will always learn what we need to if we are open to acknowledging and learning proper behavior, it is better for us to prepare ourselves or to be prepared by others for what life has in store for us. These stages in life are established by God Himself. He gave us the gift of reason so that we might first know goodness, then love goodness, and finally serve goodness. Preparatory instruction allows us to use our reason in order to learn to love and accept, but we must eventually move on to actively living out love and acceptance.
We see these stages in the life of Christ, as well. The trajectory of Salvation History, from the promise made to Adam and Eve in the garden after the fall to Christ’s birth and early childhood, built the foundation of reason for his public ministry. Without the events laid out in the Old Testament, Christ’s message during his public ministry would be meaningless and deeply confusing. However, what made Christ such a formidable and magnetic individual to those around him during his life was because of how much he reflected the promises throughout Salvation History. Was he the Messiah? Was he a great prophet? This confusion among his peers was due to two things: they had a general grasp of what to expect in the Messiah, but their stagnant reason had caused them to build up their own idea of who the Messiah would be. Those who wished the Messiah to be someone that Jesus was not actively rejected him. Before this rejection though, they asked him to prove himself, which we hear in today’s Gospel: “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” This same logic can be found today: if God is real, why can’t He just show himself? If Christ was really God, why couldn’t he stay longer with us on earth? If the Catholic Church is the true expression of faith, why didn’t Jesus say so?
There is a bit of irony to this logic. Jesus was quite plain in his words, and he tells his challengers exactly that in today’s Gospel. He has clearly stated that he and the Father are one. He has clearly stated that he is the Suffering Servant. Even when we look at his presence among the Church today in the Eucharist, we only need to look at the Gospels from last week from John 6 in which he explicitly states “my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” He consistently told the people, and they still did not believe him. But this was merely the instructional phase of his ministry. All of his words and teachings were eventually brought into reality. In the Transfiguration, he and the Father were physically and plainly one. In his death, he literally became the Suffering Servant. In the Eucharist, he literally became the Bread of Life. If we want to live according to the Truth, we cannot confine ourselves to the phase of preparatory instruction. We need to accept this instruction and begin to live it out. There will come a time when you need to stop investigating or reasoning, and start believing in the message of Christ.
Today's Readings:
