Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him."

Phillip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied."

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does His works."

"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:6-11)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST: Contributions to a Psychology of Jesus by Romano Guardini - Chapter II, Section 4

4. JESUS AND MATERIAL THINGS




What attitude did Jesus adopt towards material things?



Did he even notice them? Obviously he did. This is proved by his parables

about the "lilies of the field" (anemones), the birds of the air, the

farmer and his kinship with the soil, the shepherd and his flock, the corn

and the threshing floor, bread, and salt, and lamps. They also show that he

was not indifferent to these things. He understood and appreciated them.



We must, of course, discount the sentimentality of legends and pious

writers. In order to understand his relation to material things we must go

back to the Old Testament views about God's creation. Things do not

constitute "nature" in the modern sense. They are God's handiwork, and

anything that happens is not some spontaneous natural process but proceeds

from the power of God. Jesus was always referring to this creating and

ruling God, completing the picture, however, by presenting him as the

Father, and showing that God's activity was the work of the Father's

Providence. This thought explains his attitude towards things. To him they

were not merely scientific, poetic, or cultural data; they were the

materials and tools of Providence.



Not only was Jesus perfectly at ease with all things; because his will was

at one with his Father's, he felt himself to be Lord of all things. He was

the one who had been sent. His will was not for his personal interests; it

was devoted entirely to the purposes of his mission. And so through

obedience to this mission, "all power in heaven and on earth" was given to

him, a power as great as that of the Father himself. This is a staggering

thought, but it is the view of Jesus. Yet this power is never apart from or

contrary to that of the Father: it is always joined with it, in obedience

to it. "My Father worketh until now; and I work" (John 5. 17). The saying:

"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this

mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove" (Mat. 17. 20) is

not a mere description of the limitless faith which his followers ought to

have, but of his own faith too, only we cannot speak of his having "faith"

in our sense of the word. He possesses, rather, that which evokes faith in

us and makes it possible, namely, his essential identification with the

truth and the will of the Father. That is why all things obey him.



When we look at his miracles in their true light, they reveal the peculiar

contact in reality that the will of Jesus has with material things. This

contact is not established through something in the way of "powers" of a

higher order, but flows from obedience, from his union with the Father's

will and the mighty course of sacred history, working itself out from hour

to hour. At the point of contact between the exercise of the Father's power

when he is forming the world that is to be, and the faith of men which

links them with Providence, Christ is at work.



What value did things have for Jesus? What use were they to him? Did he

enjoy them or prize them?



First of all, we must assert that he was not insensitive to the attraction

of things. Had he been so, then an experience like that of the temptation

in the wilderness (Mat. 4.

ff.) would not have made sense. "The kingdom

of this world" could be used as a temptation only for someone who was aware

of their "glory". Jesus was no ascetic. He said so himself in connection

with John the Baptist's way of life. Jesus fully recognized this way of

life; but he himself lived otherwise. Did they not even call him a "glutton

and a wine-bibber" (Mat. 11. 19)? An account such as that of the marriage

in Cana reveals anything but a contempt for things; and the same is true of

the story, also in St. John, of the anointing with precious oil at Bethany

(John 2. 1 ff.; 12. 1 ff.).On the other hand he himself mentions his lack

of a home and possessions (Mat. 8. 20; 19. 21). Nowhere does he show any

special interest in the value of things. Indeed, he warns us against the

danger of this, especially in his sayings about the rich, in the parable

about the needle's eye, and in the story about Lazarus the beggar.



We would, no doubt, be nearer the mark were we to say that he was

completely detached from things, not as a result of self-discipline and a

more spiritual view of things, but by nature. To him, things were simply

there, part of his Father's world. He used them when it was necessary to do

so, and took pleasure in them without making any special fuss over them.



Things represented no danger to him, as they do to men. But he does not

demand of men that they should dispense with all things, as any ascetic or

dualist system would. He asks men to free themselves from the thraldom of

things. This idea is expressed most tellingly in the story of the rich

young man (Mat. 19. 16 ff.). In answer to the question about what he should

do in order to have eternal life, Jesus told him to keep the commandments,

that is, to use things properly in obedience to the will of God; then all

would be right. However, as soon as the desire to do even more is aroused,

Jesus accepts this and even enters into the relationship of "love" for it.

This is not because a man wants to be rid of evil things, but because he

desires to attain greater freedom and love. And now Jesus says: "Go sell

what thou hast and give to the poor." Jesus does not by any means demand

that everybody should be poor. Many are to be: those, that is, who "are

able to take it". Among men, such people are to be witnesses to the

possibility of becoming free from all things; and as such they are to be a

help to those who retain possessions, enabling them to maintain freedom

while using them.