17. The real Messiah

Is Jesus a superman? We have already denied that. The superman is a solitary being; but since the beginning, Jesus has claimed to act in the name of Another, saying that He cannot be understood apart from this privileged relationship uniting him to the living God.

"Whoever sees Me, sees the Father." What have we seen? Well, we have seen Jesus energetically empty the Temple of its traders: "Do not make My Father's house..." Sheep and doves are no longer necessary to enter into a relationship with the living God.

We saw Jesus converse with the Samaritan woman. Her marriage situation is not exactly ideal, but He offers her living water. She wants to embarrass Him with questions about another religion, but He speaks of the day when each one will be able to pray to the Father in Spirit and in Truth. The Temple is no longer a necessary venue for prayer to the living God. All segregation is abolished: Garizim Jerusalem, Jew Samaritan, man woman, slave freeman. Even a pagan, and a non national for good measure, i.e. the Roman officer, sees Jesus promise to cure his son. A simple word, without going anywhere! The soldier believes, and the child is restored to health.

We saw Jesus full of joy at the sight of the fields awaiting the harvest. He forgets about meals! "My food is to do My Father's will and to carry out His wishes". His actions flow from the source, following a liberty which cuts through social conventions. By everything that He says and does, by His entire Person, Jesus announces and proclaims the Will and the presence of the Father, the inspirer of His every action. Jesus is thus the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Revelation of God.

When He notices the lame man, an invalid for close on thirty eight years, Jesus puts him back on his feet once more, even though it is the Sabbath! "My Father always works, and I also work." Jesus assimilates His own activity to that of the living God another reason again for the Jews to kill Him, for not content with violating the Sabbath, He calls God His own Father, thus making Himself equal to God.

This statement is pretentious in the extreme, as pretentious as is its humility! Fully expressive of the living God, Jesus however distinguishes Himself from it so as to make it totally relative. He recognises that all He has is from Him, and that of Himself He has nothing. (Quote John 5. I9) To meet Jesus today as always, is to get closer to this seemingly contradictory dependence, this genial imitation, which goes to the very extreme point of liberty.

Jesus refers to the Scriptures and receives the testimony of John the Baptist. But to justify His claims, He has need of no other help than that of His Father: the works that I do are proof that the Father has sent Me. Now you have never heard His voice: you scrutinise the Scriptures in which you hope to find life. But it is they which give testimony of Me, and you do not wish to come to Me in order that you may have that Life which I am able to give you! I came in my Father's Name and you will not receive Me. If another came in his own name, you would receive him!

This rejection persists today, even if it has changed camp! The Jews acknowledged God but refused Jesus. We accept Jesus, but refuse the God about Whom He never ceases to speak. We accept God, just God, or Jesus in isolation from God, but we are incapable of accepting Jesus and His Father, Jesus and the living God. When we requisition Jesus as Model, Messiah or King, He flees into the mountains. He refuses that role. He spends the greater part of his time in prayer with His Father. We are unaware that Jesus is never alone, but that the Father is always with Him.

Jesus doesn't come with gadgets to help us live better or longer. He wants us to discover a relationship: one that is a source of life, one which nourishes as does the word and |bread, a relationship which is already entrance into eternal life. Jesus wanted to help us discover "the" privileged relationship which unites Him with His Father, so that we might with Him, enter into that communion which is intimacy with the living God. What no one could ever have imagined, Jesus has revealed to us: God is Father, Son, Love. God is community! Community of persons, each different from the other, but inseparable; inseparable in their unity. Utopia is not a mere dream: a perfect sharing in common already exists somewhere. A completely reciprocal love is proposed to us. Each one can give himself totally, and thus enter into the superabundant life of the Resurrection. If only that same communion which exists between Jesus and His Father, could be established between Jesus and me, between Jesus and us, then we could really live the "divine" life by sharing what we have and are, and in brotherly service.

The communion existing in the heart of the living God, becomes the model, the source of inspiration of all social activity: "As the Father has loved me, so also I have loved you. Remain in My love." It is a love that is active, creative, exhilarating. It is not a question of anything will do, there are certain obligations attached to it. "As I have kept...you will remain in my love" (John I5.I0)

Getting to know God is a gradual affair; a dynamic experience. It is not a matter of ideas, but a communion which deepens with experience and involvement. "As the Father has sent me, I also send you."

Jesus associates his followers with his mission. He allows us to discover all at once, the difficulties involved in awakening faith, and the mysteries surrounding the imparting of it. We can sense within ourselves an experience of the living God. It is in accepting the risk of His invitation, that we discover Him in the deepest communion. "Who receives you...sent Me" (John I3.20.) We know the joy of being welcomed, but also the suffering and bitterness of failure. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. They will chase you out of the synagogues and out of the churches. Some will even go so far as to kill you, and that in the very Name of God...they will go as far as that because they did not know either the Father or Me.

Jesus is indeed the privileged way that leads to the living God. It is with Him that we can enter into a completely satisfying love- relationship beyond all our imaginings. Together with Him, we can share in his glory, never faltering in our hope, in spite of trials and adversity. "Do not be troubled...Me" (John I4.I.) If you believe in Me, believe also in God.