Traditional Catholic Teaching - Lesson 2

Lesson 2 - Jesus Christ

Jesus is True God and True Man

Ever since we were children Christmas Day has stood us as one of the happiest days of the year. But the reason for the happiness is not the jollification, the feasting and the good will which surround it. The real reason the happiness at Christmas is the event which it commemorates, that is, the Birth of Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus Christ is the happiest event in history because Christ was God.¹

He was also man, God became man — one of us.

Think over again what we wrote last week. The great God Who needs nobody, Who is perfectly happy, perfectly sufficient for Himself. And then think of God actually becoming one of us, that is how much God loves us.

How do we know about Christ at all?

How do we know He was God?

¹ The Word Christmas came into our language when England was Catholic. It means Christ-Mass, the day on which Mass (the central act of worship of the Catholic Church is celebrated in honour of the birth of Christ. Michaelmas, Martinmas are the days on which Mass is celebrated in honour of St Michael and St Martin respectively.

The Gospels

The first and most obvious place to look for information about Christ is in the four short lives of Him called Gospels.² They were written by Matthew and John who were two of His personal followers; by Mark who may have known Him personally but who got most of his facts from Peter, the leader of Christ's disciples; and by Luke, a Greek-speaking doctor who gathered together information from those who had known Christ personally.

²Gospel is an old English word meaning good news.

The Gospels do not attempt to give a full account of His life. In fact, John says himself: Many other things did Jesus do and speak which are not written in this book. These are written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believing you may have life in His name. (John 20: 30, 31.)

The four Gospels are outlines only. In this short course we do not propose to examine the whole subject of their authenticity. It is enough to say that there are no four books in existence which have been more closely scrutinised, more thoroughly thrashed out than the Gospels. Especially in recent years scholars have got to work, excavations have been carried out in the East, manuscripts examined, early translations come to light. It is an established fact that these books were certainly written within the lifetime of people who had known Christ. Two of them by people who had known Christ personally, Matthew and John.³

Of course the main way in which people have got to know about Christ is by what we call Tradition. We know a fact by tradition when it is handed down from generation to generation.

That is in fact the way in which we know most historical facts. You have probably never read a life of Nelson. But you know he was an English admiral and hero who died fighting the French at Trafalgar. You know it because it's been talked about ever since. Pictures, statues, songs have been made about it ever since. And so the main way we know about Christ or the teachings of Christ is by the tradition which has been kept in the Church lie founded and handed down from generation to generation.

However for the present let us just find out what the Gospels tell us about Christ. Moreover for the time being we will leave aside the fact that the Gospels are the word of God. We will just consider them as books of history.

³Not all non-Catholics hold that the John of the 4th Gospel was the Apostle John, but the weight of evidence supports strongly that he was. Mark also may have known Christ personally.

Miracles

The Gospels contain the doings and sayings of Christ and among them a number of events which we call miracles. A miracle is some act outside the ordinary course of nature which can only be done by the power of God. For instance, restoring by a word sight to a man born blind. Raising the dead to life.

You will hear people sometimes say: "I accept the Gospels but not the miracles". That is an illogical attitude. The evidence for the miracles is as good as the evidence for all the rest of the Gospels. If God is all powerful God can work miracles and God can give others the power to work them, too. The only question is — did He do it? The men who wrote the Gospels simply reported what they saw. The evidence is there In the Gospels.

Christ the Man: His Attractiveness

What do the Gospels tell us of Christ? After describing the circumstances of His birth⁴ they picture for us this young man aged about 30 in Palestine in the time of the Roman Empire. The first thing that strikes the reader is the extraordinary attractiveness of His character. Children flocked around Him. Men left their work a a word from Him and followed Him for the rest of their lives and died for their belief In Him.

Two young fishermen, James and John, leave their work at a word from Him and follow Him forever. A tax collector, Matthew, drops everything, gives up wealth and comfort to follow Him. So, too, with the rest of His apostles. Women, too. Some holy and pious. Others like Mary Magdalen, sinners who were changed by a word from Him.

⁴See Lesson 10: The Blessed Virgin Mary.

His Gentleness

But character is not only a matter of attractiveness. It is a matter of principle. See what Christ's principles were. How sensationally different they were from the principles of the world in which He lived. In a world which took slavery for granted, where a slave was regarded as a thing to be bought and sold, Christ taught that all men are brothers. That in the sight of God there is neither slave nor master, neither Jew nor Gentile. But only sons of God.

In a world where the nationalist feeling was fanatical, where the Jews, for example, would not even speak to their neighbours the Samaritans, Christ taught that a good Samaritan who helped the unfortunate was a better man than a leader of the Jewish people who ignored the sufferings of his neighbour. In a world full of cruelty He taught a doctrine of gentleness and mercy.

His Firmness

And yet there was nothing soft or flabby in His doctrine. He said we are responsible persons. That everyone is faced with a choice between good and evil and if we choose evil an ill fate awaits us in the next life. He taught that we must choose between truth and error. Once we know what truth is we must follow it even if it means breaking up a family. If we have to choose between the truth of God and our nearest and dearest we must choose truth. (See Matt. 5: 34.)

He did not offer any easy way of following Him. He did not promise that everything would be smooth. He told His followers that they would be imprisoned. That the time even would come when those who killed them would think they did a service to God. He promised them the cross and a hard road.

His Compassion

At the same time there shone in every word and action His compassion and mercy for sinners. When the crowd wanted Him to condemn a woman who had been caught committing adultery He said: Let him that is without sin cast the first stone. And when the crowd shamefacedly slunk away Christ said to the woman: Hath no man condemned thee? And she said: No man, Lord. He said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go now and sin more. Notice though—He did not tell her that she misunderstood—that they were all as bad as she was said: Sin no more. Mercy for the sinner where He had discerned sorrow for the sin. (John 8.)

He Spoke With Authority

Most of all what struck the people was that He spoke with authority. The multitudes found themselves amazed His teaching for He taught them not like their usual teachers, but like one who had authority.

From the beginning of His public preaching He had chosen twelve men, the Apostles, to be with Him. They got to know Him best. But especially they grew to love Him. If you read the Gospels you can see their curiosity growing. They begin to sense that He is more than a man. When their boat is being tossed about in a storm on sea Christ speaks one word and the storm drops. The Apostles say to one another: What kind of man is this for the winds and the sea obey Him? (Matt. 8.)

His Claim To Be God

Moreover they hear Him claiming powers which belong only to God. He speaks of God as His Father and Himself as the Son, but He goes on: As the Father raiseth up the dead and giveth life so also the Son giveth life whom He will. (John 5.)

He did not claim to be a Son of the Father in so wide or general sense. He claimed to be the Son with the same nature as the Father. One with the Father. Equal to the Father. Glorify Me, Father, He said, with glory which I had before the world was with Thee. He claims in that sentence too that He existed from all eternity with the Father. So also, when the crowd once spoke of Abraham (who died nearly 2,000 years before) Christ said Believe me, before ever Abraham came to be, I am. (John 8: 58.) In saying this, Christ gave Himself God's own name, Jahve, I am (Exodus 3: 14). The crowd understood this. They took up stones to stone Him to death. This was the penalty for a man who claimed to be God (John 8: 59).

On another occasion He said: I and the Father are one. Again the Jews took up stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have showed you from My Father; for which of these works do you stone Me? The Jews answered Him: For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God. (John 10: 30–33.)

He claimed that He would be the judge of all men at the last day when the Son of Man shall come in His majesty and all His angels with Him. (Matt. 25.)

When He was on trial for His life and the High Priest Caiphas asked Him outright: Art Thou the Christ the Son of the blessed God? He answered: I am. Whereupon the whole court condemned Him to death for blasphemy. They understood what He was saying. They understood that He was claiming to be God. (Mark 14.)

Peter Acknowledges Christ as God

But before that last scene His Apostles had already been putting the question to themselves scarcely daring to answer it: "Is this man God? ' And then Christ put it directly to them Himself: Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said: Some John the Baptist and some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the prophets. Jesus said to them: But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God. And Jesus answering said to him: Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee but My Father Who is in heaven. (As a reward for that profession of faith Christ later made Peter the head of His Church.) (Matt. 26.)

Some Queries

You will probably be puzzled by a number of things in this account. Sometimes Christ calls Himself Son of Man. Sometimes the Son of God. But His answer to Peter shows that He claimed both titles for Himself at the same time, He was a Son of Man and therefore human. But He was the Son of God and therefore divine.

Again it may be puzzling to find that He calls Himself the Son of God. He does not just say: "I am God". But it is clear from the powers He claimed that He claimed to be equal to God, His enemies understood quite clearly that He was claiming to be God. That's why they condemned Him to death. His friends understood that He was claiming to be God as we have seen above.

And if He spoke of the Father and of the Son (Himself), and, later, of the Holy Spirit Whom I shall send you from the Father did He mean that there were three Gods? No indeed. He is showing us what we call the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity. There is only one God. But in the one God there are Three Persons — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We shall have more to say about this later. For the time being simply take note that we shall not he surprised to find many things about God that are beyond our understanding. Our mind is limited. God is unlimited. We would no more expect to understand everything about God than we would expect to put a gallon into a thimble. But if God tells us a thing is true we believe it even when we don't understand it.

Christ Proves His Claim To Be God

1. He Works Miracles

And now what is the proof? How did Christ prove His claim to be God? He proved His authority by doing things that no man could do unless God were with him. He gave sight to the blind. He cured the incurable. He raised the dead. And when lie was killed He rose again from the dead. As the man born blind, to whom Christ restored his sight put it. If a man be a servant of God and do His will him He hears. From the beginning of the world it has not been heard that any man hath opened the eyes of one born blind. Unless this man were of God He could not do anything. (John 9.) God gives no support to a liar. If God supports Christ by working miracles then Christ has God's authority for whatever He says. And one of the things, the most important thing that He says, is that He Himself is God.

2. He Rose from the Dead

The greatest miracle He worked was His own resurrection from the dead, than which there is no better attested event in history.

Christ died on the cross. They opened His side with a spear to make sure of it. He was put in a tomb. Three days later the tomb was empty. For forty days after that Easter Sunday He was seen frequently by His followers. They had conversations with Him. They had meals with Him.

Their enemies said at the time that it was a fraud. That the Apostles had stolen the body and pretended Christ had risen from the dead. But men don't die (as the Apostles did) for what they know to be a lie. They don't take on themselves (as the Apostles did) a life of trial, persecution, wandering, poverty and martyrdom for what they know to be a deliberate fraud.

Others say it was an hallucination. The Apostles were so anxious to think Christ would rise from the dead that they persuaded themselves that He had. But you've only got to read the Gospels to see that, far from persuading themselves, they had to be convinced by Christ Himself that He really was 'risen'. They did not believe the first people who told them. (Mark 16: 14.)

When He appeared to them they were troubled and frightened thinking that they saw a ghost. And He said to them: Why are you troubled?... See My hands and feet that it is I Myself. Handle and see: for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see Me to have. And when He had said this He showed them His hands and feet. But while they yet believed not and wondered for joy He said: Have you here anything to eat? And they offered Him a piece of broiled fish and a honeycomb. (Luke 24.)

Thomas, who wasn't there, didn't believe when the other Apostles told him, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. And so a week later Jesus appeared again and said to Thomas: Put in thy finger hither and see my hands and bring hither thy hand and put it into My side and be not faithless but believing. Thomas said to Him: My Lord and my God. (John 20.)

Christ accepts the adoration of Thomas. The words of Thomas are the foundation of the Christian religion. Christ is Our Lord and Our God.

What It Means To Us: God With Us

AND now think over what it means. When we think of God, the Almighty, Infinite, Perfect Being, we feel perhaps dreadfully insignificant. We wonder — can I mean anything to God? But here is Christ, Who is God, living amongst us. We wonder — can my daily work and daily life mean anything to God? Here is God in a carpenter's shop — an ordinary working man. When we suffer the loss of friends or kinsfolk we may wonder — does my sorrow mean anything to God? Here is God standing at the tomb of His friend Lazarus who has just died. Mary [the sister of Lazarus] said to Him: Lord if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died. Jesus said: Where have you laid him? They said to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. (John 11.)

Christ is God the beginning and end of all things. Understand the life of Christ and from then on the only question is — What does Christ want me to do?

End of Lesson 2

Supplement A

Appendix: "Teilhard de Chardin: A False Prophet"

Supplement B: "You Are The Messiah"

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