I am returning
to the question of the divinity of Jesus Christ about which I wrote to you some time ago.
You will recall my saying that it is to be seen in the life and works of Christ, as well
as in the prophecies He fulfilled, and the authority of a Divine nature He exercised.
It seems an assumption on my part to even attempt to put a word upon paper
about the life and works of Christ, so great are they. The extent of them are so vast,
that St. John says at the end of his Gospel, the purpose of which is to declare Jesus to
be the eternal Son of God manifesting the Father in heaven, that it is impossible to
record all the things He did so great and vast are they. That is because what Christ did
cannot be separated from what He is doing, and will continue to do during all time, for as
God He is ever existent. His acts are eternal acts; He lives in history, being the center
thereof, and continues to live on in His Church, through which the whole world is
influenced.
The Catholic Church has been likened to a great wheel, the center, strength
and usefulness thereof depending primarily upon the hub. That Hub is the God-man, Jesus
Christ. The Church is therefore called Christo-centric. Its principles, authority,
sacraments, sacramentals, worship, etc., are but the spokes that center in the Divine Hub.
The Church is Christ, and Christ is the Church; it is the "Body of Christ" of
which every baptized person, be he good, bad or indifferent, is a member.
As for the life of Christ, it has been the title of more books, written by
persons of more varied beliefs, than have ever been written about any other person known
to man. He was, and ever is, what Isaiah said He would be,
"A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory to thy
people Israel" (St. Luke, 2:32).
The more I study the life of Christ, a subject that is
ever new and as soul-satisfying as it is inexhaustible, the more am I convinced that He is
none other than "God Himself," whom Isaiah said would come to save us (35:4).
Who, save God, could appear upon earth and be so perfect as to cause all classes of
persons who are humble, compassionate, holy, obedient, pure, loving, charitable, and
self-sacrificing, to be called Christ-like? Who, save Christ, embodied in principle,
life and works, the solution of all the grave problems that confront mankind? His life
made Christ and Perfection correlative terms. The excellence of Christ's teachings and
practices are of such a sublime nature, so far above the teachings of any other person,
that even rationalists, men of fame in all walks of life, and even some Jews of late
years, have spoken of them in superlative terms. A few will suffice. Renan, who denied the
divinity of Christ, says, in his "Life of Jesus,"
"Jesus remains to humanity an inexhaustible source of moral
regenerations.--In him condensed all that is good and lofty in our nature."
John Stuart Mill says, in "Nature, the Utility of Religion and
Theism,"
"Religion cannot be said to have made a bad choice in pitching
on this man as the ideal representative and guide of humanity; nor even now would it be
easy even for an unbeliever, to find a better translation of the rule of virtue from the
abstract into the concrete, than to endeavor so to live that Christ should approve our
life."
Among the Jews, I am moved to quote Dr. Joseph Klausner once more,
not that there is a shortage of others who could be quoted, such as Rabbi Stephen S. Wise,
Rabbi Isaac Landman, and a dozen others, but they are all Reform Jews, whereas the Hebrew
University (Palestine) professor is an Orthodox Jew. He said that
"The ethical code of Jesus" is - "one of the
choicest treasures in the Literature of Israel for all time" ("Jesus of
Nazareth").
Napoleon the Great said,
"I think I know something of human nature. Alexander, Caesar,
Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires. They were men. I am only a man.
While I was with them the electric influence of my look, my voice, my words, flashed in a
flame of enthusiastic, devotedness through the multitude whom I swayed. But, when we
passed, there was nothing but the empty echo of a name. Upon what were our empires
founded? Upon force. One Conqueror there is Who founded His Empire upon love; and,
to this very day, millions would die for Him. His Empire was built within the souls of
men, winning them to live in a world unseen beyond the barriers of time an space. None
else was like to Him. Jesus was more than a man. His name is now a living power. Across a
chasm of eighteen centuries He still makes a claim that which none is so vast, so hard. He
demands what a friend often vainly asks for of his friend, a father of his child, a bride
of her husband, a man of his brother. He demands our heart. He demands it of millions. He
demands it absolutely. He demands it forever. He obtains it. Christ is Conqueror. Christ
is King."
This Only Begotten Son of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy
Trinity, came upon earth and lived among men for one purpose only, to open the gates of
heaven that were closed by sin, and to provide the standards, example, and means whereby
man could enter therein. He said,
"Greater love than this no man has, that one lay down his life
for his friends."
He said that you and I, and everybody else, are His
friends "if" we "do the things that I (Christ) command you" (St.
John 15:13-15). True to His word, this Friend, the Messiah, submitted to an
ignominious death upon the Cross for our salvation.
Your appreciation of Christianity as Judaism full-blossomed would be
furthered, as was mine, if you were only to study Christ in an unbiased manner, in
relation to Moses. You would find Christ, in a single word, to be Love; whereas Moses is
Law. Christ gave us "a new commandment," as He said (St. John 13:34).
It is self-sacrificing love, with Him as the model and motive, which is the "law of
Christ" (Gal. 6:2). Moses also advocated love of fellowman, but our
instinctive self-love was to be the measure and motive of this love (Levit. 19:18).
The divinity of Christ is seen not alone in His teachings, but also in His
personal application of them, in contrast to Jewish teachings and practices. While Judaism
taught love of neighbor, the Jewish application of the principle was almost exclusively in
favor of Jews; whereas Christ's law of love was universal in its application. He had such
great compassion on the multitude, that the common people rallied about Him wherever He
went. This it was that aroused the jealousy, the ire of official Jewry of His day in
Palestine. It culminated in the death sentence being imposed upon Him for claiming to be
the Christ (Messiah); for claiming to have all the power, all the authority that there is
in heaven; for claiming to be equal to God the Father (St. Matt. 28:18-19; St. John
5:18). So clearly is this fact historically substantiated, that to claim Christ as a
great humanitarian, or moral teacher, while denying His divinity (as do rationalists and
some Jewish Rabbis), is like admiring the principles and lofty democratic sentiments in
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, while denying the fact that it was the President of the
United States who spoke on that historic occasion.
The law of Moses, though only foreshadowing the perfect law of Christ, traced
with minute care the duties of man, yet it was a common thing for official Jewry to permit
practices that the law forbade. Jesus, as the Law-Maker, condemned this most emphatically;
for instance, when dealing with the law of retaliation (lex talionis) set forth in Exodus
21:24. Its real purpose was to protect the community by punishing the guilty, taking an
"eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (as we do when punishing murderers), and
not to guide the hearts of Jews, as it did. Christ, by the exercise of His divine power,
substituted therefor the law of forbearance and conciliation. In place of loving your
neighbor, and hating your enemies, Christ set forth the great spiritual standard of loving
your enemies.
Then again, Christ insisted upon charity toward our neighbor. The Mosaic law
confined one's neighbor almost exclusively to fellow-Israelites, the "children of
one's people" (Levit. 19:18), aliens being scorned as "Gentile
dogs." Christ gave the term neighbor a universal significance. It was held to include
every human being, be he Greek, Jew, Pagan, sinner or saint. An instance of the disregard
of Christ for the Jewish hatred of outsiders was seen in His conversation the Samaritan
woman at the well (St. John 4). He began by asking a favor of the woman, a drink
of water, something no Jew would do. She, amazed, asked, "How dost thou, being a Jew,
ask me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman?" Christ gave the conversation a spiritual
turn, by telling her that He had living water to give from the fountain of everlasting
life. It was the occasion when Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah, "I am He who
am speaking to thee." On another historic occasion, Christ let it be known that His
love of neighbor included love of sinners. It was when He saved the woman guilty of
adultery from being stoned to death, according to the Mosaic law. Christ took the moral
instead of the legal side of the law, arousing the fear of God in their hearts, when He
said, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her"
(St. John 8). They all slunk away, leaving Christ alone with the sinner. Gaining
for her the grace of being sorry for her sin, Christ exercised His power as God by giving
her absolution. "Go thy way, and from now on sin no more." This act alone proves
that Christ is either the Divine Person the Catholic Church holds Him to be, or he is an
imposter, as only God could set aside the Mosaic law, and forgive sin in His own name.
This is a very important matter, for in love of neighbor centers the hope of
happiness of heart, home and society. It is the principle of charity, which St. Paul
presented magnificently after he passed from the Synagogue to the Church (1 Cor. 13).
Without this virtue, says he, gift of prophecy, tongues, of converting sinners, giving
monies to the poor, etc., are as nothing. It is interesting to note that there is no word
in the Hebrew language to designate this distinctively Christian virtue, charity.
The attempt to use the word "sedakah" (righteousness), or "gemilut
hesed" (bestowing kindness) as equivalents, will not do, as a man may be righteous
and bestow all his worldly belongings upon the poor, and yet not have the virtue of
charity. Charity is a supernatural rather than a natural virtue. It is first of all love
of God, and love of one's neighbor for the love of God; seeing and honoring the image of
God in one's neighbor. It means love of enemies as well as friends; the love of souls in
heaven and purgatory as well as the souls on earth.
Though I have gone on at length, and plan to write you once or twice more on
the subject of the divinity of Christ, the evidence and arguments are so overwhelmingly
favorable to this contention, that it amazes me to find it necessary to write to you
regarding the matter. The divinity of Christ is seen not only in His life and works, but
also in the lives of others. All the great saints -- popes, kings, queens, spiritual
humanitarians, missionaries, virgins, widows, founders of religious orders, patron saints
of various countries, and trades --, too numerous to mention, have reflected Christ as a
divine personage, just as the color of some silk worms reflect the color of the leaves
they feed upon. |