Chapter 5: God Tells Man

1. Christ Teaches Us by Being God
   • Relating to a Man Who Is God
     • Our concern here is not why God became man (that is addressed in ch. 16), but with the new way of knowing God by way of the Incarnation (77-2).
       • A brief review of what we mean by the Incarnation (Sheed assumes we have this knowledge):
         • In the second person of the Blessed Trinity, “human nature was assumed, not absorbed” for the “distinction between the natures was never abolished by their union” (CCC 470 467).
         • “Each of the two natures [divine and human] was preserved as they came together in one person (“prosopon”) and one hypostasis [i.e., substance]” (CCC 467).
           • That is, the two natures, divine and human, remain distinct, but are united in the person of the Word. This is called the hypostatic union (CCC 466).
         • “He became truly man while remaining truly God” (CCC 464). Hence, there is no domination of his humanity by his divinity.
     • To know Christ is God sheds much light on Christ, but our concern here is with the light it sheds upon God (77-2)
     • We can know of God’s infinite power and of His creation of all things from nothing, but this is remote knowledge (77-3)
       • We have no experience of infinite power
       • We have no experience of creating from nothing
       • We have no experience of being infinite
     • The situation is radically changed when we see God “being and doing and suffering in our nature,” for these are things of which we have experience. In our reading of the Gospels we see God doing things that are very familiar to us (77-3):
       • “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (Lk 2:51).
       • “When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, ‘Does not your teacher pay the tax?’ He said, ‘Yes’” (Mt 17:24-25).
       • “And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and served him” (Mt 8:14-15).
       • “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross’” (Mt 27:39).
       • “And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry” (Mt 4:2).
       • “After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst’” (Jn 19:28).
       • “And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’” (Mk 10:21).
       • “And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” (Mk 3:5).
       • “And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care if we perish?’” (Mk 4:37-38).
2. The Mystery of Jesus’ Identity
   • The Divine Pedagogy
     • We learn something of the divine pedagogy by observing the way Jesus gradually reveals His full identity. His identity is a mystery throughout His public life; why did He not announce who He was at the beginning of His public ministry? (78-3).
       • Before answering the question, we need to address an objection. Did not the Virgin Mary know that that her son was the Son of God?
         • “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:31-32).
       • If He is Son of the Most High, then He is God, for a progeny (offspring) always takes on the nature of its progenitor. The Jews understood this:
         • “‘My Father, who has given [His “sheep”] to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me? The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God’” (Jn 10:32-33; also see Jn 5:18).
       • If the Virgin Mary knew from the outset that Jesus was God, then her reaction at finding Him in the Temple when He was twelve is inexplicable:
         • “And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.’ And he said to them, ‘How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them” (Lk 2:48-49).
       • Her reaction can only be explained by observing that at this point the Virgin Mary did not yet know the full identity of her son. She would come to know it in the same way the Apostles came to know it, only sooner:
         • “With this response [Lk 2:49], He disclosed the mystery of His person to Mary and Joseph in an unexpected, unforeseen way, inviting them to go beyond appearances and unfolding before them new horizons for His future” (John Paul II, “Theotokos,” 166).
     • The fact of Jesus’ concealed identity during His public ministry is a puzzle to believers, whereas non-believers use it to challenge to the doctrine of the Incarnation.
       • For example, a non-believer might argue that Jesus never made a direct claim to be God; hence, the idea that He is God was created by His followers after Jesus’ death.
     • But notice that “our Lord’s action in this matter was of set policy” (78-3).
     • The suspense He created was deliberate and was clearly felt by His enemies (78-3):
       • “So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly’” (Jn 10:24).
         • Note the verse following Jn 10:24: “Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me’” (Jn 10:25).
           • “I told you”: See Jn 8:18-19, 25, 38, 42, 58; Jn 5:17-18
         • The passage continues: “‘My Father, who has given them [i.e., His “sheep”] to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ The Jews took up stones again to stone him” (Jn 10:29-31).
       • He “told them” He was “the Christ” (i.e., the Messiah) through the works that bore witness to Him, but they refused to believe His works were of God:
         • “So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him; they said, ‘When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?’” (Jn 7:30-31).
         • “And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?’” (Mk 4:41).
         • “The scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?’” (Lk 5:21).
   • The Element of Suspense
     • The suspense was also felt by the Apostles. They had been his “inseparable companions” for quite some time – more than two years in the opinion of Fillion (see his “Life of Christ”, a chronology of the events of Jesus’ life). He had clearly been about His public ministry long enough for the populace to have formed an opinion of Him, as we see in Matthew’s Gospel:
       • “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do men say that the Son of man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’” (Mt 16:13-15).
     • “Clearly, He had not told [the Apostles who He was]; just as clearly, He had good reason for not telling them” (79-1)
     • The reason for the mystery lies in His audience. It was composed of Jews who lived in a culture that was built upon the teaching of the prophets. They rightly believed in a majestic God (Lk 9:43) who had created the world.
       • “Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps 147:5).
       • “I am God and not man” (Hos 11:9).
       • We can hardly relate to that mindset because our age tends to treat God as an equal or an extra (as discussed in chapter 3) (79-2).
     • “If Christ our Lord had begun with the announcement that He was God, and they had believed Him, they would simply have fallen flat on their faces and never got[ten] up” (79-3).
       • Consider the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5:1-8:
         • “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’” (Lk 5:8).
       • Something similar took place at the time of the Transfiguration of Jesus:
         • “He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe” (Mt 17:5-6).
3. The Unfolding of Jesus’ Self-Revelation
   • The Divine Pedagogy in Action
     • The full identity of Jesus “had to be broken [to the Apostles] gradually or it would have broken them” (80-1).
     • “If we read the Gospels with that in mind, we can see how marvelously Our Lord brought the Apostles to [the] realization [of His divinity]. His method was not to tell them, but to bring them to a point where they would tell Him” (80-1).
     • He brought this about in the normal course of His public ministry during which “they saw Him doing things and heard Him saying things . . . that only God had a right to do and say” (80-1).
   • Some Inexplicable Things He Said
     • Regarding the forgiveness of sins: “And when he saw their faith he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?’” (Lk 5:20-21).
     • Regarding His supersession of the Law: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment” (Mt 5:21-22).
     • Regarding His absence of origin and pre-existence of all things: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’” (Jn 8:58).
       • Compare with: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”’” (Ex 3:14).
     • Regarding His identity with the Father: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).
     • Regarding His unique knowledge of the Father: “No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Lk 10:22).
   • Some Inexplicable Things He Did:
     • Raising of the dead: “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’ . . . So they took away the stone. And Jesus [prayed and then] . . . he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth” (Jn 11:39-44)
       • Note that in the case of the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Lk 8), Jesus said she was not dead. Also, it is not certain that the widow’s son (Lk 7) was dead. There is no question about Lazarus being dead prior to be raised.
     • Calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee: “And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?’ And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?’” (Mk 4:39-41).
     • Restoring sight to the blind: “[The blind man] answered, ‘The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash”; so I went and washed and received my sight.’ . . . [Questioning the man, the Pharisees said:] ‘We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. . . . Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind” (Jn 9:11-32).
       • Note: Some of these things are found in the Old Testament, but in various persons. Everything done there is now found in Jesus – healing lepers, raising the dead, giving the New Law (re: Moses and the old Law). Jonah, Solomon and the Temple were all held in the highest esteem for the Jews of Jesus’ day, yet He claimed to be greater than Jonah (Mt 12:41), greater than Solomon (Mt 12:42) and greater than the Temple (Mt 12:6).
   • The Witness of His Holiness
     • In addition to the inexplicable things He did and said there was His extraordinary holiness of life that was seen in the perfection of His activities: “They were astonished beyond measure [at the healing of the deaf mute], saying, ‘He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak’” (Mark 7:37).
     • Regarding His sinlessness: “Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:46).
     • The holiness clincher: “Now the chief priests and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward” (Matthew 26:59).
   • The Wild Hypothesis
     • So the Apostles saw Jesus do and say things that are proper to the divine nature, and at the same time they saw Him do and say things that belong to human nature.
       • As mentioned above, He paid taxes, experienced hunger and thirst, He slept, He loved, and He expressed anger (on one occasion).
     • Sheed writes that upon hearing and seeing the extraordinary things Jesus said and did and reflecting on these things, “a wild hypothesis began to form in their minds; and at times they felt surer of it as certain things seemed incapable of any lesser explanation, and again at times they felt unsure, as certain things could not be fitted at all into their present concept of God. But with endless advance and recoil, the sum of their movement was advance.” (80-1).
4. The Confessions of Peter and Nathanael
   • Peter’s Confession
     • Finally, at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus asked the Apostles “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:13), Peter responds: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:15).
     • Note that Peter is declaring two things: Jesus’ Messiahship and divinity.
       • “Christ” comes from the Greek “Christos,” which is the Greek translation of Messiah.
       • Son of the living God: a progeny (offspring) has the same nature as its progenitor. Thus, the Son of God would necessarily have the same divine nature as God:
         • “This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:18; also see Jn 10:32-33).
     • Peter’s confession took place somewhere near the latter part of Jesus’ public ministry.
   • Nathanael’s Confession
     • Near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, another Apostle, Nathanael, had made a confession that is essentially the equivalent of Peter’s.
     • In John’s Gospel, we see that Jesus called Philip to “follow Him,” and Philip, in turn, sought out Nathanael. When Nathanael approached Jesus, Jesus said to him:
       • “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom [there] is no guile!” (Jn 1:47).
     • “Nathanael responded, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” (Jn 1:48-49).
   • A Comparison of the Two Confessions
     • Comparing the two confessions we have:
       • Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).
       • Nathanael: “‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” (Jn 1:48-49).
     • There are two main ideas in both confessions[DDL1]:
       • First, “Son of God”/”Son of the Living God.”
         • These two phrases can have the same meaning, that being a reference to the second person of the Blessed Trinity.
         • But they don’t necessarily have that meaning, for the phase “son of God,” can be understood in two ways, as Jesus indicates in John 10:35, which quotes Psalm 82:6.
           • “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you’” (Ps 82:6).
         • The “gods” referred to in Psalm 82:6 are human judges through whom the justice of God is to be administered to His people.
           • “Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because I said, “I am the Son of God”?’” (Jn 10:34-36).
         • Hence, “son of God” can refer to either a divine or human person. On the human level, the title applies especially to the prophets, for God’s direct judgments were often spoken through the prophets.
         • It follows that Nathanael could be referring to Jesus as either the second person of the Blessed Trinity or as a prophet.
       • Second, “King of Israel”/”Christ”
         • Acts 2:30-31 quotes Ps 132:11 and interprets it to be speaking of the Messiah:
           • “The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne’” (Ps 132:11).
         • Hence, the Messiah was to be the son of King David, and, therefore, the King of Israel.
         • The Hebrew word “Messiah” is translated into Greek as “Christos,” and translated into English, from the Greek, as “Christ”.
         • So, we see that “King of Israel” equals “Messiah,” which equals “Christ”; these three titles are synonymous.
   • Sheed’s Conclusion on the Two Confessions
     • It follows that Peter and Nathanael could be saying the same thing, or they could be saying two different things, though they both use essentially the same words; hence, Sheed writes that Peter’s confession “contains nothing that had not been said” much earlier by Nathanael (80-1).
     • It is Sheed’s opinion that the content of the two different confessions is essentially the same. The only difference between them is that Nathanael’s confession was a conclusion drawn from human reason, whereas Peter’s confession was the result of divine inspiration.
     • Scripture is clear that the source of the two confessions is as Sheed describes them, human reason for Nathanael and divine inspiration for Peter.
   • St. John Chrysostom’s Conclusion on the Two Confessions
     • St. John Chrysostom writes of the two confessions saying: “Both used the same words, but not the same meaning” (Catena, John, 76).
     • Following Chrysostom, we have Nathanael saying, “You are the Prophet [spoken of by Moses in Dt 18:15] and the Messiah.”
       • “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you” (Dt 18:15).
       • “And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ They said to him then, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’” (Jn 1:19-22).
     • Consequently, the confessions of Nathanael and Peter can be understood to be such that Nathanael confesses that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Christ, whereas Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, who is also the Son of the Living God.
   • Both Confessions Are Remarkable in Their Own Right
     • Even if we follow Chrysostom, both confessions are still remarkable. Nathanael’s confession is remarkable for acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, Peter’s is remarkable for acknowledging Jesus as the very Son of God.
     • Peter’s confession is the more significant of the two confessions, because his came under the impulsion of grace as a direct revelation from the Father, whereas Nathanael’s confession was an act of human reason.
     • Unaided human reason, of course, is fallible, so one could not, at the time, be certain of the doctrine contained in Nathanel’s confession, whereas the Apostles could be certain of the doctrine contained in Peter’s confession, it being a direct revelation from the Father (80-2):
       • “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17).
     • Nevertheless, Nathanael’s confession is significant in that it shows that it was possible for a Jew living at the time of Jesus to the same conclusion as Nathanael’s based on human reason alone.
     • Nathanael’s confession also serves as a model for the rest of the Apostles (and for us as well), all of whom “[reached] out toward a supernatural explanation when Our Lord calmed the storm with a word” (81-1):
       • “They were filled with awe, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?’” (Mk 4:41).
   • Did Peter Get There First?
     • Sheed writes that the Apostles’ human reason moved them ever closer to the true identity of Jesus “to the point where their minds were ready to receive the impulsion of God’s grace and make the act of Faith, after which they held the truth not by human reason . . . but with the sure support of the grace of God. That point Peter reached first” (81-1).
       • Note that Sheed is not saying Peter reached the point where he understood the revelation, but only that he reached the point where he could receive the revelation.
       • “This does not mean that he had already understood the mystery of Christ in all its depth; his faith was still at the beginning of a journey of faith. It would reach its true fullness only though the experience of the Paschal events” (Benedict XVI, “Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church,” p. 46).
   • Two Objections to Peter “Getting There First”
     • Peter may have been the first to recognize the divinity of Jesus, but Scripture does not seem to support the idea that Peter got there at the time of his confession at Caesarea Philippi. There are three reasons for this.
       • First, though Peter was the spokesman for the Apostles, how could we know whether or not the others were similarly at the point where they could profess what was revealed through Peter? It is possible that they were, but Scripture is silent on this question, and it is of no real importance.
       • Second, Sheed’s implication is that Peter, from that moment on, recognized the divinity of Jesus. This is difficult to reconcile with Scripture because of the fact that Peter, following the Last Supper, directly contradicted Jesus’ prophecy that he would deny Jesus three times that evening (Mt 26:31-35, Mk 14:30, Lk 22:34). This would seem to indicate that Peter, even at the end of Jesus’ public ministry, did not yet recognize that Jesus was God. The same is true of the other Apostles:
         • “Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And so said all the disciples” (Mt 26:35).
       • Third, in support of this position is that Jesus Himself questions the disciples’ belief at the Last Supper and points to their desertion of Him during His Passion as the evidence showing they did not have the belief they thought they had:
         • “His disciples said, ‘Ah, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure! Now we know that you know all things, and need none to question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me’” (Jn 16:30-32).
     • For these reasons, one could argue that the “wild hypothesis” forming in the minds of the Apostles was actually that Jesus is the Messiah:
       • “Many of the people believed in him; they said, ‘When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?’” (Jn 7:31).
   • The Apostles Called Him Lord
     • One may counter the above objections to the Apostles recognition of the divinity of Jesus by noting that throughout His public ministry the Apostles referred to Jesus as “Lord,” a word which we now consider to be synonymous with God.
     • However, this cannot be used as an argument that the Apostles recognized Jesus’ divinity during His public ministry for two reasons:
       • First, the title is used for the first time in Lk 5:8 following the miraculous catch of fish after which Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” This was early in Jesus’ public ministry, well before Peter’s confession (Mt 16:13-19), which probably took place in the third year of Jesus’ ministry.
         • The first use of “Lord” in the other Gospels can be found in Mt 8:2, Mk 7:23 and Jn 6:34.
       • Second, “the use of ‘Kyrios’ in the Synoptic Gospels . . . is common as a form of address of Jesus; this reflects Aramaic usage and is no more than ‘Sir.’” The distinctive application of ‘kyrios’ to Jesus seems to be original with the early Christian communities” (John L. McKenzie, “Dictionary of the Bible,” s.v. Lord).
         • The early Christian communities, of course, came about after the public ministry of Jesus.
         • “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords” — yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:5-6).
   • The Revelation of Jesus’ Divinity Did Come through Peter
     • Nevertheless, the revelation did come through Peter, who had been divinely chosen as the recipient of the revelation:
       • “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’” (Mt 16:18-19).
5. Knowing Him as Man, then Learning He Is God
   • The Importance of the Witness of the Apostles
     • Protestant Christians attribute little significance to the Apostles, despite the fact that they were important to Jesus (81-3):
       • “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (Jn 15:16).
     • If we are not surprised that Protestant Christians fail to see the Apostles as being the first members of the divinely founded hierarchical structure of the Church, “it is still . . . surprising that any Christian should overlook this other function [of the Apostles] to which we have been leading up. For these were the men who knew Christ [as man] before they knew He was God” (81-3).
       • By the time they came to know Him as God, it was “too late” for them to simply fear Him (82-1).
       • Rather than applying their concept of God to Jesus, they were able to apply their concept of Jesus, and their certainty of His love for mankind, to God (82-1).
       • The truth that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) is expressed frequently in the Old Testament in various ways, for example (82-2):
         • “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you” (Is 49:15).
       • However, the meaning of such verses was obscure because a way to understand them did not exist until God became man (82-2).
       • Nowhere in the Old Testament did it occur to anyone to call God the friend of sinners (82-2):
         • “The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous” (Pvb 15:29).
         • “For the Most High also hates sinners and will inflict punishment on the ungodly” (Sir 12:6).
         • “The boastful may not stand before thy eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors bloodthirsty and deceitful men” (Ps 5:5-6).
       • But He is called the friend of sinners during His public ministry (though in a derisive manner by His enemies) (82-2):
         • “The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Luke 7:34).
6. Our Reaction to the Mystery
   • Making the Mystery Our Own
     • “We are helped enormously by seeing Him in our nature; and for the mind, this means a continual study of Him whereby the Apostles’ experience of Christ becomes our own personal experience, their intimacy becomes our intimacy” (83-1).
     • “We have to vivify all that hard thinking about the Infinite, by the closest companionship with our Lord Jesus Christ. By both [i.e., the hard thinking and seeing Him in the Gospels], the mind grows toward the knowledge of God which is [the mind’s] health” (83-1).
     • Our study of the Incarnation presents us with the union of two apparently irreconcilable elements, Jesus, as a man with a necessarily finite human nature, with whom we can readily identify, and Jesus the infinite Son of God, with whom we have no shared experiences. What are we to do?
       • If we accept both elements of a mystery at white heat and learn to revel (delight) in each element, a reconciliation of sorts takes place in us “and a moment comes when we recognize that we are living mentally in the presence not of two truths but of one” (40-2, 83-1).
     • Initially, there may be little joy in exercising the mind upon the Infinite, but, with some effort, the “tears” of our laboring will become our joy:
       • “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!” (Ps 126:5).
   • Making the Mystery Come Alive
     • “As a practical matter, then, it is to be recommended that the user of this book will accompany all the rest of his reading and thinking by a steady reading of the Gospels, steadily reminding himself at each incident and each phrase of Our Lord that He who said this and did this is God the Son, Infinite Existence. This is the way to make the philosophy come alive” (83-3).
       • Sheed’s recommendation is best put into action by the simple practice of “Christian Meditation.” Instruction can be found on the blog by clicking on the “Christian Meditation” tab.
7. Christ teaches us by speaking of God
   • Reading the Gospels
     • Our reading of the Gospels will teach us about God in two ways:
       • First, we will learn “what our Lord showed us about God by being God” (84-1).
       • Second, we will learn “what our Lord shows us about God by what He has to say of God” (84-1).
     • In order to increase our benefit from reading the Gospels, Sheed recommends two practices.
       • First, make a list of the things Jesus says about God, grasp them in their context and then return to them again and again (84-1).
       • Second, make a list of the texts that speak of why Jesus came among men (84-1).
   • Three Types of Statements about God in the New Testament
     • Sheed speaks of three types of statements that speak of God in the New Testament. In the first two types, it is difficult to see that there is anything that hasn’t already been said in the Old Testament (84-2):
       • First, statements in which Jesus speaks of God
         • “It would be hard to find among these [statements] anything that has not already been told us in the Old Testament. There is a new atmosphere, but if it is impossible not to feel the difference, it is almost impossible to lay a precise finger on it” (84-2).
       • Second, statements that repeat the teaching of the philosophers (e.g., God is spirit, all good, all powerful He is one) (84-3).
       • Third, statements in which there is an element of oneness and plurality, unity in multiplicity (85-2). These we shall explore further.
   • Oneness, Plurality and Interchangeability
     • In the third type of statement, we do find a new aspect of God’s revelation to man. There are hints of this aspect in the Old Testament:
       • “Then God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26).
         • This is a subtle hint: “It did not strike the Jews, even by Christ’s day, as requiring any special comment. . . . [and neither did] the fact that the word for God, ‘Elohim,’ is plural: yet it takes a verb in the singular, and if an adjective goes with it, that is in the singular too” (85-3).
       • “With you is wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world, and who understands what is pleasing in your sight and what is right according to your commandments” (Wis 9:9).
     • These hints point “to a truth so astounding indeed, [that] one must be led [to it] inescapably or one will not arrive there at all” (86-1).
       • “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New” (CCC 129, quoting St. Augustine).
     • The New Testament makes the plurality in God explicit while continuing to speak of the oneness at the same time (86-2):
       • “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Mk 12:29, Dt 6:4).
       • “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30).
       • “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).
         • Here we have plurality expressed by the use of three names, and unity by the word “name” used in the singular (86-2).
     • In addition to this New Testament plurality in God is found an “interchangeability,” especially in the Last Supper discourse in regard to the (1) equality of the Father and the Son, (2) the matter of petitioning God, (3) the sending of the Holy Spirit, and (4) God’s abiding in our souls (Jn 13-17).
       • Identity of Father and Son (86-3):
         • “He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (Jn 14:9).
       • Petitioning God (87-2):
         • During the latter part of Jesus’ discourse at the Last Supper He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name” (John 16:23), whereas earlier in the same discourse He said, “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
       • Sending of the Holy Spirit (87-3):
         • “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever” (Jn 14:16).
         • “If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7).
       • God’s abiding presence in our souls (the indwelling presence) (87-4):
         • “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23).
     • “Heaven knows what His hearers made of all this as they heard the words come from His lips. What He was revealing was the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. He revealed it because he wanted us to know it. We must try” (87-5).
   • Excursus: How Nathanael Could Reason to Jesus Being the Messiah
     • Nathanael’s confession is striking. On the surface, there seems to be no basis for it in the natural order; hence, it appears to be a case of revelation. However, there are three factors that combine to put Nathanael’s confession in the realm of human reason.
       • First, at the time of the birth of Jesus, there was the expectation that the coming of the Messiah was imminent:
         • Zechariah at the time of the circumcision of John the Baptist: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation [i.e., a savior] for us in the house of his servant David” (Lk 1:69).
         • “And the angel said to them . . . ‘to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ [Messiah] the Lord’” (Lk 2:10-11).
         • Simeon’s prophecy: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace, your word has been fulfilled; my own eyes have seen the salvation [i.e., Jesus], which you have prepared in the sight of every people” (Lk 2:29-31).
         • “And coming up at that very hour [Anna, the prophetess] gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38).
         • “As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ” (Lk 3:15).
         • “[The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders] were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet” (Mk 11:32).
         • “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’. . . . Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan” (Mt 3:5).
         • “John answered them, ‘I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me . . . whose sandal [straps] I am not worthy to untie’” (Jn 1:26-17).
       • Second, Philip told Nathanael that Jesus was the one “of whom Moses and the prophets wrote” (i.e., the Messiah) and that He was from Nazareth. Nathanael, considering what Philip said, ponders the possibility of this man from Nazareth being the Messiah.
         • He immediately asks whether anything good could come from Nazareth (Jn 1:46), for the lowly village had a poor reputation (McKenzie) and it is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The Scriptures say nothing of the Messiah coming from Nazareth, whereas there is a written prophecy that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem (Mic 5:2), hence the reason for Nathanael’s initial hesitation.
         • On the other hand, there was an oral tradition that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene (Mt 2:23). Nathanael could have easily made a connection between the words Nazarene/netzer (i.e., branch) that would take him to a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah:
           • “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch [netzer] shall grow out of his roots” (Is 11:1).
       • Third, Nathanael was alone under the fig tree and not within the sight of Jesus when Philip found him. Still Jesus somehow knew where Nathanael had been; hence, He has access to supernatural knowledge.
     • Putting all of this together, Nathanael was able to reason that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David, “the King of Israel” and the “Son of God” (Jn 1:48-49).