Posted on 11/01/2009 7:53:21 AM PST by GonzoII
An Ignorant Jesus?
Was Jesus confused? Did He know He was Messiah? or divine? Did He know much about the afterlife? Did He have at least one superstition? Did He have only the mentality of a Jew of the first third of the first century? -- Wild as it may seem, some prominent scholars charge Him on all the above counts, and more too.
But: What does the Church teach on these things? Pope Pius XII, in his great Encyclical on the Mystical Body, on June 29, 1943, rejected all such charges. He taught: "By that blessed vision which He enjoyed when just received in the womb of the Mother of God, He has all the members of the Mystical Body continuously and perpetually present to Himself." In other words: His human souls saw the vision of God at once, and in it all knowledge is at hand. In another Encyclical, Sempiternus Rex Christus, in 1951, the same Pope complained many were not accepting his teaching. Then in still another Encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, in 1956, he clearly repeated his earlier teaching. Further, on July 24,1966, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Paul VI, complained many were still not accepting. Clearly, the repeated teaching shows the Church means to make this definite and definitive, namely, that the human soul of Jesus, from the first instant, saw the vision of God, in which all knowledge is accessible. (The objectors do not really mean that a divine HE was ignorant -they mean His human mind did not register some things).
The stubbornness of those who reject is remarkable. For on two counts this teaching rates as infallible: 1)The repetition, as we said, shows the intention to make a thing definitive. So it is infallible. 2)Pius XII, in his Humani generis of 1950 told us that if the Popes in their official journal deliberately take a position on something then being debated in theology, it is removed from debate, and comes under the promise of Christ (Lk.10:16): "He who hears you, hears me." Of course, a promise of Christ cannot fail. The modern trouble on Christ's human knowledge was sparked by a book, by P. Galtier, L'unité du Christ, which appeared in 1939 - followed soon, in 1943, by the Encyclical of Pius XII, and then by still more texts, as we said. So this teaching is infallible, on two counts.
Really, even without the help of the official texts, we should be able to see for ourselves that the human mind of Jesus not only happened to have that vision, but could not lack it. We see it in the following way. For any soul to reach that vision (which happens to others in heaven), two things are needed: 1) the power of the soul to see needs to be elevated by grace. Of course that was true in Jesus; 2)The divinity should join itself directly to the human mind, without even an image in between, so that the mind may see God. Now in an ordinary case, if we put together human body and human soul, that is automatically a human person. That did not happen in the case of Jesus - His human mind, and whole humanity, was assumed, taken over, by the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Therefore His human mind was joined to the divinity, even more closely than happens in the case of an ordinary soul - for when an ordinary soul receives that vision, it remains a separate person. But in Jesus, there was only one Person, the Divine Person. So His human soul could not possibly have lacked this vision.
In other souls, this vision causes complete blessedness. In Jesus, there was in a way blessedness, but only on the highest point of His soul, as it were. On the other hand, the vision revealed to Him, in merciless detail, everything He would have to suffer in His Passion. If one of us foresees something dreadful coming, he can take refuge in the thought: Maybe it won't happen; maybe it won't be that bad. But the vision in Jesus could be called merciless: it showed Him with distressing clarity and absolute infallibility what was to come.
To live a life under such a vision was dreadfully painful. When we have a long-running trouble, as it were, it wears the skin thin. In Him it did something like that. Yes, His divinity could have protected Him from that. But He had resolved, when He "emptied Himself" (Phil 2:7) not to use His power for His own comfort, only for the sick. So an unprotected humanity would be in unending apprehension. Twice He let us see inside Himself In Lk 12:50: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished". That is: I have to be plunged in the deep waters of suffering. I am in a tight spot, cannot get comfortable until I get it over with. Again, about a week before His death, He was speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem, and decided to let us see inside again (John 12:27): "Now my heart is troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour!" After that, in Gethsemani, the nightmare that had been pursuing Him caught up. He could not scream and find it only a dream: it was there in all its hideous reality. The interior tension ruptured the small blood vessels near the sweat glands, resulting in literally a sweat of blood, medically known as hematidrosis. He even, as St. Mark's Gospel reports (14:33), felt fear. The fact He knew He would rise on the third day could not keep the nails from hurting. Again, His divine power could have rescued Him from suffering. But He had resolved not to use that for His own sake. So again, an unprotected humanity could not help shrinking back in horror.
Instead of charging Him with such ignorance, we should be immeasurably grateful that He was willing to go through such a life, such a death. We owe Him reparation too for the charges of ignorance.
There are objections: In Lk 2:42 we read that He advanced in wisdom and age. So was He deficient in wisdom before? No, the Fathers of the Church, after St. Athanasius, point out there is a difference between actual growth in wisdom, and growth in manifestation of it, how much He showed. He measured it out in accord with each point of age.
Again, in Mark 13:32 He Himself said He did not know the day of the end. Pope St. Gregory the Great solves this problem by saying that He knew the day in His humanity, but not from His humanity. That is, in our terms,the information did register on His human mind, even though His humanity was not the source of that information.
When His Mother, on finding Him in the temple, did not understand, it was not that she did not know who He was. It was that she did not understand this strange departure form His usual compliant way of acting. Actually, as soon as the Archangel at the Annunciation told her He would reign over the house of Jacob forever, she knew at once He was the Messiah - any ordinary Jew would grasp that, for only the Messiah would reign forever. Then all the prophecies about the Messiah would come to her mind as she pondered in her heart, including the dread chapter 53 of Isaiah, about the lamb led to the slaughter, along with Psalm 22, saying,. "They have pierced my hands and my feet.". So she too must have suffered all along, together with Him. So we owe reparation, make-up, to her together with Him.
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Is:40:13,14, 28: "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding."
Mohammad molested and married a 9 year old girl that eventually, afraid of his evil killed him by poison and now one seems to be critical of musses as the continue to attack Christianity.
“Wild as it may seem, some prominent scholars charge Him on all the above counts, and more too.”
Not “wild.” To be expected.
Wow, another lesson learned.
One 'Ignorant' Life He was born in an obscure village, The child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, Where he worked in a carpenter shop Until he was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles From the place where he was born. He did none of the things One usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three When the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. And went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross Between two thieves. While he was dying, His executioners gambled for his clothing, The only property he had on Earth. When he was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave Through the pity of a friend. Twenty centuries have come and gone, And today he is the central figure Of the human race, And the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, All the navies that ever sailed, All the parliament that ever sat, All the kings that ever reigned, Put together have not affected The life of man on Earth As much as that One 'Ignorant' Life
Johnny Cash did that one!
When his parents inadvertently left him behind at the age of 12 and they went back to find him they found him in the temple. In response to their concern for him not going with them he replied that he had to be about his Father’s business. Sounds to me like he knew who he was.
I wish Jesus would have written his own letters or books. Other than that the author mentions Is 53 and Psalm 22. Is 53 is not about Jesus but the Jewish people and Psalm 22 is about King David, it doesnt say “pierced” in the Hebrew. http://www.outreachjudaism.org/sin.html
My daughter wrote: "Everyone know you can't build a temple in three days."
bttt
Are you not aware that the Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit?
Also God
God, the Father
God, the Son
God, the Holy Spirit.
Knowing all things, doing all things — Read my tagline.
So did you explain to her that Christ was talking about the temple of His Body and the temple of His Church?
Resrurrection — three days.
My daughter wrote: “Everyone know you can’t build a temple in three days.”
I wonder how her teacher would have replied to:
“The temple was rebuilt on the resurrection of Christ”
If only the twits that try to lessen His stature in Humanity's mind were as "confused" as he, they would stop this trash.
On the bright side, in our time-limited existence He has yet to return to defeat the Evil One and his minions; in His time-encompassing existence, it has been written in stone...
What scholars??? Obviously they are not scholars...Any 15 year old kid can read the scriptures and find this stuff out for himself...
I am amazed that the Pope was dealing with such issues in June 1943.
How would you know?
And what he came to do.
Absolutely! He told the disciples throughout his ministry what was in store for him, but they simply didn’t get it. I think from his statement at 12 that he knew it all even then.
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