ONENESS: gOD OR MAN OR BOTH? PART 1
There is a dispute in 5:17-30 of John's Gospel between Jesus and the Jews centering on whether Jesus is doing God's work or not. Jesus opens the dialogue that will become contentious:
"My Father is at work even till now,
and so I am at work too."
For this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill him--not only was he breaking the Sabbath (curing the cripple at Bethesda); worse still, he was speaking of God as his own Father, thus making himself God's equal.
This was Jesus' answer:
"I solemnly assure you, the Son cannot do a thing by himself--only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever He does, the Son does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son, and everything that He does He shows him. Yes, much to your surprise, He will show him even greater works than these.
Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and grants life, so also the Son grants life to those whom he wishes.
In fact, it is not the Father who judges anyone; no, He has turned all judgement over to the Son, so that all men may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
He who refuses to honor the Son, refuses to honor the Father who sent him....
Indeed, just as the Father possesses life in Himself,
so has He granted that the Son also possesses life in himself.
And He has turned over to him to pass judgment
because he is Son of Man--"
This discourse is one of the most exalted in the whole New Testament. Jesus is making claims unlike those of any other man, claims tantamount to divinity. Yet Jesus tells the Jewish authorities that there is nothing arrogant in what he has said, for he is completely dependent on the Father and claims nothing on his own. All this is summed up in 10:30: "The Father and I are one."
From Jesus' perspective, God is clearly doing the work the Son is undertaking. This is a man, a person like you or I, recognizing God performing. Meanwhile, the Jews see only a lowly human being operating.
Obviously, there is a chasm here between the two outlooks. I think most of us have eyes like the Jews, seeing only what is on the surface. What can fill the gap to see beyond the apparent? I think of the gap between a pine cone that I can hold in my hand, and a giant redwood almost 400 feet tall and 3000 years old. Or the gap between a serial killer and a Mahatma Gandhi. What this tells me is that the gap can be closed.
What's real is what's going on inside me. I cannot be aware of anything outside the domain of my own mind. This is not denying objective reality; it is saying that no matter what is out there, I can only understand it according to how I perceive it. I act on what I say it is. My mind is the reality. My perception creates my disposition, my outlook. That is the sole existing reality for each of us. It can obviously change at any time. We are so created with free will that my will is God's will. The two wills are joined in the sense that God allows what I choose to be played out. My will is God's will, at least for now.
I don't think any country, culture, or church will save us. It will happen one by one, soul by individual soul. There is no path to follow but one's own. The move towards goodness or love must be the way, and that can be directed towards all that may be experienced in heaven and on earth, towards all that must be done within and without. It is always a stretch to keep our feet on the ground with our head in the clouds.
Because of what Jesus says in passages like this, later theologians will conclude that the Father and the Son are of one and the same nature. I would like to raise the question, "What of God and man being of the same nature?" Could this be a moment of mystery where the Absolute meets the relative? Ultimately all is one, and nothing is real unless it lasts forever. So for the time being, God allows my will to be joined to His for whatever action I choose. And it may take eons for the short-sighted will to pass away. And only I can make it pass away (with God's concurrence). I think this is the human perplexity sparking Jesus' dialogue with the Jews.
(Part 1 of "Oneness: God or Man or Both?" contains selections from Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John I-XII, The Anchor Yale Bible, vol 29.)
"My Father is at work even till now,
and so I am at work too."
For this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill him--not only was he breaking the Sabbath (curing the cripple at Bethesda); worse still, he was speaking of God as his own Father, thus making himself God's equal.
This was Jesus' answer:
"I solemnly assure you, the Son cannot do a thing by himself--only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever He does, the Son does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son, and everything that He does He shows him. Yes, much to your surprise, He will show him even greater works than these.
Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and grants life, so also the Son grants life to those whom he wishes.
In fact, it is not the Father who judges anyone; no, He has turned all judgement over to the Son, so that all men may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
He who refuses to honor the Son, refuses to honor the Father who sent him....
Indeed, just as the Father possesses life in Himself,
so has He granted that the Son also possesses life in himself.
And He has turned over to him to pass judgment
because he is Son of Man--"
This discourse is one of the most exalted in the whole New Testament. Jesus is making claims unlike those of any other man, claims tantamount to divinity. Yet Jesus tells the Jewish authorities that there is nothing arrogant in what he has said, for he is completely dependent on the Father and claims nothing on his own. All this is summed up in 10:30: "The Father and I are one."
From Jesus' perspective, God is clearly doing the work the Son is undertaking. This is a man, a person like you or I, recognizing God performing. Meanwhile, the Jews see only a lowly human being operating.
Obviously, there is a chasm here between the two outlooks. I think most of us have eyes like the Jews, seeing only what is on the surface. What can fill the gap to see beyond the apparent? I think of the gap between a pine cone that I can hold in my hand, and a giant redwood almost 400 feet tall and 3000 years old. Or the gap between a serial killer and a Mahatma Gandhi. What this tells me is that the gap can be closed.
What's real is what's going on inside me. I cannot be aware of anything outside the domain of my own mind. This is not denying objective reality; it is saying that no matter what is out there, I can only understand it according to how I perceive it. I act on what I say it is. My mind is the reality. My perception creates my disposition, my outlook. That is the sole existing reality for each of us. It can obviously change at any time. We are so created with free will that my will is God's will. The two wills are joined in the sense that God allows what I choose to be played out. My will is God's will, at least for now.
I don't think any country, culture, or church will save us. It will happen one by one, soul by individual soul. There is no path to follow but one's own. The move towards goodness or love must be the way, and that can be directed towards all that may be experienced in heaven and on earth, towards all that must be done within and without. It is always a stretch to keep our feet on the ground with our head in the clouds.
Because of what Jesus says in passages like this, later theologians will conclude that the Father and the Son are of one and the same nature. I would like to raise the question, "What of God and man being of the same nature?" Could this be a moment of mystery where the Absolute meets the relative? Ultimately all is one, and nothing is real unless it lasts forever. So for the time being, God allows my will to be joined to His for whatever action I choose. And it may take eons for the short-sighted will to pass away. And only I can make it pass away (with God's concurrence). I think this is the human perplexity sparking Jesus' dialogue with the Jews.
(Part 1 of "Oneness: God or Man or Both?" contains selections from Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John I-XII, The Anchor Yale Bible, vol 29.)