Jesus Week – Day 7

 

You have but one Teacher,
and you are all brothers.
(Matthew 23:8)

 

Jesus, Teacher

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The generosity and numerous ways in which Jesus gives Himself to us is awesome. As St. Paul rejoiced in his letter to the Ephesians:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him. (Ephesians 1:3-4)

The goal of Christ’s coming is to restore us in the image in which He created us. This is what it means to truly live, or as Church Father St. Irenaeus summed up: “The glory of God is man fully alive!”^[1]Against Heresies, Book IV, Chapter 20, n. 7 To be “fully alive” is, in a word, to be Jesus. Your “yes” to Jesus is not just a matter of “getting saved” but of being “transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”^[2]2 Corinthians 3:18; cf. Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 15:49; Gal 4:19 We are to “put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.”^[3]Colossians 3:10 We are not to conform ourselves to this age but to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind,”^[4]Romans 122:2

Clearly, St. Paul is saying the Christian life is not a “one and done” moment at the baptismal font, but a progression in knowing Jesus more and more so that we become like Him.

I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you! (Galatians 4:19)

This is a supernatural process, and so we don’t get there all at once. As the late Benedict XVI said:

Faith is a journey of illumination: it starts with the humility of recognizing oneself as needy of salvation and arrives at the personal encounter with Christ, who calls one to follow Him on the way of love. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Angelus Address, October 29th, 2006

How do know what is the “way of love?” Where do I find it, how do I follow it? Because the world is filled with false prophets and numerous religions that claim they have the answer. But here’s what Jesus said:

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am… I am the way, and the truth, and the life. (John 13:13, 14:6)

 

The Word of God

Jesus is the “Word made flesh.” Throughout the centuries, this Word has spoken through the prophets and patriarchs until He was born in history 2000 years ago of a virgin mother. The Word appeared among us and spoke into the darkness;^[5]cf. John 1:5 He proclaimed the Gospel to the people of that time; He then suffered and died, and rose from the dead to confirm that the “Word was God.”^[6]John 1:1 Finally, before ascending to Heaven, Jesus the Word entrusted His word to the Twelve Apostles. 

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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus wants you and I, then, to listen to His Apostles because they alone were entrusted with this Word, what we call the “deposit of faith.” If you doubt this, listen again to what Jesus said to them:

Whoever listens to you listens to Me. Whoever rejects you rejects Me. And whoever rejects Me rejects the one who sent Me. (Luke 10:16)

The Voice of the Divine Teacher, then, echoes down through the ages to us today through apostolic succession — the bishops who replaced the Apostles after they died, and so on. And we know the Word we have received and are receiving from them is infallible because Jesus promised it would be so:

When He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth. (John 16:13)

Therefore, we can know the “way of love”, all its mysterious paths and turns, precisely because Jesus, our Teacher, said so. The integrity of the “deposit of faith” rests not on fallible men but on the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent upon the Church at Pentecost. 

 

Listening to the Word

Several witnesses of Jesus’s life, including Peter the first pope, wrote down many things about Christ’s life, works, and His teachings. In the councils of Carthage (393, 397, 419 AD) and Hippo (393 AD), the Church confirmed those writings, including those all the way back to the Old Testament, which she deemed divinely inspired. And hence, the “Bible” was born. Until then, the only way the Gospel was known was by word of mouth and the various letters in circulation. This is why St. Paul instructed the Thessalonians:

Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

For within these traditions, both oral or written, were the various instructions of Jesus in order to guide His brothers and sisters along the “way of love.” They contain practical things, like how the Church was to appoint new shepherds;^[7]Titus 1:5-9; 1 Tim 3:1-10 how to navigate the charisms of the Holy Spirit;^[8]1 Cor 12-14 how fathers, mothers, and children should conduct themselves in the family;^[9]Eph 5:21-6:4 the importance of works in the life of a Christian;^[10]Matt 25:31-46, James 2:14-26 what should consume our thoughts,^[11]Phil 4:8, Rom 2:!2 how we should use our tongues,^[12]Col 4:16, James 3:1-12, 1 Thess 5:11 and what to do when we are heavily burdened,^[13]Matt 11:28, 1 Pet 5:7 and so much more. But sometimes, said St. Peter, “there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.”^[14]2 Peter 3:16  And thus, we can never read the Bible in a vacuum apart from the living voice of the Good Shepherd in His Church, which He built upon Peter.^[15]Matt 16:18 As Benedict XVI said:

…the Scripture is to be proclaimed, heard, read, received and experienced as the Word of God, in the stream of the Apostolic Tradition from which it is inseparable. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini, n.7

 

The Divine Bath

Forgive me for the long preamble, but it’s necessary that we understand that it’s not just about “Jesus and me.” When you accept in faith Jesus as your Lord and are baptized, you become part of a Mystical Body, which we call the “Church,” which is St. Paul says is “pillar and foundation of truth.”^[16]1 Tim 3:15 We can never depart from that foundation of truth without putting ourselves in peril. So, it’s a good thing to have the Bible in one hand and the Catechism in the other. 

But this should never be reduced to a theological exercise. The Scriptures are the “Word of life”!^[17]1 John 1:1 They are the power of God! They are the “Sword of the Spirit”!^[18]Eph 6:17

Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Years ago, I spent time with a priest meditating on and piercing the Scriptures as we prayed together after our Masses. It was truly a powerful time when we were left like the two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. 

Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32)

At one point, the priest with me suddenly exclaimed: “My God, these Scriptures are living! They’re living! In seminary, we were taught to approach the Scriptures like they were laboratory specimens to be dissected and mutilated!” 

So, going back to what was said at the beginning… Jesus wants to prepare for Himself a Bride who is holy and without blemish. How? 

Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the Word, that He might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Let Jesus bathe you in the Word of God. If you do not read your Bible, it’s time to start. St. Jerome once said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Jesus wants you to know Him and thus know the Way of Love. The Scriptures will teach you; they will encourage you; strengthen, console, correct, and direct your life — and you will be “strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self.”^[19]Ephesians 3:16 Remaining always on the lap of the Church as a mother, she will help you understand the Scriptures in the way that God intends so that you may avoid the pitfalls of deception. 

Ah, so much more can be said. But it’s more crucial that you experience what is said here. Indeed, reading the Scriptures should be part of the conversation of prayer, the intimate dialogue between you and your Savior, you and your Teacher where you can hear His living voice. As He said:

If you remain in My word, you will truly be My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

 

So grateful for your prayers and support.
Thank you!

 

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