Notes for this theme

Who is Jesus?

Page 14 of 100

Reading comfort

GRM 54.5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Oh! My friends! And who is perfect but God?»
«You are!»
«I solemnly tell you that I am not perfect by Myself, if you think I am prophet. No man is perfect. But I am perfect because He Who is speaking to you is the Word of the Father: part of God. His thought that becomes Word. I have Perfection in Myself. And you must believe Me to be such if you believe that I am the Word of the Father. And yet, see, My friends, I want to be called the Son of man because I lower Myself taking upon Myself all the miseries of man, to bear them as My first scaffold, and cancel them, after bearing them, without suffering from them Myself. What a burden, My friends! But I bear it with joy. It is a joy for Me to bear it, because, since I am the Son of mankind, I will make mankind once again the child of God. As it was on the first day.»

Detail

Being a part of God, his Thought made Word, I have perfection in me. In a note to the second edition, it is written: "part is not to be understood as "portion" but as "belonging". Unlike man, who belongs to God not by nature, but by likeness (note 167.9), Jesus belongs to God by nature: in other words, he is God like the Father (he will say in 487.4: "I am his, both part and all with him"). This is why his perfection does not lie in the fact that he is a prophet (as he said above), but that he is God-Man. The human part of the God-Man was exhaustively completed by his victory over temptation (as he himself will say in 80.10 and as is clear from the end of the note to 174.9). Jesus' discourses in chapters 487 and 506 on the two natures, divine and human, are fundamental.

Son of man is the most frequent title given to Jesus and by Jesus to himself. Its general meaning is given in 343.4; but its messianic meaning is found here as well as, for example, in 126.3 and 603.1.

Keywords

GRM 54.5

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Jesus is speaking very gently, sitting at the poor table, gesticulating calmly with His hands on the table, His head slightly inclined to one side, His face lit up from below by a small oil lamp on the table. He smiles gently, He Who formerly was so majestic a Master in His bearing, is now so friendly in His gestures. His disciples are listening to Him carefully.

Detail

Jesus' attitude, shortly after gathering six disciples around him (John and James of Zebedee, Peter and Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew).

Keywords

Jesus Christ

GRM 54.7

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

54.7 «I would like to ask one thing…»
«What, Andrew?»
«John told me about the miracle You performed at Cana… We were hoping so much that You would perform one at Capernaum… and You said that You would not perform any miracles before fulfilling the Law. Why Cana then? And why here and not in Your own fatherland?»
«To obey the Law is to be united to God and that increases our capabilities. A miracle is the proof of the union with God, as well as of God’s benevolent and assenting presence. That is why I wanted to perform My duty as an Israelite, before starting the series of miracles.»
«But You were not bound to fulfil the Law.»
«Why? As the Son of God, I was not. But as a son of the Law, yes, I was. For the time being, Israel knows Me only as such… and, even later, almost everyone in Israel will know Me as such, in fact, even less. But I do not want to scandalise Israel and therefore I obey the Law.»
«You are holy.»
«Holiness does not bar obedience. On the contrary, it makes obedience perfect. Besides everything else, there is a good example to be given. What would you say of a father, of an elder brother, of a teacher, of a priest who did not give good examples?»
«And what about Cana?»
«Cana was to make My Mother happy. Cana is the advance due to My Mother. She anticipates Grace. Here I honour the Holy City, making her, in public, the starting point of My power as Messiah. But there, at Cana, I paid honour to the Holy Mother of God, Full of Grace. The world received Me through Her. It is only fair that My first miracle in the world should be for Her.»

Keywords

GRM 54.7

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«I would like to ask one thing…»
«What, Andrew?»
«John told me about the miracle You performed at Cana… We were hoping so much that You would perform one at Capernaum… and You said that You would not perform any miracles before fulfilling the Law. Why Cana then? And why here and not in Your own fatherland?»
«To obey the Law is to be united to God and that increases our capabilities. A miracle is the proof of the union with God, as well as of God’s benevolent and assenting presence. That is why I wanted to perform My duty as an Israelite, before starting the series of miracles.»
«But You were not bound to fulfil the Law.»
«Why? As the Son of God, I was not. But as a son of the Law, yes, I was. For the time being, Israel knows Me only as such… and, even later, almost everyone in Israel will know Me as such, in fact, even less. But I do not want to scandalise Israel and therefore I obey the Law.»
«You are holy.»
«Holiness does not bar obedience. On the contrary, it makes obedience perfect. Besides everything else, there is a good example to be given. What would you say of a father, of an elder brother, of a teacher, of a priest who did not give good examples?»
«And what about Cana?»
«Cana was to make My Mother happy. Cana is the advance due to My Mother. She anticipates Grace. Here I honour the Holy City, making her, in public, the starting point of My power as Messiah. But there, at Cana, I paid honour to the Holy Mother of God, Full of Grace. The world received Me through Her. It is only fair that My first miracle in the world should be for Her.»

Keywords

Jesus Christ - Son of God

GRM 55

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Andrew, Peter, James and John, Bartholomew, Philip, and Thomas are at the house of Jonah, the guardian of Gethsemane. Thomas tells how he came back to the scene. Jesus questions him, and offers him to stay. The apostle is happy, and Jesus takes the opportunity to teach the apostolic group a lesson about hospitality. Peter grumbles and makes a few remarks, saying that those we welcome are not always well-intentioned, and the Lord replies. Then he asks Thomas to go and find Simon the Zealot in the tombs, and to accompany him until he is purified. They meet again later. As for Judas, he encourages him not to go and see him, or even to seek his presence.

Peter grumbles again, and Christ asks him why. Simon of Jonah then points out that he gives missions to those who have just arrived, but not to the first disciples who followed him. The Master smiles at his words, and points out that, if he doesn't give such missions, it's because he knows them and is sure of them. The one who must be put to the test is the one who is not yet sure, the Savior asserts, and yet Christ esteemed them so much that he took his first apostles "without demanding proofs and without feeling the need to give you any". Peter is reassured and asks for forgiveness. Jesus, for his part, asks him not to argue about the places and merits of each. The Redeemer reminds them that He Himself is man's servant, and so He reminds them to remain humble.

Finally, Jesus gives Thomas the portrait of Simon the Zealot. All that remains is to find him...

Keywords

GRM 55.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

Let the world of the “living dead” know My name, let them throb with hope, and let those come to Me, who will have faith in addition to hope, that I may heal them. It is the first form of purity that I am bringing, the first form of the resurrection, of which I am the lord.

Keywords

GRM 55.3

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

One day I will grant a greater purity… One day the sealed tombs will violently expel those who are really dead, and they will appear and laugh with their empty eye sockets, with their bare jaws, because of the rejoicing of the souls freed from Limbo, a remote rejoicing and yet perceived even by skeletons. They will appear to laugh because of this liberation and to throb knowing it is due to…

Keywords

GRM 55.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«Do you know what the heart of your Jesus is? Have you ever seen the sea, the real sea? You have? Well, My heart is bigger than the immense sea! And there is room for everybody. For the whole of mankind. And the smallest person has a place just like the greatest. And a sinner finds love just like an innocent. I am entrusting these with a mission. Certainly. Do you want to forbid Me? I chose you. You did not choose yourselves. I am therefore free to decide how I want to employ you. And if I leave them here with a mission — which might well be a test, as the lapse of time granted to the Iscariot may be due to mercy — can you reproach Me? How do you know that I am not keeping a greater mission for you? And is not the nicest mission to be told: “You will come with me”?»

Keywords

GRM 55.4

The Gospel as revealed to me

Quotation

«I beg you all never to discuss merits and positions. I could have been born a king. I was born poor, in a stable. I could have been rich. I lived with My work and now I live out of charity. And yet, believe Me, My friends, there is no one greater than I in the eyes of God. Greater than I am, Who am here: the servant of man.»
«You a servant? Never!»
«Why not, Peter?»
«Because I will serve You.»
«Even if You served Me as a mother serves her child, I have come to serve man. I will be a Saviour for him. What service is there like that?»

Keywords

GRM 56

The Gospel as revealed to me

Detail

Near the ford of the Jordan, Maria sees Thomas, Jude of Alphaea and Simon the Zealot. They've been waiting for Jesus at this spot for three days, and Jude assures them that if his cousin has promised to meet them here, he will. Jude talks about his connection with Jesus, explaining that he is his cousin, that he was Joseph's favorite, and that he grew up very much at the side of the Virgin Mary. The man from Nazareth also tells of the divisions in his family, but now he wants to follow Christ. He just regrets that fathers can be their child's enemy. Simon the Zealot sighs at this remark, but Thomas reveals that his father encouraged him to follow the Messiah.

Jesus finally arrives. Jude then reveals his intention to follow his Master, and Christ welcomes him: he also confirms to him that it is indeed permissible to follow the Lord, for "there is nothing above God."

After complimenting Thomas on his obedience and faithfulness, Jesus turns his attention to Simon the Zealot. He asks him to follow him, and the two discuss his kinship, his father and his illness. The Master then unites Simon the Zealot and Jude, one childless because of his infirmity, the other having lost his father in following the Lord. For the time being, however, he gave each of them a mission. Thomas is to evangelize in Judea. Jude is to evangelize Nazareth. Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip and Bartholomew return to their boats in Capernaum and Bethsaida.