The Identity of Jesus: Bishop Barron’s Address at SEEK 2021

well greetings to everybody i am just delighted to be addressing the seek 21 conference even it has to be in this virtual way you know i've said this before many times publicly but i'll say it again i think focus is one of the great ministries of its kind anywhere in the world so i believe in what you're doing delighted to be able to be a participant in your conference this year and furthermore i was delighted when i got news of what you wanted me to speak about so the committee proposed the topic and for me it was the identity of jesus there's nothing i'd rather talk to you about than jesus he's everything he's the alpha and the omega he's the name above every other name he's the standing or falling point of our faith everything centers upon him revolves around him what's the most fundamental claim the church makes about jesus it's this everybody that in the singularity of his person he is the coming together of divinity and humanity two natures divine and human coming together in the unity of his person without mixing mingling or confusion as such and i want to stress this right away that can sound kind of desperately abstract but as such jesus is the fulfillment and culmination of all the great institutions of israel think of temple think of prophecy think of torah think of law covenant all of it was designed to bring divinity and humanity together to reconcile god and his people all this happens in the most unsurpassable way in the very person of jesus where the two natures divine and human come together that's why we say he's the fulfillment of israel that's why we can say with paul he's the yes to all the promises made to israel furthermore it's why we say he is our salvation if jesus is simply divine and not human then we're not saved if jesus is human simply and not divine then we're not saved that's the way saint athanasius put it long ago our salvation depends upon the coming together of divinity and humanity think for a second it's a very common view today that jesus is a great ethical and moral teacher okay if that's all he is then he's in the same boat we are if he's not divine he needs to be saved as much as we do but turn that around as the church father said what has not been assumed has not been saved if he's not fully human then we have not been saved the great orthodox teaching of the church is meant finally to preserve the dynamics of salvation because that is what happens when divinity and humanity come together now up and down the centuries you know this heretics have emphasized in a one-sided way divinity or humanity think of the monophysites the docetus centuries ago who overemphasized the divinity of the lord but think two of the nestorians who overemphasized his humanity i'd say today we're much more nestorian than we are monophysite we tend to over emphasize the humanity of the lord the trouble with all these heretical positions is they undermine the fact of salvation so for us today and for you and your missionary work you're going to come up against this problem of you know simply humanizing jesus making him one interesting religious figure among many we need i think especially today to emphasize his divinity now why do we say it what's the warrant for claiming the divinity of jesus i would say this though he is like abraham and moses and and jacob and jeremiah and isaiah send so all those figures would have said they were sent by the god of israel and jesus too says i'm sent nevertheless jesus speaks and acts in the very person of the god of israel which makes him qualitatively different than any of the other sent figures who came before him jesus is presented consistently in all the gospels as the one speaking and acting in the very person of god now let me try to show this with just a few examples but see once you get this everybody you see it everywhere you see it in fact as the primary purpose of the gospels the gospels are not there to say oh look at what a wonderful ethical teacher he is the gospels are there to say this is the one who is god a few examples jesus says to the paralyzed man my son your sins are forgiven and the bystanders remark why does this fellow speak in this way it is blasphemy who can forgive sins but god alone that's mark 2 4-7 you know when i was coming of age we were taught wisely that the synoptic gospels matthew mark and luke are a low christology emphasizing the humanity of jesus and only in john do you find this very high christology emphasizing his divinity can i just say to everybody that's so much nonsense that statement here now it's using a more of a jewish symbol system in context but that statement from mark 2 is just as high a christology as anything in the gospel of john how about this throughout the sermon on the mount so in matthew 5 6 7 jesus says you've heard it said but i say now we might just you know pass over that little statement trust me in the first century in a jewish context they didn't pass it over because what he was referring to there was the torah you've heard it said in the highest possible authority there is the torah that was given to moses but i say they took their breath away because he was now claiming the authority of the one who spoke to moses how about this in reference to himself jesus says you have a greater than the temple here that's matthew 12 6. jacob newsner you know the great american jewish theologian wrote a book about jesus pope benedict liked it a lot and he said you know if i were following jesus and listening to his teaching i would have liked a lot of what he said i would have followed him until he said that newser said then i would have walked you see why for a first century jew a temple the dwelling place of god in practically a literal sense the temple the holiest possible place because yahweh the god of israel lives there therefore for jesus to say in reference to himself you have a greater than the temple here that means he's the dwelling place of god and they didn't miss that that's why it was such a strange breathtaking thing for him to say how about this referencing his own teaching jesus remarks heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall never pass away it's matthew 24 35. you know i've written a few things in my life if i were to stand up before you and hold up one of my books or articles and if i were to say heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away i mean you'd have me institutionalized i mean you'd call somebody to help this poor deluded man who could say such a thing about his own words except the one who is himself in person the eternal word and this unless you love me more than your mother and father more than your very life you are not worthy of me that's matthew 10 37. yeah again we could imagine maybe a religious teacher or founder saying unless you love god more than your very life unless you love god more than your mother and father the things you love most in the world you're not worthy but to say it of yourself unless you love me more than the highest goods in this world more than your very life you're not worthy of me the only one who could legitimately say that is the one who is in his own person the highest good you know that story of the coming of the the storm at sea which you can find in all four gospels great nature miracle yeah of course it was but no first century jewish audience would have missed the overtones of that jesus who comes the storm throughout the old testament we find references to god's power yahweh's power to still the storm just one of many is psalm 107. then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out from their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed i love in john's version jesus walks on the water again they wouldn't have missed the reference to the very beginning of the book of genesis when the ruach yahweh the the breath the spirit of god hovers over the surface of the tohu va bohu the stormy chaotic waters who is this man that even the wind and sea obey him do you see the implication very clearly for this jewish audience is this is the one who in his own person is doing what god alone can do and so everybody in light of all of this we can understand the famously weird question that jesus poses in cesarea philippi who to the crowds who do people say that i am you know again if if i were to say uh you know i spoke to the seek 21 conference i mean what did they think about my talk or you know what do people think about some of the books i've written or what are people saying about those would be reasonable questions but if i were to pose the question uh to all of you who do people say that i am well you think i lost my mind and we hear this all the time in the gospels but how peculiar that question is but it makes the point that the gospels are not first and foremost interested in the moral teaching of jesus they're interested in who he is notice please everybody the creeds that we proclaim every sunday don't say a word about his teaching but they are obsessed with the fact that he's god from god light from light true god from true god begotten not made consubstantial with the father that's not some later greek imposition don't believe people that say that that's an instinct coming right up out of the gospels themselves they want us to know who this jesus is now here's the point this means that jesus compels a choice a decision in a way that no other religious founder or figure does and now very important for all of you who are involved in missionary work and i don't mean that you do this in some kind of you know some kind of violent way or imposing yourself but it is implicit in the theologic of the gospels that jesus compels a choice if he is who he says he is well i have to give my whole life to him right if he is god not just one teacher among many he's god well then my mind my soul my heart my body everything must belong to him he's my everything he is indeed the alpha the omega and and this is what c.s lewis saw of course so clearly if he's not who he says he is then he's not a good person he's not a inspiring ethical teacher he's a bad man he's deluded he's crazy he's he's self-absorbed hence the famous c.s lewis trilemma either he's liar lunatic or lord the point is you got to make a decision the gospel is compelling and doesn't jesus himself say it you're either with me or you're against me now again everybody i'm not proposing you do this in some aggressive way but it is indeed implicit in the logic of the gospels that jesus compels a choice let me let me plant this in your minds if you proclaim christ and people remain indifferent about him you haven't proclaimed him adequately give me in fact any day someone who is against jesus after i proclaimed him at least i proclaimed what's decisively important about him if they say yeah this guy who's claiming to be god look and i i'm i'm against that at least i've adequately presented who jesus is he does compel a choice now i've been focusing on the divinity of the lord because as i say in our time that's what's often overlooked but i want to say just a few things in the last couple of minutes about the humanity of jesus because it's the coming together if you hyper stress the divinity you're going to have all kinds of problems that's the monophysite problem that he's only one nature right monophusis that he's divine and human go back for a second to the council of chalcedon 451 that says the two natures in jesus come together without mixing mingling or confusion how important that is in other words god's coming close does not result in the suppression or eradication of jesus humanity but rather in the enhancement and elevation of it look at all the old myths when the gods come close the gods break into our world people are incinerated people are overwhelmed people have to give way because the gods exist in a competitive manner for them to appear we have to seed but look at the claim now of christianity that god in christ comes close but does not overwhelm the humanity to which he comes close the logic that obtains here is the logic of the burning bush the bush is on fire but not consumed now there's the opposite of the mythological imagination no no as god comes close to a creature the creature's beauty and integrity is enhanced not overwhelmed and so we say jesus is true god and true man i love how we can have thomas the apostle saying my lord and my god to jesus and pontius pilate saying ecce homo behold the man both are true in the measure that he's divine he is fully human and now see what lies behind that everybody or lies rather i should say is an implication of that is that christianity is the greatest humanism ever proposed there is no philosophy ancient or modern that proposes a greater humanism in christianity because we proclaim the divinization of our humanity that in christ as the greek fathers put it we find theosis as the latin fathers put it divinizatio divinization our humanity is raised up enhanced rendered more beautiful and radiant by the presence of god and so as you go forth i know today believe me i know we're up against a cultural view that often sees religion as oppressive that it's it denies our humanity don't you believe it go forth with this incarnational confidence that it's when you proclaim the divinity of jesus that you are also by the same token proclaiming the greatest possible humanism that's that marvelous paradox at the heart of our incarnational faith don't be ashamed of jesus everybody proclaim jesus divine and human with confidence with joy with panache and you'll find your missionary vocation fulfilled great talking today and god bless everybody you

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

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Length: 18min 17sec (1097 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021