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Irish Jesuit Province
Whom Do Men Say That I Am?Author(s): Hugh KellySource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 76, No. 902 (Aug., 1948), pp. 356-361Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20515844 .
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" WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I AM ? "
By HUGH KELLY, S.J.
AND Jesus came into the quarters of Ces?rea PhiUppi; and He asked His disciples, saying : Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?" (St. Matt, xvi, 17.) This incident marks a
turning point in the Ufe of Christ. Near this pagan city, beyond the confines of His country, away from the hostility of the Pharisees He
makes a deliberate inquiry as to the estimate that people have formed of Him. His teaching and miracles had set the whole country talking of Him; had aroused extreme enthusiasm among the crowds, and
among a small class extreme hostility. John the Baptist, EUas or
Jerem?as or one of the prophets?He was at least a great re?gious leader; that was the view of the people. But the Apostles?what was
their estimate? They had lived close to Him; had heard more of His
teaching than others; had witnessed at close quarters His miracles; had experienced the strength and sweetness of His character in a
particular way?what did they think of Him? "
Simon Peter answered
and said : Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God." It was the answer that Christ had hoped for. We can feel the animation and
joy in His words. His apostles, those privileged, official, witnesses
knew Him for what He was. "
Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee but My Father
Who is in Heaven." This is the only occasion on which Christ pro claims an individual blessed. That confession of Peter could only have come from the Father's revelation; because Christ had already said :
" No one knows the Son but the Father." To this great act
of faith Christ gave a great reward; for on that faith as on an unshak
able rock He would build His Church. And in a few words He
raised up before their minds a picture of that institution, indestructible
to the assaults of the gates of hell, endowed with power to open and
shut the treasures of Heaven. With this incident there comes a new
degree of intimacy in the relations between Christ and the Apostles.
They are more friends now than servants; He reveals to them what
He could not have done before. For the first time He speaks clearly of His passion. Through His passion was to be reaUsed the promise ?f the Church. Knowing Him no?v as the Son of the Living <3od,
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"WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I AM ? "
they were qualified to know the chief event of His mission. That scene at Ces?rea Philippi has a certain quality of permanence;
in our own days it has a strange application. The question " What
think ye of Christ?" is often asked and the answer is that given at
Ces?rea Philippi though in different terms. He is admitted to be a
great religious teacher; a great spiritual force; an abiding inspiration; a supreme vindicator of spiritual values, etc. These are the modern
equivalents of John the Baptist, Elias or one of the prophets. That is the opinion of the world which does not know Him. But there are
privileged witnesses. For them the Church speaks giving the answer
which St. Peter gave : "
Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God."
But the testimony of the Church will be fuller than St. Peter's, though it will be only a development and explanation of his answer, a develop
ment which the infallible magisterium of the Church since Apostolic
days has produced. In The Christ of Catholicism (London: Longmans: 1947. 21/-)
Dom Aelred Graham has given us a statement of the Church's teaching of its Founder. He calls it a meditative study and this description indicates accurately the nature of the book. It is a theological work,
solid, thorough, comprehensive; yet it is not controversial or even
apologetieal, but as he says meditative, written primarily to make all believers know better and know more of the
" unsoundable riches
"
of Christ. "
I believe in Jesus Christ "?this is the second article of the Creed. Dom Graham's book is an exposition of this article. The
life-work of Christ; His Personality; His work of Redemption; the
purpose and consequences of the Incarnation; the Incarnation opera tive during the ages through the Church; the Mother of Christ; the
Mystical Body?these are the main headings of the contents of this
very comprehensive work, which is a full treatise of Christology. It is
drawn entirely from the teaching of the Church; and even when it
touches on points of theology where there is disagreement between
different schools it is in no way controversial or provocative. The present writer does not know any other modern book in English
which covers the same ground, and in the same spirit. "
What think
ye of Christ?" A Catholic asked that question can -point to Dom
Graham's book and answer "
that is what Christ means to us ".
Though The Christ of Catholicism is the work of a professional
theologian it is by its style and treatment?as its author meant it?
rather a spiritual book than a theological one. There is always a
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IRISH MONTHLY
place and a need for a spiritual book on Christ that wiU make CathoUcs know Christ better. Dom Graham's book is a genuine contribution to our modern spiritual Ubrary.
With a view to commend more fuUy to Christian readers this very valuable book, it is proposed to give here, at some length, the chief
teachings about Christ that it contains. We may consider the earthly life of the Son of Man and then something of the mystery of Him
Who is also Son of God.
Jesus Christ was born in an age and in a country that are as wefl
known as any other time or country of antiquity. His Ufe is soUdly interwoven into the texture of world history. He was a subject of
the far-flung Roman Empire; into the story of His life come many
figures of indubitable historicity. The background and setting of
His life, the conditions, re?gious, social, political, which characterised
it are well known. The chief authorities of His Ufe are the four
gospels. Two of these were written by men who Uved with Him and
witnessed what they narrated; the other two by men who knew
intimately those who had known the Master. By any test these
documents are genuine and historical. Though the miraculous
element enters into His life largely at its beginning and at the period of His preaching, His Ufe was human and historical. The greatest
portion of it, chronologicaUy, was spent in a village of Galilee where
He lived from childhood until He was about thirty, and where He
learned and practised the trade of a carpenter. He handled hammer
and saw and plane; leaned over the bench in the rough workshop in which He spent His day. He made the simple utensils a v?lage
community would need, yokes, ploughs, tables, stools. He did the
odd jobs for which a handyman would be called in. ExternaUy it
was an ordinary commonplace Ufe; His feUow viUagers took Him for
one of themselves. Yet an incident occurred when He was twelve
years of age which showed that behind this ordinary exterior there
were infinite depths of significance and dignity. "
Did you not know,? He said to His Mother and St. Joseph when they came upon Him in ;
the Temple after a three days' search full of anguish, "
that I must:
be about My Father's business?" His Father's business was some*
thing greater than the work of a v?lage carpenter. As a man of about thirty years He emerges from the workshop, and
lays aside forever His tools. The appearance of John the Baptist was the signal He had waited for. He came to the banks of the;
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M WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I AM ? "
Jordan and was baptised by John; and entered on His public life, which lasted about three years. He came forward as a religious Teacher and at once He riveted attention on Himself. His teaching from the beginning was marked by certain qualities?an unique note of authority and an unique depth. None of the prophets had spoken with this accent or had given such a message. His teaching was in the most marked contrast with that of the contemporary official
teachers, the Scribes and Pharisees. They were merely commentators,
timid, casuistical, who had made the observance of the law humanly
impossible; who had buried the chief commandment?the love of
God and the neighbour?under a tangle of mechanical formahstic
precepts. But here was one Who spoke with authority; Who could
say "
it was said to you of old?but I say to you ". He sheared at once through the jungle of precepts and observances and revealed the heart of all religion.
" Seek first the kingdom of God and His
justice." He deliberately challenged the Pharisees on their interpre tation of the observance of the Sabbath. The incident of the healing of the woman
" who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years ",
narrated by St. Luke (xiii, 11) shows us admirably His spirit and His
contempt for the Pharisees. As He was teaching in the synagogue this pitiable creature entered :
" And she was bowed together, neither
could she look up at all." He called her and laying His hands on
her healed her. To the ruler of the synagogue who protested angrily that this was a violation of the Sabbath, Jesus answered sternly that
they tolerated the loosing of an ass or ox to be brought to the water
on a Sabbath; "
and ought not this daughter of Abraham whom Satan
hath bound, lo, eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the
Sabbath day?" It was a withering retort which won the admiration
of the people and reduced even the Pharisees to shame.
The Sermon on the Mount may be considered as the official begin
ning of His public life. It does not contain all His teaching; but it
contains many of its essential features and its general purpose and
spirit. It may be said that the aim of this great discourse is to
orientate human life in all its aspects towards God Our Father; to
teach man to live in God's sight not merely as to his external actions
but even as to the thoughts and intentions of his mind and heart "
Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice "?that is the leading lesson by which the Master proclaims that God is the end of human
life. The Sermon on the Mount is an outline which will be filled in
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IRISH MONTHLY
by later teaching. In parable and sermon, in interview and chance encounter He wiU announce His message. The chief part of that
message wiU be Himself?His mission, His work, His Incarnation and
Redemption, His death, His Church. As His life drew to a close He made the Apostles more and more the recipients of His revelation.
No one had ever spoken of the things of God with such freshness,
depth, sincerity. But the power of His word was immensely increased
by His miracles. From the beginning of His pubUc life He shows Himself in possession of easy assured power over nature and the
spiritual world. From His hands flowed a stream of works of power and mercy. At a word or a touch He heals the leper, the paralysed, the blind. He passes through rows of sick and heals them aU. He
queUs the storm by a word; He raises the dead by calling upon them. His exercise of this power is in His own name, is effortless, and is in strong contrast to the miracles of the Old Testament. He is
drawing on a power that is His own, that is at His disposal and dis
cretion. Virtue went out of Him as from its source.
Everything in that Ufe is great. He is unique not merely in wisdom, and in power, but also in character, in conduct, in temperament. All
the human virtues meet in Him and balance each other. He is wise
and yet simple; strong yet merciful; holy yet the friend of sinners; He is patient, sympathetic, completely unselfish. He is possessed of
every kind of courage and yet meek and humble of heart. His
character excites in the highest degree at once our admiration and
our love. A Teacher of such power and origina?ty must have excited strong
opposition from the official re?gious leaders. The new wine cannot
be contained in the old bottles; the new piece wiU not fit the old
garment. From the beginning of His pubUc life Christ was in
conflict with the Scribes and Pharisees. These unworthy, self-seeking leaders of the people saw their position threatened. Opposition grew to open hosti?ty. They resolved that there was only one way to
silence that voice and to remove that chaUenge to their position and
interest. They resolved to kiU Him. He foresaw it and foretold it
with ever greater distinctness.
The end came as He had foretold and in the conditions he had
accepted. He was the master of His Ufe. "
No man taketh it away from Me but I lay it down of Myself" (Jn. x, 15) He said, thereby
proclaiming the freedom of His death. What was for His enemies an
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" WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT IAM?"
act of violence and revenge, was for Him the supreme triumph of His
life, the goal to which His career had moved unhesitatingly from the
beginning. All the incidents of the Passion, the injustice, the outrages, the cruelty, fitted into the pattern of the sacrifice He had freely chosen;
His death was a perfect sacrifice with all the essential elements of sacrifice. It was the sacrifice by which He redeemed the world; the
sacrifice which by anticipation had given value to the innumerable
sacrifices which had been offered in the Temple. When He bowed His head on the afternoon of Good Friday and
by a deliberate act gave up His spirit into His Father's hands, He
had not come to the end of His life. Whenever He had foretold His
passion He foretold also His resurrection. "
And the third day will
rise again." His resurrection is a part of His career. It is its crown
and coping. The resurrection was the supreme sign He had given of the truth of His mission. On the unshaken truth of this fact is
based the Christian Faith. For Him death was not an end; it was
the beginning of the new life He was to live as Head of the Mystical
Body which is His Church. When Renan ends the life of Christ on
Calvary he shares if not the malevolence of Christ's enemies at least
their blindness. But his action shows that he appreciated the signi ficance of the Resurrection. If Christ's Ufe ended on Calvary then
all Christian faith is vain and we are yet in our sins.
Such was in broad outline the historical life of "
the Son of man ".
What are the theological implications of that career we shall consider
in another article.
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