Part 41: The Witness of Jesus to His own Divine Identity

If Jesus really believed Himself to be the divine Son of God, then why would He not openly proclaim it? Why hide the truth in parables, or in cryptic sayings and mysterious titles for himself like “The Son of Man”? To begin with, it seems obvious that Jesus was biding his time. If He had openly proclaimed the truth — “I am the divine Son of God, the God of Israel come among you in human flesh!” — He would not have lasted even one day before the Jews would have stoned Him to death for blasphemy. 

Part 41: The Witness of Jesus to His own Divine Identity

By Robert Stackpole, STD

In this weekly web series, Dr. Robert Stackpole, emeritus director of the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy, leads us step-by-step through the life of the Founder of Christianity, from Bethlehem to Galilee to Jerusalem. Along the way, we pause to consider in-depth the historical debate over the gospel stories of the virginal conception and Nativity of Jesus, His message of the Kingdom, His embrace of persecution and death on the Cross, and His glorious bodily Resurrection from the dead. Finally, we plunge into the great mystery of the Incarnation, and show how it actually shines through the whole gospel story from beginning to end. Read the series from the beginning.

In the previous two installments of this web series, I endeavored to show that belief in the deity of Jesus Christ goes back to the earliest Christian communities, right back to the apostolic Church itself. Indeed, there are hints in the gospels that the great mystery of Christ’s divine identity first began to dawn on the apostles as soon as Jesus was risen from the grave (see Mt 28:19; Jn 20:28-29). 

The obvious questions then arise: did Jesus Himself believe that He was a divine Person “incarnate” (that is, “in the flesh”)? Did He witness to His own divine identity in any way? Or did the apostles get it all wrong right from the start? 

God was His "Abba"
As we saw in the very first articles in this web series, Jesus surely was aware that God was His “Abba” in a unique way. I put it this way in an as yet unpublished manuscript:

There is plenty of data in the Gospels that suggests that Jesus of Nazareth Himself made extraordinary claims that fit no one’s clear expectations at that time, and no one’s pre-conceptions: for example, by contrast with the prophets, He spoke of the things of God with personal, and immediate authority (e.g. “Truly I say to you … You have heard that it was said, but I say to you” rather than “Thus says the Lord;” see Matthew chapters 5 and 6); He claimed the absolute trust, loyalty, and devotion of others in a way proper to God alone (Mt 8:22, 11:28-30; Lk 14:26; cf. Jn 20:28); He claimed to be the only true and authoritative interpreter of the Torah (Mt 5:17-48, 19:3-12), and the unsurpassable and unique revealer of God the Father as the Father’s only Son, the only one who truly “knows” him (Mt 11:27, Lk 10:22; cf. Jn 10:14-15; 14:6-7); He claimed to be greater than the Temple (Mt 12:6) and Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:28); He sometimes spoke of Himself in biblical images and metaphors that properly belonged to God alone (such as the “Bridegroom” and the “Good Shepherd: Mk 2:19-20; Mt 26:31; Lk 15:3-7; cf. Jn 10:11-16); He exhibited a unique intimacy with God, calling him “Abba,” Father (Mk 14:36), and “My Father in Heaven” (Mt 11:27, 16:17; Lk 2:49; cf. Jn 5:18), but never “Our Father” in a way that included himself (Lk 11:2); He exhibited extraordinary supernatural power, not only in healing the sick, but also in calming a storm at sea and multiplying loaves and fishes to feed multitudes — miracles most often accomplished not by means of prayer and supplication (as the prophets had done), but by His own personal authority and command; He claimed to be the physician of sinners (Mt 9:12), the Son of Man sent from Heaven with authority on earth to forgive sins (Mk 2:1-12), to give His life as a ransom for sinners (Mk 10:45 14:22-25), and ultimately to be the final judge of the world (Mt 25: 31-46; cf. Jn 5:25-29)

The central, explicit message of Jesus in the synoptic gospels is the proclamation of the dawning of God’s Kingdom in the world through His own ministry, but one could also argue that the implicit message that permeates His words and deeds was that the Kingdom of God is breaking into the world precisely because God Himself has visited His people, coming to dwell among us and sharing our lot in a truly and fully human way, in the person of His Son (Mt 11:27; 22:41-46; Mk 12:6, 13:32; Lk 10:22).

Why hide the Truth?
If Jesus really believed Himself to be the divine Son of God, then why would He not openly proclaim it? Why hide the truth in parables, or in cryptic sayings and mysterious titles for himself like “The Son of Man”?

To begin with, it seems obvious that Jesus was biding his time. If He had openly proclaimed the truth — “I am the divine Son of God, the God of Israel come among you in human flesh!” — He would not have lasted even one day before the Jews would have stoned Him to death for blasphemy. In fact, He came very close to meeting that fate, according to the gospels. The charge of “blasphemy” swirled around him during His Galilean ministry:

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (Jn 10:31-33; cf. Mt 9:3; Mk 2:6-7; Jn 19:5-7).

Even at His trial before the high priest and the Jewish high court in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, it was the charge of “blasphemy” that they used to justify condemning Jesus to death (See Lev 24:16). We need to remember that claiming to be the Messiah might be foolish and reckless, but in itself it was not blasphemous, because it did not necessarily entail making any claim to divine status or stealing any divine prerogatives.

But in response to the high priest’s question about whether or not He was the Messiah — “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”, Jesus alludes to two passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, Psalm 110:1-3 and Daniel 7:13-14, both of which (arguably) can be interpreted as referring to a divine figure: “I am; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” To be seated at God’s right hand (“the Power” was another way of referring to God in ancient Israel) meant to share in His authority and power over the whole world, and to come “on the clouds of heaven” was something only God does in ancient Jewish scriptures.

It is not surprising, therefore, that according to St. Mark’s gospel, after Jesus spoke these words “the high priest tore his clothes, and said, ‘Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?’ and they all condemned him as deserving death” (Mk 14:61-64). Catholic New Testament scholar Brant Pitre tells us:

[T]he reaction of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin confirms the divine implications of Jesus’s answer. Caiaphas immediately tears his garments and declares Jesus guilty of “blasphemy” (Mt 26:65; Mk 14:63). Strikingly, this is precisely the same reaction described in early rabbinic literature when someone blasphemes against God by pronouncing the divine name: “the judges stand up on their feet and rend their garments (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 7:5). ... Recall once again that simply claiming to be the Messiah was not blasphemy. But if Jesus is claiming to be a divine Messiah who will be seated on a heavenly throne (like God) and come on the clouds of heaven (also like God), then the charge of blasphemy makes sense. [1]

Thus, if Jesus had some very important things He wanted to teach and show His disciples, and the people of Israel before His death, then He needed to bide His time and tell the truth about Himself more implicitly than explicitly.

The Nature of God
One of the most important things our Lord evidently wanted to convey to His disciples was a more in-depth revelation of the nature of “God.” One would think that as His disciples were mostly faithful Jews, they would already have had a pretty good grasp of what the word “God” means. But Jesus spends much of His time teaching them that there is more to the mercy and love of God, and to His Kingdom, than they could possibly imagine.

For example, He taught them to pray to God not just as Lord, King and Shepherd of Israel, but also as “Father”: like the father in His parable, whose love wells up so deeply from His Heart that He forgets the social dignity of his oriental fatherhood, and runs to meet his long lost prodigal son at the first sign of his son’s coming home, showering him with tender compassion and forgiveness (Lk 15:11-24). He is the Father who knows what you need before you ask Him, and is more willing to provide for you than you are to believe and receive (6:25-33).

Most of all, He is the God of infinite mercy, who calls us all to share that mercy with one another; “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Jesus needed to convey all this about the mystery of God before the blasphemy-hunters finally got hold of Him. No wonder He was somewhat circumspect about His own divine identity in His public preaching ministry!

Besides, if He had simply proclaimed out loud “I am God” He easily could have been misunderstood. He knew that His people, and even His own disciples, were struggling to understand the true nature of God, and so any explicit claim by Jesus to divine status would imply that they already knew well enough what the word “God” meant. They would equate Him with that God, that is, with the collection of half-truths about the nature of God that they already had in their own minds, rather than with the God of merciful love whom Jesus really was in the flesh.

Mystery
In addition, there was a mystery about the essence of God that Jesus knew His disciples and His countrymen could not even begin to fathom. That is why, most often, even when He spoke implicitly about the mystery of His own divinity, He often referred to himself mysteriously as “the Son” (Again, see Mt 11:27; 22:41-46; Mk 12:6, 13:32; Lk 10:22).

For the truth is that Jesus was not simply God Incarnate. To be more precise, He was and is the divine Son Incarnate: the manifestation in human flesh of divine Sonship, showing that God in His inner being is not one single, solitary person, but an eternal communion of love between the divine Father and His eternal Son, and the divine Holy Spirit as well.

Saint John’s gospel tells us that Jesus explained all this in-private and in-depth to His disciples on the night of His arrest (although there is no sign that they really understood what he was teaching them; see John chapters 13-17). In short, the evidence shows that Jesus did witness to His divine identity, implicitly to the crowds and explicitly to His inner circle of disciples, but always as the divine Teacher who knew just the right way, and the just right time to convey His message.

Next: Part 42: Jesus Shows His Disciples the Truth about His Divine Sonship.
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Note
[1] Brant Pitre, The Case for Jesus (2016),  p. 161.
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