Jesus Christ, the Divine Lawgiver General audience of October 14, 1987

1
Have Faith in God and Have Faith in Me General
audience of October 21, 1987
2

• The ensemble of the facts analyzed in the
  previous reflection provides eloquent and
  convincing proof of the consciousness of his own
  divinity shown by Jesus when he claimed for
  himself
• the name of God,
• the divine attributes,
• the power of final judgment on the deeds of all
  humanity,
• the power to forgive sins
• and the power over the law of God itself.

3

• They are all aspects of the one truth strongly
  affirmed by him,
• that of being
• true God,
• one with the Father.
• It is what he said openly to the Jews when
  speaking to them in the Temple on the feast of
  the Dedication,
• "The Father and I are one"
• (Jn 1030).

4

• However, in attributing to himself what is proper
  to God,
• Jesus spoke of himself as
• Son of Man.
• He did this both because of his unity of person
  as man and as God,
• and to follow the pedagogy chosen to lead the
  disciples gradually,
• as though taking them by the hand,
• to the mysterious heights and depths of his
  truth.
• As "Son of Man"
• he did not hesitate to ask,
• "Have faith in God and have faith in me"
• (Jn 141).

5

• The development of the whole discourse in
  chapters 14-17 of John,
• and especially Jesus' replies to
• Thomas and Philip,
• prove that when he asked them to believe in him,
• it was not merely a question of faith in the
  Messiah as the anointed one sent by God.
• It concerned faith in the Son who is one in being
  with the Father.

"Have faith in God and have faith in me" (Jn
141).
6

• These words must be examined in the context of
  Jesus' conversation with the apostles at the Last
  Supper, recorded by John.
• Jesus told the apostles that he was going to
  prepare a place for them in his Father's house
• (cf. Jn 142-3).
• When Thomas asked the way to that house, to that
  new kingdom,
• Jesus replied that he is
• the way, the truth and life
• (cf. Jn 146).

7

• When Philip asked that the disciples be shown the
  Father, Jesus replied with absolute clarity,
• "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
• How can you say, 'Show us the Father?'
• Do you not believe that I am in the Father and
  the Father is in me?
• The words that I speak to you I do not speak on
  my own.
• The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
• Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father
  is in me, or else believe because of the works
  themselves"
• (Jn 149-1).

8

• One cannot escape the grip which this statement
  of Jesus has on human intelligence unless one
  begins from an a priori prejudice against the
  divine.
• To those who admit the Father and sincerely seek
  him,
• Jesus showed himself and said,
• "Behold, the Father is in me!"

9

• If motives of credibility were needed,
• Jesus appealed to his works,
• to all that he did before the eyes of the
  disciples and the whole people.
• These were holy and frequently miraculous works
  which served as a confirmation of his truth.
• For this reason he is worthy of belief.

10

• Jesus said so not only in the circle of the
  apostles, but also before the entire people.
• We read that on the day following his triumphal
  entry into Jerusalem,
• the large crowd who had come for the paschal
  celebrations were discussing the figure of the
  Christ, and generally they did not believe in
  Jesus,
• "although he had performed so many signs in their
  presence"
• (Jn 1237).

At a certain point "Jesus cried out, 'Whoever
believes in me believes not only in me but also
in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees
the one who sent me'" (Jn 1244).
11

• It can therefore be said that Jesus Christ
  identified himself with God as the object of the
  faith asked of and proposed to his followers.
• He explained to them,
• "What I say, I say as the Father told me"
• (Jn 1250).
• This is an obvious allusion to the eternal
  utterance whereby the Father generates the
• Word-Son in the trinitarian life.

12

• This faith,
• linked to the works and words of Jesus,
• becomes a logical consequence for those who
  honestly listen to Jesus,
• observe his works and reflect on his words.
• But it is also the presupposition and
  indispensable condition which Jesus demands of
  those who wish to become his disciples or benefit
  from his divine power.

13

• Significant in this regard is what Jesus said to
  the father of the epileptic youth, possessed from
  infancy by a mute spirit which raged in him in a
  frightening way.
• The poor father begged Jesus,
• "If you can do anything,
• have compassion on us and help us."
• Jesus replied,
• "'If you can!'
• Everything is possible to one who has faith."
• Then the boy's father cried out,
• "I do believe, help my unbelief!"
• (Mk 922-23).

14

• Jesus performed the cure and freed the
  unfortunate youth.
• However, he desired from the boy's father an
  opening of his soul in faith.
• That is what has been given to Jesus in the
  course of the centuries by so many humble and
  afflicted creatures who,
• like the father of the epileptic youth,
• have turned to him to ask his help in temporal
  and especially in spiritual needs.

15

• However, when people,
• whatever their social and cultural tradition,
• resisted through pride or incredulity,
• Jesus chastised this attitude of theirs by not
  admitting them to the benefits of his divine
  power.

16

• What we read of the people of Nazareth is
  significant and striking.
• Jesus had returned there after beginning his
  ministry and working his first miracles.
• They were not only amazed by his teaching and his
  works,
• but they were even "scandalized by him."
• In other words,
• they spoke of him and treated him with suspicion
  and hostility,
• as one who was unwelcome.

17

• "Jesus said to them,
• 'A prophet is not without honor except in his
  native place, and among his own kin and in his
  own house.'
• So he was not able to perform any mighty deed
  there, apart from curing a few sick people by
  laying his hands on them.
• He was amazed at their lack of faith"
• (Mk 64-6).
• Miracles are signs of Jesus' divine power.
• When there is an obstinate blindness in
  recognizing such power, a miracle loses its
  raison d'être.

18

• Moreover, when the disciples asked Jesus after
  the curing of the epileptic why they,
• who had received power from him, could not cast
  out the demon, he told them,
• "Because of your little faith.
• Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of
  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,
• 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.
  Nothing will be impossible for you"
• (Mt 1719-20).
• The language is symbolic and exaggerated,
• but Jesus used it to inculcate in his followers
  the necessity and power of faith.

19

• Jesus emphasized this after the miraculous cure
  of the man born blind.
• When Jesus met him he asked him,
• "'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'
• He answered and said,
• 'Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?'
• Jesus said to him,
• 'You have seen him and the one speaking to you is
  he.'
• He said,
• 'I do believe, Lord,' and he worshipped him"
• (Jn 935-38).

20

• It was the act of faith of a humble man,
• the image of all humble people who seek God
• (cf. Dt 293 Is 69 f. Jer 521 Ez 122).
• He obtained the grace not only of physical sight
  but also of spiritual vision,
• because he recognized the Son of Man.
• He was not like the self-sufficient ones who
  trust only in their own lights and reject the
  light which comes from on high,
• and consequently condemn themselves to blindness
  before Christ and God.

21

• The decisive importance of faith appears even
  more clearly in the dialogue between Jesus and
  Martha before the tomb of Lazarus.

22

• "Jesus said to her,
• 'Your brother will rise.'
• Martha said to him,
• 'I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the
  last day.'
• Jesus told her,
• 'I am the resurrection and the life whoever
  believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and
  everyone who lives and believes in me will never
  die.
• Do you believe this?'
• She said to him,
• 'Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are
  the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is
  coming into the world'"
• (Jn 1123-27).

23

• Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
• as a sign of Jesus' own divine power
• not only to raise the dead,
• because he is the Lord of life,
• but also to conquer death
• he who is the resurrection and the life,
• as he said to Martha.

24

• Jesus' teaching on faith as a condition of his
  saving action is summed up and confirmed in his
  nighttime conversation with Nicodemus,
• a Jewish leader who was well disposed to him and
  ready to recognize him as a
• "teacher come from God"
• (cf. Jn 312).
• Jesus spoke to him at length about the new life
  and, eventually, about the new economy of
  salvation based on faith in the
• "Son of Man who must be lifted up, so that
  everyone who believes in him, might not perish
  but might have eternal life"
• (Jn 315-16).

25

• Therefore faith in Christ is a constitutive
  condition of salvation, of eternal life.
• It is faith in the
• only-begotten Son
• one in being with the Father
• in whom the Father's love is manifested.
• "For God did not send his Son into the world to
  condemn the world, but that the world might be
  saved through him"
• (Jn 317).

26

• The judgment is implicit in the choice of
  accepting or rejecting faith in Christ.
• "Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
  but whoever does not believe has already been
  condemned, because he has not believed in the
  name of the only Son of God"
• (Jn 318).

27

• When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus indicated in
  the paschal mystery the central point of the
  faith which saves
• "The Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross,
  so that everyone who believes in him may have
  eternal life"
• (Jn 314-15).

28

• This can also be called the critical point of
  faith in Christ.
• The cross was the definitive test of faith for
  Christ's apostles and disciples.
• In the presence of that lifting up one should
  have been overwhelmed, as partly happened.
• But the fact that he
• "rose on the third day"
• enabled them to emerge victoriously from the
  final test.

29

• Also Thomas, who was the last to overcome the
  paschal test of faith,
• burst out into that stupendous profession of
  faith during his meeting with the risen one,
• "My Lord and my God!"
• (Jn 2028).
• As in the case of Peter
• at Caesarea Philippi
• (cf. Mt 1616),
• so likewise Thomas in this paschal meeting burst
  out with the cry of faith which comes from the
  Father
• Jesus crucified and risen is
• "Lord and God."

30

• Immediately after recording this profession of
  faith and Jesus' response which proclaimed
  blessed those
• "who have not seen and yet believe"
• (Jn 2029),
• John offers a first conclusion of his Gospel
• "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of
  his disciples that are not written in this book.
• But these are written that you may believe that
  Jesus is the Messiah,
• the Son of God,
• and that through this belief
• you may have life in his name"
• (Jn 2030-31).

31

• Therefore all that Jesus did and taught,
• all that the apostles preached and bore witness
  to and that the evangelists wrote,
• all that the Church preserves and repeats of
  their teaching,
• should be at the service of faith,
• so that, by believing,
• one might attain salvation.

32

• Salvation
• and therefore eternal life
• is linked to Jesus Christ's messianic mission
  from which derives the whole
• "logic" and "economy"
• of the Christian faith.
• John himself proclaimed it from the prologue of
  his Gospel
• "To those who did accept him,
• (the Word) gave the power to become children of
  God, to those who believe in his name"
• (Jn 112).