Monday, February 22, 2010

When did Jesus know he was God?

Discussions as to the nature and scope of Jesus’ knowledge have been a driving force in the development of Christology, the theology of the person and nature of Jesus Christ. Answers to this question reveal much as to how the Church understands that Jesus is both the Son of God and Son of Mary. To say that Jesus’ knowledge equaled that of God the Father from the moment of his conception seems to compromise our understanding that Jesus was fully human. To say that Jesus grew in the knowledge of his own divine identity seems to be at odds with our belief that Jesus was God.


The Gospels address this issue in many ways: In Matthew 11 Jesus exclaims, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Here and in the long discourse at the Last Supper as recorded in John, Jesus expresses an intimate knowledge of the Father and wishes to share that knowledge with his disciples.


Other passages give a different indication about Jesus’ knowledge: Luke’s description of the childhood of Jesus says that he “advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” In Mark 13 concerning the end times, Jesus says, "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”


Our Catholic faith holds that Jesus has two natures, human and divine, in one person. Our tradition has explored this proposition and offers the opinion that there was a human intellect and a divine intellect proper to the two natures of Christ. How they co-existed in one person is not answered. This traditional view is challenged by a modern understanding of the person which suggests that a healthy person is best represented by a unitary experience of mind and will. A divided mind is a sign of illness. Although Jesus’ detractors thought him insane, the gospels are a certain testimony to the reasonableness of Jesus words and actions.

We believe that the human intellect of Jesus in his earthly life did not know God the Father’s mind. Consider Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemani, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” This implies that Christ approached his passion and death with the same fear that every human being faces death, the fear of the unknown future. But in the Gospel of John, Jesus rebukes Peter’s use of the sword “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?” implying an understanding of what lay before him. Clearly the evangelists wrestled with this question and answered it in different ways.

All the gospels agree that the baptism of Our Lord at the Jordan River in the beginning of his ministry was a special time of revelation. Jesus and the onlookers heard the voice of the Father revealing his will for Jesus. Jesus knew that he had a special call; hence his reading of the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue and his ministry as the fulfillment of a prophecy. The words and work of Christ in the years leading up to his passion demonstrate wisdom, power, and grace that challenge all human understanding.


Read the passages on Transfiguration. Jesus is privileged to a special meeting with the Old Testament figures. Peter, James and John are included in this vision. In the gospels, Jesus is challenged, questioned and provoked, but in each case, he demonstrates a supremacy that is unrivaled according to human standards. Yet at the end of his ministry we find the Cross. Paul explains it best: folly to those who are wise according to this world’s standards. According to human standards, those who have perfect knowledge are most able to avoid pain and suffering. If Christ had perfect knowledge, then why did he not find a way to avoid suffering and death?


As in all things concerning God, what did Jesus know and when did he know it is a puzzle that can’t be solved, but a mystery to be lived. I have always like this question, not because I can give an answer, but because it prompts me to turn to the scriptures and know Jesus more intimately. The question challenges me to let go of any easy answers that allow me to “figure out” Jesus and move on.


Ultimately questions about Jesus’ self-knowledge invite us all to a deeper kind of knowing. Jesus doesn’t reveal propositions “about” God. Jesus reveals God as present and active in this world. Like the disciples at the Transfiguration, to us Jesus will reveal his knowledge of the Father in an intimate relationship. For those who believe in Christ, we will know God the Father as Jesus himself knows God.

1 comment:

  1. The Church teaches, as was pointed out, that Christ has two intellects: one divine and one human. As God, Christ knows all real and all possible things perfectly with one, eternal act of knowing.

    Besides the distinction between Christ's knowledge through his divine nature and his knowledge through his human nature, the Church distinguishes different types of knowledge that Christ had as a man. These types are basically: the beatific vision; infused knowledge; and acquired knowledge.


    1) The beatific vision: This is the face-to-face vision of God that those in Heaven have. It is a knowledge of the soul, not of physical sight. Through the beatific vision, someone sees the essence of God. Pius XII taught that Christ had the beatific vision from the first moment of his conception (Mystici corporis, in Denzinger-Schonmetzer [DS], n. 3812). It is this knowledge that allowed Christ, as man, to know each and every member of humanity (past, present, and future) personally even in his human nature. St Paul alludes to this when he says, "[Christ] loved me and gave himself up for me," (Gal. 2:20) even though Jesus as man never met St Paul.

    2) Infused knowledge: Besides the face-to-face knowledge of God, Christ, as man, also had knowledge that he did not have to acquire but that was "poured into" his human intellect. For instance, Pius X condemns the proposition: "Christ did not always have knowledge of his messianic dignity." (Lamentabili, n. 35, in DS, n. 3435) In the Bible, Jesus is presented as knowing the secrets of people's hearts and of predicting future events.

    3) Acquired knowledge: This is the knowledge that is abstracted through sense experience. We are all familiar with this type of knowledge, since all our ordinary knowledge is of this type. This is the type of knowledge proper to human nature, and Christ certainly had this type of knowledge.

    The issue is not so much "what did Christ know," since the Church's teaching is very clear that from the beginning of his life as man, in his human knowledge, Jesus knew 1) who he was as God and man; 2) knew what his mission was; and even 3) had the beatific vision. Rather, the different types of knowledge show us that the same thing can be known in different ways. For example, as man, Jesus knew perfectly from the first moment of his conception that he would be crucified on a given day at a given time, but he did not yet know experientially what being crucified feels like. There's a difference between knowing the geography of Palestine perfectly and actually walking the streets of Palestine. Thus, Jesus' beatific and infused knowledge do not take away from the importance of his acquired knowledge.

    As the Catechism points out: "By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal. What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal." (CCC, n. 474) Therefore, he says that only the Father knows the day of the Last Judgment to show that he has this knowledge only by the power of God and may not reveal it.

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