Christ

Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Sir 36:18 Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you, that your prophets be found true. Hear the prayers of your servant, and of your people Israel.

Collect Look upon us, O God, Creator and ruler of all things, and, that we may feel the working of your mercy, grant that we may serve you with all our heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.27-31; Psalm 99; Luke 7:11-17

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17)

Christ If one were to attempt to identify the most influential person in human history, what might one say? Well, in his book Portrait of Socrates (Oxford at the Clarendon, 1938, reprints up to 1966), Sir R. W. Livingstone has this to say at the beginning of his Preface. “It would be strange to know nothing of Shakespeare or of Napoleon; but it is quite as strange to know nothing of Socrates, for morally and intellectually he is one of the most remarkable figures in history, and he has had a deeper influence on western civilization than any one except Jesus Christ.” At the end of the same page (v), he observes that in the words and deeds of certain persons (such as Socrates) a step forward is taken and “the world is changed for ever. Such moments in history are the birth of Christ, and those centuries between 600 and 400 B.C. …” At the end of his stellar life, while imprisoned on the island of St Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte had something to say of the influence of Jesus Christ. One day in a conversation with Montholon, he put this question to him: “Who was Jesus Christ?” Montholon having declined to answer, Napoleon (among other things) said: “Christ alone across the chasm of eighteen centuries makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for the human heart. He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man with all its powers and faculties becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers.” The unique character of this influence and its effect on so many lives convinced Bonaparte that Jesus Christ was divine. I remember being part of a short tour of parts of Jerusalem and the leader was Jewish. He passingly referred to the “incredible influence” on history of Jesus Christ – though of course he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, let alone divine. It is plain to many that in Jesus of Nazareth there was a great man of religion – “a great prophet” if one wishes to use the word, through whom “God has visited his people.” But, whatever about Napoleon, that is as far as many would go. Our Gospel scene today (Luke 7:11-17) in which many witness the striking event of the raising of the dead young man by Christ, may be seen as a template of this. A “great prophet has risen among us”.

Yes, of course he was a “great prophet”. It had been a long time since the last of the recognized prophets, and then suddenly two appeared – the one being John the Baptist in (and from) Judea, who then designated Jesus as the Messiah, One much greater than himself. Soon after this John was arrested for his intrepid witness, and Jesus took the stage back in Galilee. It was not unlike Elijah being followed by Elisha who had asked for a double portion of his spirit. But Jesus outclassed them all and “no-one spoke as this man speaks”. His amazing works on behalf of God and his Kingdom were unparalleled in their power and faultless goodness. The country was rife with talk of him – Herod the tetrarch heard of him and wanted to set eyes on him. Pilate’s wife may also have heard of him, for she had had a bad night over the thought of him as Christ approached his trial. Christ’s greatness was evident even if the extent of it was not. When Pilate was told by the hostile Jews that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God (and so ought to die), he was afraid. I doubt that this was simply a kind of panic that he was finding himself in tricky religious controversy in which he could be accused of violating the religious sensibilities of an occupied people. After all, the charge had been of a form of political sedition: the Jewish religious leaders said that Jesus had claimed to be a “king”. If Pilate released him, he was no friend of Caesar. No – I suspect that the superstitious Pilate had a sudden intimation that Jesus was much more that appearances suggested. He feared what he himself was doing, if this obviously innocent man was some kind of “son of God”. There was something altogether superior and special about him, even unique. But then the poor pathetic Pilate sank into his cynical skepticism and overwhelming self-concern. He succumbed to the demands of the mob thinking to save his skin. But I suspect he had a fleeting glimmer of the greatness of the Man before him. It may be viewed as a harbinger of the eventual recognition by the Roman Empire three centuries later. In any case, this “great prophet” who had arisen among the chosen people was far greater than they imagined. This great man was God, no less. He was not the Father, but he was God just as much as the Father was. He was the Son, God the Son made truly man. He, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, had become one of us and had taken upon himself the burden of the sin of all mankind. His work was to atone for it all by his death.

The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. Let us make the emphatic resolution not to slip into thinking of Jesus of Nazareth as simply “a great prophet”, in and through whom “God has come to help his people.” This is one of the most obvious dangers in respect to the person of Jesus Christ. The danger is to reduce Jesus Christ to the level of one of the great prophets who have appeared among men. To rest at this is nothing to the purpose. When Christ asked his disciples (in Matthew 16) who men thought him to be, that was the answer he received. But no. He is far, far more than this. He is the Messiah, and, as Simon Peter added, the Son of the living God. But to perceive this requires a special grace from the Father – and this is what the Christian has been granted. Treasure it, then!

(E. J. Tyler)

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