How about this for the proudest boast ever: “The Father and I are one.” (Jn10:30) Still, Scripture readers should not be surprised at Christ’s claim. The very first line of St. John’s Gospel asserts, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (1:1).” And still again, the fourth Gospel account insists, “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him (Jn1:18).” The same insistence on the unity of the Father and the Son was heard from Jesus’ lips as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: “…whoever sees me sees the one who sent me (Jn12:45).”
St. Philip was fortunate enough to have a firsthand instruction on the oneness of Christ with his Father: “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? 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 (Jn14:9-11).” And just to make sure that the disciples fully comprehended the unity of the Divine Nature between the Father and the Son, Jesus prayed at the Last Supper: “…so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you…” (Jn17:21)
While the disciples might have been a bit slow in appreciating that Jesus possessed the same Divine Nature as God the Father, the Jewish leaders were keen to appreciate the full meaning of Jesus’ boastful words: “The Jews again picked up rocks to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself out to be God.” (Jn10:31-33) The Jews, of course, had witnessed Jesus’ claim on the Godhead not only through his deeds but even more brazenly through is words: “Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him.” (Jn8:59) “I AM,” of course, is the Name God the Father claimed for Himself on Sinai when Moses asked how he should introduce God to the wandering Jews.
The Gospel of John and the New Testament in its entirety are unambiguous in understanding Jesus Christ to be God, to possess fully the same Divine Nature as God the Father and, as later revelation would instruct, the same Divine Nature as God the Holy Spirit. Thus Jesus clearly deserves not only admiration as a miracle worker and esteem as a wise teacher, but Jesus plainly merits sublime adoration as a Divine Being and complete worship as our Lord and God.
Especially since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has rightly encouraged its membership to be active Catholics, accepting many liturgical, educational and apostolic roles in the daily life of the Church. Yet truly active Catholics also have to be attentive Catholics, with their minds and hearts open to the Divine Presence at hand for them particularly through the Eucharist but also through other Divine encounters, as in the sacrament of Penance, in the reading of Scripture, in personal prayer, and in the communal life of the Church. Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, OSCO, in his writing cited St. Bonaventure who taught that “…the secret of a fruitful apostolate is to be found much more at the foot of the Cross than in the display of brilliance.” Yes, believers might easily think that God is perceived better in brilliance, intellectual or practical or ceremonial, rather than in Calvary’s dark prospect. After all, it’s the Hallelujah Chorus that brings an audience to its feet during Handel’s Messiah.
No, like St. Bonaventure, the authentic Christian will often turn from the demands of discipleship to contemplate soulfully the Divine Person of Christ, especially at the Master’s most loving and telling moment on the Cross. Calvary was the test and the proof of Christ’s love, a love that happily was undaunted because it was rooted in the Divine Nature that the Father and Son had shared from all eternity. It was on Calvary most of all that Jesus might rightly say, “He who sees me sees also the Father.” (Jn14:9) Certainly through his preaching and likewise through his miracles, Jesus effectively announced the Good News that redemption was on hand for mankind. But it is on Calvary especially that Christ, the Divine Son, “one in being with Father,” announced the wonderful Good News of salvation for every believer.
