{"id":12745,"date":"2021-03-26T05:37:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T10:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=12745"},"modified":"2021-03-26T05:54:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T10:54:36","slug":"jesus-hes-one-of-us-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/jesus-hes-one-of-us-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus. He\u2019s one of us."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Something quite wonderful has happened in the world of theology these past fifty years. Just prior to Vatican II (1958-1965) some German theologians were working on a new way of explaining who Jesus is and how he achieved the salvation of the human race. It keeps the traditional doctrine of Christ, of course, but adds a new dimension – – – from below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most notable in this regard was a theologian named Karl Rahner who, in his Foundations of Christian Faith<\/a>, <\/strong>proposed an \u201cAscending Christology\u201d which would compliment the traditional \u201cDescending Christology\u201d of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The traditional way of viewing Jesus is as the Eternal Word. From all eternity he has existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit. \u201cTrue God from True God. Consubstantial with the Father\u201d, we recite in the Creed. Full of divinity and power he \u201ccomes down from heaven\u201d and is born among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with a \u201cDescending Christology\u201d is that it tends to overshadow Christ\u2019s real humanity. The danger is to see Jesus as basically \u201cGod in human clothing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God uses the humanity of Jesus like a cloak or instrument to work out the divine plan. Jesus\u2019 solidarity with humanity in its real struggles and sufferings can be lost and obscure the critical role of his real humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cAscending Christology\u201d, God unites to himself a real humanity in Jesus Christ. Scripture and our Catholic Faith tell us Jesus is human in every way but sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean \u201clike us in all things\u201d? Some guidelines for thinking about the nature of Jesus were hammered out at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council said Jesus has two natures: the nature of God and the nature of man. These two natures are hypostatically (inseparably) united in one divine person (the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity). Two natures, one divine person. This means our human nature is forever united to God in the Blessed Trinity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAscending Christology\u201d attempts to see Jesus from below in his humanity. (It is meant to compliment, not replace the former.) If Jesus truly has a human nature then he must have a human consciousness; he thinks as humans do. He must reason, ponder . . . figure things out. Jesus could not have known the world as we know it today through science. When asked when the \u201cend would come?\u201d Jesus said, \u201cI don\u2019t know. That has not been given to me.\u201d If his consciousness is truly human, then it is finite, limited. He was tempted (Luke 4<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I find so inspiring is Jesus smells like us. He really suffers, rejoices, grows angry, and fearful. And yet . . . . he accomplishes the mission he knows he has been chosen to do, namely, in his death and resurrection. Surely Jesus is absolutely exceptional in his humanity. He knew himself to be more than a prophet. He embraced his role as Savior of humanity. But he did all these things as a human being. (How touching that he needed someone to help him carry his cross.) We are saved by one like us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so I can turn to Jesus who knows my limited human heart because he had one of them as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Jesus. Truly you know the human heart. Give me courage when my heart grows faint. Give me Faith when all seems dark. Give me Love when my heart is empty. Give me Hope that, in the end, <\/em><\/strong>\u201c<\/em><\/strong>all will be well.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because you did it Jesus! You died for us and now you live!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let Him come to you this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something quite wonderful has happened in the world of theology these past fifty years. Just prior to Vatican II (1958-1965) some German theologians were working on a new way of explaining who Jesus is and how he achieved the salvation of the human race. It keeps the traditional doctrine of Christ, of course, but adds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12745"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12751,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12745\/revisions\/12751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}