The Divine Universe

There’s a story in Matthew’s Gospel (15:21-28) that raises the question. Jesus and some disciples were hiking through the region of Tyre and Sidon. It was a cosmopolitan region – people from all over the Eastern Mediterranean. On their way a Canaanite woman accosted Jesus, pleading with him to heal her mentally disturbed daughter. The disciples were embarrassed and they urged Jesus to get rid of her. Jesus seems to have felt the same way. “I am only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he said, and added, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” It was not only racist; it was rather offensive. Was the woman to be regarded as a lower form of animal life because she was not Jewish? However, the woman was too concerned about her daughter to take offence. Picking up Jesus’ own metaphor she replied, “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

A change of heart 

That brought Jesus up short. He stopped walking, I think, and I imagine him turning and looking at the woman with surprise and dawning respect. “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And, Matthew says, her daughter was instantly healed.

What was really happening?

I would hate to think that Jesus was only making a single exception for this individual. I would like to think that he was beginning to realise that he was not only to be the saviour of Israel but the saviour of the whole world. Later he says, in John’s Gospel, “I, if I be lifted up, with draw all people to me.” (12:32)

This is not the only indication that Jesus’ understanding of his identity and vocation grew on him in stages. The most striking occasion occurred when he was baptised by John. Mark tells us that a voice from heaven said: “You are my Son, the Beloved, in you I am well pleased.” (1:11) (Son of God was a title for Messiah.)

Mark goes on to say that “the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.” (1:12) It is as though he was quite shocked and was rushing off to be alone where he could think through the implications of this startling experience. He had known for a long time, from childhood probably (Luke 2:49) that he had an important vocation from God, and John had realised that too, but the voice from heaven was quite specific: Jesus was the Son of God, Messiah. While Jesus was in the desert he was tempted by several very bad ideas about how to go about being Messiah (Matt. 4:1-11). There was some serious thinking through to be done. It sounds like a learning experience, but also indicates a thorough knowledge of the Torah.

It also seems likely that his destiny to go to Jerusalem, where murderous enemies would hound him down and have him killed, became clear only on Horeb, the mount of transfiguration (Matt 17:1-8). The evidence of such a fate was to be found in the Law and the prophets if you knew where to look (this is indicated by the appearance of Moses and Elijah) but it would be natural if Jesus had, up to then, been reluctant to grasp the significance of such gloomy prophecies as Isaiah’s suffering servant (Is.53) and the evidence of Israel’s history of persecuting the prophets. Also, the Law contained a catch 22: to claim to be Messiah was blasphemy, so even the true Messiah would be sentenced to death (John 19:7).

I don’t think we have to believe that Jesus had known all this from infancy, even before he could talk. It seems quite reasonable to think that his understanding of what the Law and his vocation as the Son of God demanded developed in stages. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus “learned obedience through the things he suffered.” (Heb. 4:8)

So what?

What’s all that got to do with me? Paul refers to Christians as the body of Christ in numerous places, so we share in Jesus’ Messianic vocation.

When I was a boy I was taught how lucky I was to be a Christian, brought up in a Christian country, educated at the “religious, royal and ancient foundation” of Christ’s Hospital. I was instructed about various mysterious advantages like the gift of the Holy Spirit and everlasting life. Being a Christian seemed all pluses.

But, like everyone else, I discovered as a child that life has its ups and downs. Often the example of Jesus was extremely difficult to follow, and I failed all the time. I gradually realised that being a Christian demanded a different set of values from those of the general public, even the public school!

Like Jesus, I have learned obedience through the things I have suffered. It has been through failures, disappointments and personal mishaps more often than through success that I have made my most important discoveries.

I am still learning where my personal vocation is leading me. It will not be to the same horrible end that Jesus suffered, but it will contain similar ingredients. The loss of physical strength and other faculties leads to humiliating and sometimes painful situations. In my mid-eighties, I speak with some experience.

I am not a special person. What I have said of myself will find an echo (I hope) in most people of any age. We are all discovering in stages who we truly are and what our vocation in Christ is. When I think of Jesus losing his racist beliefs I feel quite complacent: I don’t have any Hansonish hang-ups. But when I think of the end of Jesus’ earthly life I am strongly challenged. In spite of constant challenges from the pulpit, I don’t think most church people regard the crucifixion as having much real relevance to their own lives. That was Jesus’ thing. But it can still be a challenge. Pain and humiliations occur at every stage of life, but a Christian understanding of them, and that they are, sometimes at least, part of the Messianic vocation, can make life seem more reasonable, more coherent, more meaningful.

 

You might like to

Read Isaiah 53

Reflect on your own experience and see if it has ever been in this sense “messianic”.

Pray to understand your life and vocation more clearly, and to find joy and hope in any growth of insight.