Just
when did Jesus come to know with certainty that he was God?
We can
wonder about that.
It's a
good topic for meditation or contemplation.
But we
won’t really receive a certain answer in this life.
Did he
have that divine knowledge as a child?
Or did
he receive that revelation at his Baptism, or at his Transfiguration?
Or at
some other point in his earthly life?
Perhaps
he went through the trials of his life, ministry and passion
Secure
in the absolute knowledge that he was God.
Knowing
all that God knows – everything.
Some of
his statements show that he certainly believed he was God.
Such as
his repeated reference to himself using the name God had used with
Moses—I am.
As when
he identified himself in the garden when the mob came to arrest Jesus
of Nazareth.
Did he
do all this with absolute certainty of his divinity?
With
full conscious awareness of, and access to, his full divine powers?
Maybe.
But, the
Gospels tell us that he was a man, like us in every way except
for sin.
That
would seem to indicate that he had chosen to limit his powers during
his earthly life.
Perhaps
to limit even his own internal knowledge of those powers and his true
identity.
That
would mean he acted as a mere man.
But a
man with great courage and great faith.
Absolute
faith and trust in what he heard the Father telling him.
Knowledge of what Jesus knew when, will come to us as part of the beatific vision.
But
regardless of when Jesus first knew with absolute certainty that he
was God,
He
surely knew it by the time he met Mary Magdalene outside the tomb on
Easter morning.
We can
be sure he spoke with full knowledge that he was more than a mere
Rabbouni.
More
than a mere man.
And what
was his message to us in this first conversation after the
Resurrection?
The
first conversation where we can be sure that he absolutely knew who
he was.
He used
it to reaffirm that fundamental piece of Good News that he had
revealed earlier.
The Good
News he had given the disciples when they asked him to teach them to
pray.
The Good
News about who we really are.
And so,
on Easter morning---
As the
fully-knowing, fully-aware God-man---
Jesus,
quite remarkably, continues to call us his brothers and sisters.
And he
continues to assure us that we can call God, Our Father.
Tuesday of Easter Week
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