The conciliar documents of Vatican 2 express in Gaudium et Spes and in Dei Verbum that Jesus Christ is the “full revelation of man to man himself which makes his calling clear.” Jesus, being the full revelation of humanity’s calling on earth is the perfect example of how a human life should be lived out. The same passage from Gaudium et Spes also expresses the reiterated thought that Jesus Christ was fully human. “He worked with human hands, thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart.” With this is mind, the basic assumption is that since Jesus worked only with human capabilities, we are then fully able follow in his example. We follow his example, simply because he is the full revelation of God on humanity’s calling on earth.
Nolan presents this point by initially looking into the world view of the original and early disciples of Christ. They, who were not as organized as the modern Church, with it’s many doctrines and long list of councils are seen as specifically following only Christ’s example in it’s purest historical sense, and later through the second hand teaching of his disciples, and even later on through the writing of the Gospels. A main point Nolan makes in the article is that in the early church, Jesus’ presence was continually felt even after his death and resurrection. He continued to lead them, whether by virtue of their personal experience of Jesus, or by narrations and writings of him. The historical Jesus continued to be the guiding force and inspiration behind the actions of the Church. This is how we see the importance of the Gospels, and it’s relevance to our salvation. Since we in modern days cannot fully know what Jesus had done in his lifetime, and as John 21:25 says “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written,” we can only rely on the bible as our source and reference of God’s full revelation to us through Jesus.
The question then is what exactly did Jesus do? What is God’s message? To get straight into the point, we will look at the two main characteristics of Jesus Christ: Splagchnizomai and Faith. Splagchnizomai in Greek literally means “to be moved as to one’s bowels.” It is to feel compassion to the highest degree. In the part and time of the world where Jesus ministered, Judea under the Romans, it was a highly theocratic society ruled in the strict sense by law, and anyone who sinned was automatically cast away. It is here we see that the law becomes a tool for seclusion instead of the law’s philosophical role of safeguarding the people’s rights. We then by Jewish theocratic law, get a sense of a superficial God, as the only way to cleanse yourself of sin was to offer expensive sacrifices in the temple. We also get the sense of a harsh God who would readily cast members of the human race into sickness and loss if ever they have sinned. This strict law sense caused many to be out casted by society, examples of which are prostitutes and tax collectors. Others who have been marginalized are the lepers, who we now historically see was considered to be anyone with a skin abnormality. In all this, there is a stratifying society that outcasts supposed sinners. Then Jesus of Nazareth comes in. He spends his life in the open company of these sinners. He dined with them, conversed with them, and even forgave their sins. He felt deeply for their suffering, and saw the need to immerse himself in the needs of the marginalized. That is also what he calls us to do. He calls us to social concern and responsibility. The view of most Catholics in this day is that moral laws are the priority of the Catholic faith. As long as I follow God’s moral law, I will get to heaven. That’s the same paradigm the Pharisees had in Jesus’ time. Jesus said to "be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." That is because of their overemphasis of moral law, versus their shared social responsibility. The main goal of all Jesus said and did would be the coming about of the Kingdom of God. This is the end goal of human life. We are to bring it about here on earth. “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Heaven isn’t the point of our existence. We are called to be like Christ. We are called to feel the greatest compassion for our fellowmen. We are called to social concern and responsibility. With such a utopian idea in mind, it follows that there is a great deal of doubt whether it can be done. Modern times have adopted the paradigm of looking at the faults or diseases of humanity. Our paradigm automatically becomes diagnostic. The whole concept of a utopian “kingdom” that is ruled by equality and social justice seems utterly impossible. That is where Jesus’ second trait comes in: Faith. His compassion was so great, and the need to right the injustices done to the marginalized was so immense, that he primarily broke many laws of his time. Why did he do this? It’s because he believed that the Kingdom of God will be achieved. He believed in it so much, that he worked against all odds, and later on died on the cross for his belief in the kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is what we are called to bring about. It is contrasted by what is called the kingdom of Satan. There are 4 points that must be discussed here. First is money. The point is that money is not intrinsically evil. It is the love of money (Mammon) that is the root of evil. Money, as well as the physical goods in life are needed for man to survive. We have physiological needs. Te kingdom of Satan though would have us gathering material goods and not sharing it with others. The point is to get just enough to fulfill your physiological needs, then give the rest to those whose basic needs have not been met. It’s that simple. Second point is Power. Jesus had ample opportunity to gain power. He had thousand following him. He could have led an uprising against the Romans if he had wanted, but he did not. Taking power would precisely mean that you become above your fellowmen. Again, that is not the point of he as message. Shared social responsibility is what he was advocating. It’s not about your oppressors, and whether you would be rid of them, but rather the point should always be what one can do to bring about the Kingdom of God. The third is Prestige. He in the bible showed absolute humility to everyone. He never put himself above others. A sign of which was when he washed the feet of the disciples, and also in the way he told the lepers not to speak of who he was. Prestige again causes inequality, which is not the point of the Kingdom of God. The whole point of the kingdom all boils down to the last point, which is Group Solidarity. The kingdom specifically is an all inclusive community. All it’s members get what they need. They share what they have, and through Christ, live for others, while also living in morality, in a full loving relationship with God.
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