The Light of Jesus

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G-d, and the word was G-d. . ." Jn.1.1

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" Jn.14.10

"My Father, who has given them to me,is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." Jn.10.29-30

"I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I". Jn.14.28

"This is why the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath but also called G-d His Father, making Himself equal with G-d." Jn.5.18

Novatian- "We must therefore believe, according to the rule prescribed, on the Lord, the one true God, and consequently on Him whom he has sent, Jesus Christ, who by no means, as we have said, would have linked Himself to the Father had He not wished to be understood to be God also, for He would have separated Himself from Him had he not wished to be understood to be God" (Treatise on the Trinity 16- CE 235).

Confusing isn't it? Perhaps two analogies may help clarify.

Imagine if you will, a kingdom where the King is good and has no jealousy or evil in His heart. And this King has a son- a Prince. This Prince has been taught to understand truth and righteousness by his father the King. Would not the King give authority to his son who reflects his own desires? And if a person from the town encounters the Prince, would he not also show reverence to the him for he is of the King's own blood and authority?

We, in an democratic society, can not fully understand how this works because we have no monarch savvy left, but if you go to a society where they only have had monarchs, then you would see such behaviors as described above.

Now the other analogy is that of marriage. Is it not true that when G-d created man (Adam) he made him whole, that is complete after His (actually it states 'our') own image. Then from Adam did G-d take his rib (or more accurately interpreted- his side) and made woman- Eve. G-d has taken one and made two, so man will have a proper companion. Now, it also must be true that when a man and a woman join together in marriage, they take the two and make one (echad) as He so desired.

"Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one (echad) flesh." Gen.2.24

Are they equal parts? Absolutely not! Ask any person and they will find differences between the genders. Neither will you find the Son and Father to be equal parts, just One (echad). Upon this level of intimacy we can only glimpse upon from human aspects of marriage, but the spiritual intimacy of unity is much greater as evident to the Scriptural passages quoted earlier.

Lastly, the passage we gave about their inequality:

"I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I." Jn.14.28

How can Jesus be less than G-d the Father and yet be one with Him? Is this possible? Yes, because G-d the Father is the Great En (Hebrew for the Great Nothing). Not because He is nothing in the sense of emptiness, but rather because there is nothing that is of Him that our finite minds can truly conceive and understand.

Our father Ignatius of Antioch explained it this way in his Letter to the Magnesians, 8.1 (110 CE):

"The prophets, who were men of God, lived according to Jesus Christ. For that reason they were persecuted, inspired as they were by his grace to convince the disobedient that there is one God, who manifested himself through his son, Jesus Christ, who is his Word proceeding from silence, and who was in all respects pleasing to him that sent him."

Here He calls En, 'silence' and He was until He sent forth His son and made Him flesh.

Another view comes from Tertullian in Demurrer Against the Heretics 13.1 (CE 200) states:

"there is only one G-d, and none besides Him, the creator of the world who brought forth all things out of nothing through His Word, first of all was sent forth."

Out of Nothing is the title the Jews give to G-d(En) in the Kabbalah. We explained why they gave this name to G-d above.

Irenaeus of Lyons adds:

"Nor is He moved by anyone; rather and by His Word He made all things. For He alone is G-d, He alone is L-rd, He alone is creator, He alone father, He alone contains all and commands all to exist."(Against Heresies, 2.1.1, CE 189).

Nothing was created that did not come from Him and it was from Him that shared with G-d the Father. In Genesis we read about the creation story, Breshet bara Elohim- in the beginning G-d (plural form) created (singular form). He was the Word that was with G-d and was G-d, as John tells us in Jn.1.1-5. First, we are told both in the Word and from our fathers that the Word emanated from the great En (or Nothing), came down from heaven and in doing so, became finite. He became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory because He Himself emanated from G-d the Father, Jn.1.14.

Now we come to the last puzzle offered by the words above:

"This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath but also called G-d His own Father, making Himself equal with G-d." Jn.5.18.

And made more puzzling by the words of another father, Novatian in his book Treatise on the Trinity (16- CE235):

"G-d the Father, founder and creator of all things, Who alone knows no beginning, Who is invisible, immeasurable, immortal, and eternal, is one G-d. Neither His greatness not His majesty nor His power can possibly be--I should not say exceeded, for they cannot even be equaled. From Him . . . the Word was born, His Son . . . And the latter, since He was born of the Father, is always in the Father. And indeed say always . . .He that existed before all time must be said to have been in the Father always, for He that exists before all time cannot be spoken of in relation to time . . .Assuredly, He is G-d, proceeding from G-d, causing, as Son, a second person after the Father, but not taking away from the Father the fact that G-d is One."

If the Father is greater, how can Jesus have shown He was equal to G-d? The answer lies in the term G-d, Elohei. Jesus explains this later in Jn.10.31-39:

"The Jews took up stones again to stone Him, Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me? The Jews answered Him, 'It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself G-d.' Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If He called them gods to whom the Word of G-d came (and Scripture can not be broken), do you say of him who the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of G-d'? If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father. Again they tried to arrest Him, but He escaped from their hands."

What Yeshua was trying to say is that the word G-d or Elohei, doesn't mean Father, but it means His Word. Therefore it applies to Him as well. Therefore Jesus is not equal to the Father, but we see the Father when we see His Son. This is what our Church calls the essence of G-d, His Word made flesh. Jesus is called Emmanual which means G-d is with us which would then imply to us that His Word is with us and His Word is one with the Father and equal to G-d.

Why is this hard to separate and see? Perhaps because the place of their separation is in a place our human minds just can't go to. What's more confusing is that the place of their separation is really not a separation because the Word exists both in Father and Son, and this Word was unchanged, unaltered when Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. Only Jesus can see this clearly because He alone came forth from the Father. This is why our church calls this a mystery.

"Try to define Him enthrone or enshrine Him to catch is to loss Him and to lose is to win."

Spirit Move by Gary Adult @1974 Franciscan Cummnications Center.

Although Gary Ault was talking in the above verse about the Spirit what we call the Ruach HaKadosh or Holy Spirit, these words above are also true about the relationship of the Father and the Son. The more we try to understand this mystery; the more it slips away from our understanding yet the more we stumble into confusion of the head; the closer we come to certainty in the heart. Because it's not the finding that brings us into holiness, it is the seeking that draw us into the Light.

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