A question arises in my mind, however, over the following
statement in the article. ‘Any understanding of Jesus must be based on the fact
that Jesus was a man of His own time’. And also the statement, ‘His knowledge
was but the knowledge of His time’.
I understand that Jesus did not know all that the Father had
in mind for Him or the future. This is evident from Mark 13:32 where Jesus
admitted that He, as the Son, didn’t know when the ‘fig tree’ would blossom. I
understand this limitation on Jesus was part of His living the life of
dependence on and faith in His Father’s will. He lived out what He calls us to
do.
The question about Jesus knowledge being influenced by the
era in which He lived has some serious implications. Does this mean He is
fallible in some of His statements? If so what? Does it mean we in this 21st
A.D. century can know more than Jesus did whilst on earth? To accept that is to
undermine His authority and the inspiration of His prophetic ministry. Also,
under a ‘cloud’ would be His endorsement of and the credibility of the
Scriptures He believed in. Jesus upheld and defended Genesis to Malachi
including creation, Adam and Eve, marriage, Noah’s flood, Sodom and
Gomorrah,
(amongst other matters) all of which today are considered either unscientific
or outdated. In fact, Jesus was emphatic about the importance of what Moses compiled
in the first five books of the Bible. ‘If you believed Moses, you would believe
me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will
you believe what I say?’
May I suggest we gain a clue to Christ’s apparent lack of
knowledge on certain matters from John 5:19-20,30 and John 17:8. In John 8:28
is a good summary: ‘Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then
you will realise that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but speak these
things as the Father instructs me.”’ (NRSV) He was in tune with the Father and
shared what the Father revealed to Him at that time. He wasn’t doing His own
bidding. Was this an expression of Jesus being the prophet also? Now this puts
us into a difficult position if we dismiss aspects of what Jesus taught as
simply being due to the knowledge of the time. It makes the Father also
fallible. It makes 21st century man wiser than the Father, the Son
and their Scriptures. In fact, it gives a person an excuse to ignore what he
doesn’t like on the grounds that Jesus didn’t know what we now know.
The mystery of Jesus as Emmanuel (God with us – Son of God)
and the second Adam (Son of Man – King of Israel) at the same time remains. His
testimony as to His teaching must be two fold. A diligent study of His Bible
and a dependence upon listening to His Father must have undergirded what He
taught and did. I believe we can build our lives, faith, and hope upon Jesus as
being the infallible teacher, the one we call Lord and Saviour. The apostle
Peter writing to the suffering Church wrote: If you endure when you do right
and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you
should follow in his steps.’ 1 Peter 2:20-21.
As Jesus trusted His Father in everything, especially the
crucifixion event, He set us an example for our daily life. His words ‘As the
Father has sent me, so I send you’ (John 20:21 NRSV) gives us the foundation
for our faith when we are also ‘short-sighted’ in our going. We may not like
what we experience, we may not understand events, we may be haunted by
unresolved issues, how are we to handle them? Jesus set the example.
©Ray Hawkins.
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