The thing is,
the Jewish authorities
interrogating Jesus
are right.
God is One alone
and we must worship Him.
This is why they pick up stones
to throw at Jesus
when He declared,
"Before Abraham was,
I AM."
Jesus has just uttered
the name of God
revealed to Moses
- I AM -
and explicitly made Himself
equal with God.
According to the Law
this is blasphemy
and Jesus must die.
On this point,
they are well within their rights
- well, they would be,
if Jesus wasn't right as well.
The Jewish tradition
is being upheld here
both by Jesus
and by the Jews.
So what's gone wrong?
[PAUSE]
The answer is simple,
isn't it?
The Jewish authorities
simply don't believe Jesus.
Despite the miracles
and the teaching,
they cannot get over the fact
that Jesus is,
in their eyes,
transgressing the Jewish Law,
healing on the Sabbath,
eating food with unwashed hands,
dining with Samaritans,
Tax-Collectors and Prostitutes
and,
worst of all,
showing the authorities,
scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers
up for not being faithful
to the old Law with all it's traditions.
To them,
Jesus is an anarchist,
a rebel,
a Samaritan who rejects
orthodox teaching ,
who rejects authority.
He is a destabilising influence
and must die.
If He carries on
he will destroy the great Tradition
that links back to Moses,
Jacob, Isaac
and Old Father Abraham himself.
[PAUSE]
The thing is,
if Jesus were just another prophet,
they'd be right.
You hear this said today.
"Jesus cares nothing about
Church Traditions."
"Jesus doesn't care about
how you say the Mass."
"Jesus doesn't care about
the teaching of the Church,
about properly ordained bishops
about marriage laws."
"Jesus puts love
above tradition."
Those who say such things
miss the point
just as much as
the Scribes and Pharisees
and for exactly the same reason.
They look at Jesus
only as a human being,
only as a reformer,
only as a revolutionary.
They see Jesus trashing
the stalls in the temple
and label Him a radical.
What they don't see
is the great I AM.
[PAUSE]
"Before Abraham was,
I AM"
Our Lord is not
the destroyer of Tradition
but the writer of it.
The Jewish Laws
are there for the glory of Israel
but leave God out of them
and they lose their meaning
strength and glory.
What we see in Jesus
is the Old Law perfected.
Yes, it is a law of Love
rather than legal obedience
but it is still ordered,
the traditions still carry their weight,
the sacraments still give grace
even after two thousand years,
because God is there in that grace,
in that teaching,
in the Church.
[PAUSE]
Ubi caritas et amor,
Deus ibi est.
Where Love and Charity are
God is there.
In the Church,
we rely on Tradition
to clarify Church teaching.
We have apostolic succession of bishops
because that's the way that
the means of God's active grace
is transmitted through the ages.
We have the meaning of God's Word
handed onto us from the beginning
through Scripture and Tradition
so that we might know the works of Love
and do them.
And today,
people say,
"you can change
the meaning of marriage
that you can change
who can becone priest
because Jesus was a radical
a reformer,
an anarchist.
He isn't bound by your traditions."
But they don't see
that Jesus gave the same Tradition
for us and for everyone
from the first to the last.
He sets the definition of marriage.
He chooses the priests.
He starts the teaching office
of the Church.
He defines law and order,
binding everyone to love,
i.e. to will the good perfection
of everyone in God.
He is no anarchist.
He is the archetype
- from the first,
the leading principle,
the Divine example
and blueprint of humanity.
[PAUSE]
Jesus is Our Lord and God,
and He gives us a law
that shall never be changed.
The Scribes and Pharisees
are the anarchists.
Those who want to change
what Jesus gives us
are the anarchists.
They reject the authority
of Christ
and they will kill Him for it.
But by His blood
all that love Him on His terms
and not their terms
will receive nothing less
than the great I AM Himself.
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