A factor often overlooked is, if Jesus is not God, then he is indeed a madman, or a blasphemer.
Too often people look at what he says, but not at what He says, says — read not just His words, look at not just His deeds, but what do His words and His deeds say about Him?
"And there were some of the scribes sitting there, and thinking in their hearts: Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only? Which Jesus presently knowing in his spirit, that they so thought within themselves, saith to them ... But that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:6-10)
Again:
"And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18)
A human nature cannot contain such power, nor can a human nature, unknowing of its own good and its own end, use such power wisely and knowingly. As the saying goes, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" — but not He.
Therefore He cannot be just a man ... for no nature can contain a power that transcends its own nature.
Yet throughout the Gospels, Jesus speaks and acts in His own name, which is unthinkable ... no prophet of Israel has ever spoken thus. Look at the Beatitudes, "You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you ... " (Matthew 5:21-22, my emphasis). So now He's rewriting the decalogue! The Law of Moses!
Jesus heals, cures, performs miracles, raises the dead and forgives sin in His own name — this is blasphemy, unless He is God.
St Luke 'tells it how it is':
"... the chief priests and the scribes, with the ancients, met together, And spoke to him (Jesus), saying: Tell us, by what authority dost thou these things? or, Who is he that hath given thee this authority? And Jesus answering, said to them: I will also ask you one thing. Answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? But they thought within themselves, saying: If we shall say, From heaven: he will say: Why then did you not believe him? But if we say, Of men, the whole people will stone us: for they are persuaded that John was a prophet. And they answered, that they knew not whence it was. And Jesus said to them: Neither do I tell thee by what authority I do these things." (Luke 20:1-8)
He has caught them in their own duplicity ... but he catches us in our own duplicity also, for we are just like they, we profess to believe in God, but act in pursuit of our own best interests.
Luke goes on, in the Parable of the vineyard.
A man plants a vineyard, and lets it out to husbandmen. The husbandmen seek to possess the vineyard for themselves, and they beat the master's servants, and send them away.
"Then the lord of the vineyard said: What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be, when they see him, they will reverence him. Whom when the husbandmen saw, they thought within themselves, saying: This is the heir, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So casting him out of the vineyard, they killed him." (Luke 20:13-15)
In the light of the Cross, the allusion is obvious ... the Son of Man knew the hour to which He was destined, the glory that awaited Him.
Oh, and by the way, please let us not make the naive and fundamental error of assuming that the wicked husbandmen are someone else, but not us ...
The soul is His vineyard, and we have possessed it as our own inheritance.
Thomas
