When Jesus was 12 years old, he accompanied his parents to the Jerusalem Temple for the Passover festival, an annual ritual practiced by them. After the festival when his parents returned, Jesus stayed back in the Temple surrounded by the teachers of the Law where he felt at home in listening to the questions from the learned Doctors of the Law and answering them. His parents discovered him in the Temple where all who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and the answers he gave (Luke, 2: 46-47). Although Luke does not specify what were the questions and answers involved in this first public encounter of Jesus with the intellectuals of the period, it could not be anything other than the most complicated problems created by them out of the Law of Moses. Since they were amazed at his intelligence and the answers he gave, they must have been logical and perspicacious and nothing exotic and unintelligible. The same gift was used by Jesus in his public ministry to the discomfort of the proud and the vainglorious, though the humble and ordinary people understood what he said and did.
We shall now go through certain instances in his public ministry where his enemies were confounded by the powerful logic of Jesus. If Jews thought that God alone was able to forgive sins, there was nothing remiss about it as practically everyone would naturally support the view that man being sinful cannot be the repository of such divine powers. But, Jesus acted beyond the common understanding when a paralytic was carried on a bed and was lowered from the roof of the house by some men where he was sitting surrounded by many people. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'man, your sins are forgiven you'" (Luke,5:20). The lawyers and the pharisees in the group silently protested against this blasphemy since, as per their understanding, God alone could forgive sins. Jesus used a logical argument like a double-edged sword that could easily prepare them to have faith in the Son of Man's right and power on earth to forgive sins. He asked them a simple question about which was easier to say to the paralytic between two alternatives of "your sins are forgiven" and "stand up and walk". What looks easier is actually more difficult and what looks more difficult is actually easier. Here is the conflict between what is real and what is apparent as no one can know if one's sins are really forgiven by just hearing it said unlike the case of telling a paralytic to get up and walk. Therefore, Jesus combined the two in such a way that the truth of the one should verify the truth of the other. Going a step further, Jesus asked the paralytic not merely to get up and walk but also to carry his bed on which he was lying and go home. This should be enough to prove that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins that properly belongs to God alone and on this point the Jews were right! ( We shall discuss in the later Posts the status of the Son of Man).
In the case of the woman caught in adultery and brought to Jesus for a judgement, before forgiving her sins, Jesus forces self-revelation from each of the clamoring group by a single instruction to start stoning the woman beginning with one without any sin. Their consciences were enlightened by this logical remark from Jesus on the priority to be followed in administering justice according to the Law of Moses that was able to lead them to faith in the Law of Love (John, 8:1-11). The same may be said about the sinful woman who anointed Jesus in the house of Simon who was taught the power of love by Jesus through his parable of the two debtors (Luke, 7: 36-50).
Another instance of the logical argument practiced by Jesus may be seen from what he said about our relationship and obligations to God and any authority on earth (Mark, 12: 13-17). The occasion was created by the question of the need of paying taxes to Caesar who was practically ruling over the Jews at the time, although Palestine was never turned into mere province of Rome like the other adjoining areas. The Jews could claim sovereignty over religious matters provided they did not clash with law and order that was looked after by Rome. In this context, to take a position one way or the other with regard to payment of taxes was a touchy issue among the Jews. Jesus, therefore, went to the root of the matter by asking them for a coin in use at the time which turned out to be one with the image of Caesar imprinted on it. The solution to the tricky problem became easy to the logical mind of Jesus who declared that one should give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. To know what belongs to God, we need the light of faith that sees man as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis, 1:26). This means that God does not want anything that belongs to us, but only our own selves that must grow into the fullness of our potentialities deposited in us by God Himself, accepting Jesus Christ as our model for action. If there are images engraved upon material objects of this world capable of being grasped by our Reason, there are images engraved upon our hearts and minds reflecting the very image of God to be grasped by Faith without neglecting our Faculty of Reason.
We think that the above reflections should be sufficient to establish the validity of our view that Faith and Reason are interlinked to such an extent that there is no reason to see a separation between the Jesus of history and Christ of faith as some of the post-enlightenment Rationalists tended to do. Although faith does not arise out of reason nor can it give a complete explanation of faith, it can prepare the ground for accepting faith freely bestowed by God and understanding it to the detriment of ignorance and superstitions. Since God's ways are far superior to those of the humans, the insistence of the Jews for miracles and that of the Greeks for wisdom were neutralized by the one true wisdom of God through the cross of Jesus (1 Corinthians, 1:18-24). This is a level of faith where our reason would look absolutely foolish, which does not mean that reason should be completely abandoned by a believer as we have tried to clarify under this section on Faith and Reason.
We shall now go through certain instances in his public ministry where his enemies were confounded by the powerful logic of Jesus. If Jews thought that God alone was able to forgive sins, there was nothing remiss about it as practically everyone would naturally support the view that man being sinful cannot be the repository of such divine powers. But, Jesus acted beyond the common understanding when a paralytic was carried on a bed and was lowered from the roof of the house by some men where he was sitting surrounded by many people. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'man, your sins are forgiven you'" (Luke,5:20). The lawyers and the pharisees in the group silently protested against this blasphemy since, as per their understanding, God alone could forgive sins. Jesus used a logical argument like a double-edged sword that could easily prepare them to have faith in the Son of Man's right and power on earth to forgive sins. He asked them a simple question about which was easier to say to the paralytic between two alternatives of "your sins are forgiven" and "stand up and walk". What looks easier is actually more difficult and what looks more difficult is actually easier. Here is the conflict between what is real and what is apparent as no one can know if one's sins are really forgiven by just hearing it said unlike the case of telling a paralytic to get up and walk. Therefore, Jesus combined the two in such a way that the truth of the one should verify the truth of the other. Going a step further, Jesus asked the paralytic not merely to get up and walk but also to carry his bed on which he was lying and go home. This should be enough to prove that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins that properly belongs to God alone and on this point the Jews were right! ( We shall discuss in the later Posts the status of the Son of Man).
In the case of the woman caught in adultery and brought to Jesus for a judgement, before forgiving her sins, Jesus forces self-revelation from each of the clamoring group by a single instruction to start stoning the woman beginning with one without any sin. Their consciences were enlightened by this logical remark from Jesus on the priority to be followed in administering justice according to the Law of Moses that was able to lead them to faith in the Law of Love (John, 8:1-11). The same may be said about the sinful woman who anointed Jesus in the house of Simon who was taught the power of love by Jesus through his parable of the two debtors (Luke, 7: 36-50).
Another instance of the logical argument practiced by Jesus may be seen from what he said about our relationship and obligations to God and any authority on earth (Mark, 12: 13-17). The occasion was created by the question of the need of paying taxes to Caesar who was practically ruling over the Jews at the time, although Palestine was never turned into mere province of Rome like the other adjoining areas. The Jews could claim sovereignty over religious matters provided they did not clash with law and order that was looked after by Rome. In this context, to take a position one way or the other with regard to payment of taxes was a touchy issue among the Jews. Jesus, therefore, went to the root of the matter by asking them for a coin in use at the time which turned out to be one with the image of Caesar imprinted on it. The solution to the tricky problem became easy to the logical mind of Jesus who declared that one should give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. To know what belongs to God, we need the light of faith that sees man as created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis, 1:26). This means that God does not want anything that belongs to us, but only our own selves that must grow into the fullness of our potentialities deposited in us by God Himself, accepting Jesus Christ as our model for action. If there are images engraved upon material objects of this world capable of being grasped by our Reason, there are images engraved upon our hearts and minds reflecting the very image of God to be grasped by Faith without neglecting our Faculty of Reason.
We think that the above reflections should be sufficient to establish the validity of our view that Faith and Reason are interlinked to such an extent that there is no reason to see a separation between the Jesus of history and Christ of faith as some of the post-enlightenment Rationalists tended to do. Although faith does not arise out of reason nor can it give a complete explanation of faith, it can prepare the ground for accepting faith freely bestowed by God and understanding it to the detriment of ignorance and superstitions. Since God's ways are far superior to those of the humans, the insistence of the Jews for miracles and that of the Greeks for wisdom were neutralized by the one true wisdom of God through the cross of Jesus (1 Corinthians, 1:18-24). This is a level of faith where our reason would look absolutely foolish, which does not mean that reason should be completely abandoned by a believer as we have tried to clarify under this section on Faith and Reason.
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