12 STEP CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY SERIES.
I started this series in September 2018 and
will continue with the series this year. If you have not read the first
posts, click here to read. This series is based on the 12 Steps of
AA and could have easily been called 12 Step Christian Anon programme.
However, I prefer to think of it as a 12 Step guide to Catholic spirituality
Today we continue on with
Step
2: We Confess that Jesus Christ can lead us to the fullness of life.
JESUS
OF NAZARETH
Everything
we know about Jesus of Nazareth comes to us from within the context
of Christian faith traditions. The few secular references to him say
very little, and most seem to draw their information from the
Church anyway. It would, therefore, be impossible to speak
about Jesus without utilising biblical information regarding his
life, ministry and meaning. Apart from the New Testament, we know very
little about Jesus.
Because the New Testament is so obviously an
expression of the faith of the early Church, many have raised
questions concerning the literal historicity of its contents.
During the past century, Scripture scholarship has made much
headway in this area;we now realise that the authors of the Gospels were not
trying to write historical documents in accord with the norms and constraints
of 20th century historians. They give very little information
that might be useful to historians, being concerned instead with the
meaning of Jesus' life and ministry,death and Resurrection.
There
are, a few historical kernels to be gleaned from the Gospels, and
these in themselves say quite a lot. We know, for example, that Jesus of
Nazareth really did live in Judea apparently during the reign of
Tiberius Caesar. His crucifixion
unquestionably belongs history, a death reserved for the the
most heinous criminals was not the kind of death a community would have chosen
for its hero. Jesus was certainly a Jew, and we know from his recorded
words that he was familiar with the beliefs and traditions of
the monotheistic Judaism of his day. Few would doubt that he
was a man in whom a powerful teaching and unusual healing ministry
were at work.
Finally,
the Church's proclamation of the Resurrection has historical beginnings, as do
the persecutions which followed. Except for the above, almost everything else
in the New Testament is theological rather than historical in nature.
It
is the proclamation of his Resurrection that makes Jesus quite unique
amount the religious characters of history. Were it not for this
belief, there is unlikely to be no Church or bible.
''And
if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is void of content'' (I Cor
15:14). Although Jesus was indeed a great moral teacher, this
is not the main reason why he is remembered. The Resurrection is the key.
After
all arguments in favour of the Resurrection have been advanced, belief rests,
finally, on the world of those who maintained they experienced the risen
Christ- namely the apostles and several others from the inner circle
of devotees. No one saw Jesus rise from the the dead, and eve his missing
corpse can be explained away as theft. But the fact that this belief
brought scorn and, eventually, martyrdom to those who first
proclaimed it lends weight to their testimony. Even a atheist must admit
that, rightly or wrongly, the apostles and their communities really
believed that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead to new life.
We,
today, even with the help of modern scientific investigation, cannot prove
whether Jesus did or did not rise from the death (The Shroud of Turin not
withstanding). With those who first heard the proclamation, we can
either accept or reject the message.
Many
through the ages have chosen to reject the Gospel on various grounds, the most
frequent being that it is a story fabricated by fanatics to assuage
their embarrassment caused by following a teacher who was
crucified. And look how many unusual stories and religious
claim we find among religious of
the world. Certainly, we have neither time nor patience to give
our attention to every capricious whim or fantastic tale that confronts us
during our few years on earth.
Something
about the Jesus story is qualitatively different from most cultists claims and
fanatics promises, however. What if be really rise from the dead?
What if it is true? Because rejection of this story and its
implications would constitute such a devastatingly major
life blunder if it is not true, serious consideration by everyone must be a
minimal response to the Gospel.
