Many religious traditions revere one or more figures who received a revelation from which that tradition flowed. Some have prophets, some gurus, gods or goddesses or martyrs. Christian tradition goes further, claiming that, in addition to prophetic and angelic messengers, God sent his own son to set people free from the consequences of sin and death.
If an important person sends her daughter or son to represent her, it means a little more than if an aide or staffer shows up. A daughter or son is more like that person, carrying her very DNA. The claim that Jesus of Nazareth was not only a good and holy man chosen by God as Messiah, but actually the incarnated son of God is a pretty big claim, one Christians have ever since been trying to defend.
Why does it matter that we consider Jesus the fully human, fully divine Son of God? Incarnation is a gift for all kinds of reasons, an indication of how far God is willing to go to bridge the gap to humankind. But it is in his sacrifice on the cross that the son-ship of Jesus perhaps matters most. As the sacrifice to end the whole bloody system of sacrifice, God offers the ultimate victim. As a friend once said, trying to explain the Cross, “You can’t get a bigger sacrificial victim than the Son of God.”
We can leave for another day the discussion of whether Jesus had to die and how his sacrifice set us free… traditional Christian doctrine says he did and it does. Each of us must find our way into that mystery. For today, let’s explore a smaller mystery – that in this parable, this very Son of God tells a story about a fictional son who is to be beaten and killed by those who charged with nurturing the harvest with which they’d been entrusted. Once again, Jesus is predicting his own death – and charging his listeners with murder. If they hadn’t already wanted to kill him, now they surely did.
In Jesus’ story, the wicked tenants seize the son, throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. So Jesus was cast out by the temple leadership who ultimately could not swallow his claims of divinity – or his growing influence. They told themselves they were just getting rid of yet another trouble-maker, not the Son of God. And yet Jesus’ son-ship remained a fact they had to deal with – even more after his death.
How does Jesus’ “son-ship” affect your faith? Do you feel closer to God through knowing Jesus, however imperfectly we may know him in this life? These are questions worth exploring as we live into a relationship with God through the Son whom we first meet in Jesus of Nazareth. They are worth exploring in prayer – we can say simply, “Jesus, I want to know God more fully. Let me see you," and see what unfolds.
How does knowing Jesus help us draw nearer the mystery of God? Jesus told his followers that if they’d seen him, they’d seen the Father. The best way to find out is to invite the Holy Spirit to dwell with us. It is the Spirit who brings us the presence of Christ, every time.
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