Gospel
of John 1:45-51
:
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
We
are a little too
accustomed
with the
concept
that whatever miraculous skills Jesus had, they are unique because
Jesus is divine, his skills are divine skills, nobody has them, but him.
This image is not quite accurate, however this has been the
approximate mainstream thinking in popular religion since the Roman
Empire officially imperialized Christianity in the year of 383 AD.
The nationalization of Christianity ordered by Emperor Theodosius the Great, practically made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. Although the process started with Emperor Constantine, in the year of 323 AD, who changed the game of religion for Christianity from being persecuted to become the religion in favor of the mighty. Christianity, from a grassroots movement, from the religion of the slaves, as it was called, became an imperial power house, technically almost overnight.
Although the consequent ecumenical councils of the church that created the notions of the almighty divinity of Jesus and the Trinity itself, they still tried hard to preserve the fullness of the humanity of Jesus as well. The attempt succeeded only partially. Nonetheless, all councils should have asserted that we follow Jesus and not the Roman Emperors who presided over the ecumenical councils.
Concerning miracles, the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches still allowed some room for the ordinary people as channels of divine deeds, because the New Testament is very explicit in that regard, as it is written in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16 as Jesus said “that these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Jesus calls us to follow him and by faith to perform the deeds of faith. It is almost unbelievable but the elevated and miraculous deeds of faith are based on the merits of the personal piety.
Once, a father of a very sick son went to Jesus. It is a well known Gospel story. The boy was possessed by an evil spirit which ultimately could cause the untimely death of the youngling.
The father had seen the Apostles already, hoping that the students of the master had been supposedly well suited to be able to heal his son. Actually, even on the surprise of the students, they were not able to chase out the stubborn evil spirit and heal the boy. Jesus arrived and healed the boy, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!"
However, his students heavily grumbled, saying in a private conversation that "Why couldn't we cast it out?" Jesus had expressed his holy anger on the very spot of the healing regarding the attitude of his disciples, saying that "Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?”. It was a very harsh rebuke from him, and even nowadays, we can hardly digest that Jesus could have expected such a great miracle from Apostles in training.
In
the Star Wars fiction Master Yoda asked Luke to levitate some cobbles
by his will power only. Luke was quite good with that, but when Yoda
asked him to
pull
his submerged star-fighter jet out of the nearby swamp, he said that
‘I can not, it is to heavy’.
Yoda said that ‘weight and size do not matter, your faith matters only’. Luke waived mournfully, declaring that ‘I am sorry Master Yoda, but what you are asking, is impossible.’ Of course that Master Yoda led by example. We do not wish to draw a parallel line by comparing Master Yoda to Jesus, but it is obvious that the philosophy, behind the Star Wars related fictive universe of George Lucas, used a lot of religious sources, including the New Testament, during the creation of its philosophical framework.
Yoda said that ‘weight and size do not matter, your faith matters only’. Luke waived mournfully, declaring that ‘I am sorry Master Yoda, but what you are asking, is impossible.’ Of course that Master Yoda led by example. We do not wish to draw a parallel line by comparing Master Yoda to Jesus, but it is obvious that the philosophy, behind the Star Wars related fictive universe of George Lucas, used a lot of religious sources, including the New Testament, during the creation of its philosophical framework.
We
should remember also that after the sea-storm when Jesus slept and
the disciples trembled with the fear of death, Jesus, after he had
stopped the storm, rebuked the students of little-faith, because he
meant that the disciples should have stopped the storm by
themselves.
Just as Jesus told them and the father of the sick boy that "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." The disciples still wanted to know why their faith was not good enough to perform that particular miracle. He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting." Which practically means that you have to earn that spiritual merit to be strong enough to stand your ground against evil spirits.
Just as the blind-born man told the persecutors that “ we (all) know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ”
Some people think that prayer and modesty is nothing, however it looks like that prayer and self-restraint is almost everything. All the miracles and wonders happened on Earth, all happened because of the pious life of the praying. The prayers of the pious made the difference of the day, as God granted them their asking. This includes the miracles of Jesus as well, as he asked and the Heavenly Father granted.
Technically Jesus boldly told them to ask for miracles all the time, as it is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 14 that “Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.”
Regarding the wonder of descending and ascending angels the tradition says that it happened to Jacob as well, when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord, and he received the name of Israel.
He himself was the ladder that bridged the chasm between heaven and earth, on which all of existence ascends and descends.
This is innate in all human beings, that we stand on Earth with our feet but our spirit is in the spiritual world, and we are one by one a connection between the material and the spiritual. The angels of heaven are descending and ascending on all of us. As it is written in the book of Acts:
' I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’
Just as Jesus told them and the father of the sick boy that "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." The disciples still wanted to know why their faith was not good enough to perform that particular miracle. He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting." Which practically means that you have to earn that spiritual merit to be strong enough to stand your ground against evil spirits.
Just as the blind-born man told the persecutors that “ we (all) know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ”
Some people think that prayer and modesty is nothing, however it looks like that prayer and self-restraint is almost everything. All the miracles and wonders happened on Earth, all happened because of the pious life of the praying. The prayers of the pious made the difference of the day, as God granted them their asking. This includes the miracles of Jesus as well, as he asked and the Heavenly Father granted.
Technically Jesus boldly told them to ask for miracles all the time, as it is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 14 that “Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.”
Regarding the wonder of descending and ascending angels the tradition says that it happened to Jacob as well, when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord, and he received the name of Israel.
He himself was the ladder that bridged the chasm between heaven and earth, on which all of existence ascends and descends.
This is innate in all human beings, that we stand on Earth with our feet but our spirit is in the spiritual world, and we are one by one a connection between the material and the spiritual. The angels of heaven are descending and ascending on all of us. As it is written in the book of Acts:
' I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’
We
all wrestle with the angles, however it was Jacob whom it was told in
the book of Genesis that “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but
Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have
overcome.”
As it is written in the book of Isaiah, chapter 49 that “The Lord said to me, ‘You are My servant, Israel, about whom I will boast.’ And he said that "It is too light for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the besieged of Israel, but I will make you a light of nations, so that My salvation shall be until the end of the earth."
This is our God given human obligation to reach out to the Heavens following the footsteps of our Master, a descendant of Jacob, who was called Israel, the Son of Man, Jesus, who is also the Son of God, by the Holy Spirit. We have to pray faithfully calling on the Lord’s name. We have to fast too if we can, otherwise very stubborn evil spirits may stay among the people, what we can not let happen.
May full glory be given to God who calls upon us to be the co-workers of Jesus, who expects us to stop the storms, to help the sick, to free the oppressed and to seek for salvation every day, AMEN.
As it is written in the book of Isaiah, chapter 49 that “The Lord said to me, ‘You are My servant, Israel, about whom I will boast.’ And he said that "It is too light for you to be My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the besieged of Israel, but I will make you a light of nations, so that My salvation shall be until the end of the earth."
This is our God given human obligation to reach out to the Heavens following the footsteps of our Master, a descendant of Jacob, who was called Israel, the Son of Man, Jesus, who is also the Son of God, by the Holy Spirit. We have to pray faithfully calling on the Lord’s name. We have to fast too if we can, otherwise very stubborn evil spirits may stay among the people, what we can not let happen.
May full glory be given to God who calls upon us to be the co-workers of Jesus, who expects us to stop the storms, to help the sick, to free the oppressed and to seek for salvation every day, AMEN.
