There's nobody like him

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040121-Evening.cfm
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Cor 11:23-26

It helps to have assurances. Assurances, though, are authentic only when they stand up over time. In this week's Holy Thursday Gospel, two verses assure us of Jesus' divinity while he was a man. Every time I hear them, I am encouraged that God wants us to know who he is. 

"Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father."
(John 13:1)

"You call me 'teacher and' master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am."
(John 13:1)

The first verse reveals Jesus' prescience, his knowledge of things to come. The second identifies Jesus' unabashed superiority. Taking both verses into account reflects abilities and roles beyond natural man. Prescience and self-identified divinity surpass any human capacity. There are no future vision binoculars. We can't see into the future, because we're not God. 

And I'm only talking about two verses.

We get glimpses of human prescience from our mothers, fathers, and grandparents. They warn of us awful outcomes from lousy behavior. These are "likely" consequences, which they've learned over years of experience. Likely consequences are not visions of a set end. Jesus goes way beyond estimations. No-one is equipped with his keen, fixed preview ability.

"Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass …" Many times in the gospels, Jesus affirms this ability. For instance, just a few verses later, John writes of another such prescient moment. Jesus speaks about Judas after washing the disciples' feet, "For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, 'Not all of you are clean.'" Is this just intuition?

Jesus' awareness of his upcoming death, Judas' betrayal, and the soon-to-be predicted denials by Peter all add up to more than intuition. Jesus' prescience of future events goes way beyond admonition. Awareness of the future, all things about to take place within hours, exists only in Jesus Christ. No other saint or prophet has ever had Jesus' ongoing, minute-by-minute ability.

Next, Jesus' statement about who he is, his claim as the Messiah, the Christ, seals the deal. He's not insane, nor a narcissist practiced in hubris and arrogant expectation. His claim stands up. When he washes the disciples' feet without explaining why until afterward goes beyond the scope of a self-made leader or authoritarian. Jesus flips the role of master and teacher on its head. He serves those who should be his servants. The result of this act changed the definition of holy leadership forever. Anything short of servant leadership, sacrificial in every way, falls back to garden variety selfish human leadership. Awesome leaders take decades to get even close to the behavior of Jesus. Jesus was born this way.

Only God could do what Jesus did, and he admitted as much. He does so because he is the incarnation of God. Jesus' love for us is what joins him physically with his own creation. Jesus isn't bragging. He is stating the reality.

A detective would study Jesus' life and have only one conclusion. He's God incarnated. Jesus overcomes every human weakness to sin. He does so to leave no doubt. Anyone can figure out who he is. Jesus doesn't make the mistakes of a criminal, so he's not a criminal. He isn't faking anything: no misleading tales; and no manipulation of the social order to get people to do what he wants. He's completely authentic.

A good detective who analyzes the statements of Jesus and the outcomes of everything he experiences ends up convinced that Jesus is either who he says he is or he is from another planet. He's the Christ, the Son of God, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, or he's the best magician and impersonator of God, ever. And his impersonation got him nothing but grief. Jesus had no upside in worldly accomplishments. Impersonation? That's just plain ludicrous. He's obviously the real deal.

Jesus followed a script that he and his Father, with the Holy Spirit, had already laid out in Old Testament scriptures. Or, ... well, there isn't any other explanation. In fact, his innocence of any crime convicts him of being who he said he is. As the servant creator—come to redeem the world and conquer sin—his connect-the-dots documentation is continually clear. All Jewish history, and subsequent Christian history is written about him. Not some other creature or entity. A thorough detective will identify Jesus as not just God's right-hand man but the predicted, then actual, and the continually confirmed second person of God. "Yup, he's the guy."

Jesus declines to force anyone to love him, submit to him, or even to obey him. His actions and statements fit the definition of God as expressed in the words of the Old Testament prophets.

None of us are capable of any of this. Some rare ones of us grow into and willfully submit to God. But we all die, and none of us have come back on their own. "Hey, I'm back, and let me tell you about it." Only Jesus.

All of us can be convicted as sinners under the most basic of criminal inspection. If not in dastardly actions, then in our confessed thoughts. We can all list a daily laundry list of failures to do the right thing. Not one thing, or one word, convicts Jesus of any sin.

For confirmation that his prescience and person stands up to every scrutiny consider the conversation he has with Peter just moments before the verses cited above.

Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."
Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."
Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."

Jesus doesn't mince words. Peter knows that Jesus is speaking to him from a place of very high authority. Jesus doesn't cajole Peter. He doesn't give up out of understandable exhaustion with Peter's continual arrogance. He says to Peter what he would say to us right now.

"Do as I ask, because it involves your inheritance."

Thank God Peter knew what that consequence meant. Not just for Peter, but for us. Not only would his feet be cleaned, but the world would know who Jesus was by Peter's example, submitting to Jesus' radical request.

"Do as I ask." Jesus' request for us is not something we need to wait for. He right here, right now. 

Look up the definition of inheritance. It's high time we do what he asks.