Saturday, December 24, 2005

Why does God have to be Jesus? (Asked by Bel Lioanag, SE-6)



Why does God have to be Jesus? Why does he have to be a human? Can we not be forgiven without Jesus’ sacrifice?

It would help very much if you could read my answer to the question “What is the Holy Trinity?” It will answer 50% of your question.


In summary, this article will explain that God DID NOT HAVE TO become Jesus. The God that we know IS Jesus. Jesus is who God is, and not someone that God has to be. Our God is not a one-person God (unlike the God professed by other faiths). Our God is a Trinitarian God. The name of our God is “Father-Son-Holy Spirit.” Just click here to read the full article.

Here’s the other 50%.

Our God is a communicating God. God WANTS to communicate with us. In the Old Testament, God communicates indirectly through signs (for example, thunder and lightning, parting of the Red Sea, through the prophets, victories and losses of the Israelites against their enemies, and so on). But in the New Testament, God communicated to us DIRECTLY. God did this through Jesus Christ. This is what St. Paul meant when he wrote:

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Let me explain it this way. Tita Wena and I do not have children, as you know. But we do have two wonderful dogs named Sunshine and Email. You should come and visit, and see us talk to our dogs. “Sunshine, don’t make wee-wee on the floor again; do it here on the newspaper,” TW would say. I would then follow-up and say, “Mabuti pa si Email, she learned already where to make wee-wee. Sunshine, you follow what your sister here does, ok?”

Now, do you think Sunshine and Email understands what we’re telling them? I suppose somehow they do. But if we wanted to communicate with them directly and clearly, we would have to learn and communicate to them in “dog language,” not in human language.

This is what God did. Instead of communicating to us in “divine language,” God wanted to communicate to us in human language. Thus, God became human, just like one of us, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ communicated to us through his words and actions. People saw him, talked to him, ate with him and so on. Now, St. Paul also says in Colossians 1:15: “Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.”

If you really want to know who God is, then get to know Jesus because he is the image of God. If Jesus is loving, forgiving, and healing, then God is ALSO loving, forgiving and healing. That is as plain as it get. It’s like WYSIWIG – what you see is what you get.

Can we not be forgiven without Jesus sacrifice?

We often associate Jesus sacrifice ONLY with his death on the cross. Let’s note that God did not become man to simply die. That would make God the Father such a cruel God who demands that the Son die for our sins.

We should also focus on what Jesus was saying and doing during his life WHICH RESULTED to his death on the cross.

This is consistent with the biblical meaning of sacrifice. When a Jew would offer an animal as sacrifice, the animal was the symbol for his or her life: by offering the animal, the Jew was also offering his or her life to God. But for the Jew, the focus is NOT the killing of the animal, but what it symbolizes: his or her life would now be based on obeying God’s will. The Jew was in effect saying, “I am offering this animal to tell my God that I would like to live a life that is God-centered.”

It is the same with the sacrifice of Jesus. It is not just the crucifixion but the entire life of Jesus that we should consider.

The core of Jesus’ teaching is the Kingdom of God, mentioned more than a hundred times in the Gospel. The Kingdom of God is not a place, but a condition where unconditional love prevails (see the parable of the Prodigal Son). God’s love is unconditional, which means that it is open to everyone, regardless of how sinful you are. That is why for Jesus, salvation is not just something that happens in the “after life” but something that God does now because God cares passionately about what happens to us.

Preaching this contradicted and embarrassed many of the Pharisees, Sadducees and other authorities during Jesus’ time. Eventually, people plotted against him, which resulted to his crucifixion and death.

So, please answer my question, can we not be forgiven without Jesus sacrifice?

This is the way you should also look at “being forgiven.” Jesus has shown in his life that we are forgiven and loved unconditionally.

“When we begin to accept that God loves and accepts us unconditionally, then we can change our sense of who we are and our sense of what life is about. Our primary image of our self would then become one of ‘trusted, loved and already forgiven by God,’ rather than ‘sinner who must please God to be forgiven.’ We can begin to discover that the Christian life is about a life lived in a loving relationship with God. Realizing this, we may be able to allow the transforming power of our love relationship with God to work in our lives.”[1]

A profound healing can begin to take place within us. Our “being saved” or “being forgiven” happens.

What’s the implication of all these in my life?

When you look at Jesus on the cross, do not remember only his death. Remember his entire life, what he said and did, his unconditional love manifested in forgiveness and healing of both the physical, mental and emotional illnesses of those around him. Recall that Jesus was willing to do all these even if he knew that he would antagonize people and that he may eventually pay for it with his life. But he did so anyway out of love for all of us.

Realizing this, I think it would not be difficult for you to do also start to love others unconditionally. Your “being saved” and “being forgiven” happens.



[1] Lode Wostyn, CICM, I Believe: A Workbook for Theology I (Manila: Claretian Publications, 2004), 174.