Into the Sacredness of Christ's Holiness

Into the Sacredness of Christ’s Holiness

To think of Christ as anything other than Holy would be misguided, and a mistake of enormous platitudes.  As we followed Jesus through the gospel accounts there never was a doubtful moment regarding the realism of both natures that he was endowed with.

Let us for a moment take a walk through his ministry and see how these two natures worked together throughout the good news he brought.  

First, as was the custom then, as is now, weddings are the culmination of a friendship between a man and woman leading to a marriage.  “Jesus and his mother were among the many guests to be invited and conveniently His mother told Jesus that the wine was running short.”  Mary said to Jesus, “They have no more wine.”  Jesus responded to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me?”  “My hour has not yet come.”  First of all, Jesus was invited as a guest as were his mother and many of his disciples.  Not an uncommon gesture by the host of the celebration.  As we know, Jesus performed his first sign by turning the jars filled with water into wine.  And according to scripture, it was the best wine they had ever drunk.   (Jn. 2: 1 - 10). 

Through the Incarnation of Christ both natures were always in sync with each other.  Whenever he performed a human activity as a man, his divine nature was also part of it.  When he healed someone or called forth a demon, his human nature was also part of the action.  Throughout his ministry, both natures were working together since neither nature could be bypassed.  

“The Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human.  They are not opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation.  Christ’s human will does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will.  This was arrived at during the sixth ecumenical council at Constantinople III in 681.  (CCC 475)

Throughout the ministry of Jesus, anything he did or taught was both natures working simultaneously.  So at the wedding at Cana, he was there as a man and as a man and God performed his first sign.      

This is how we see the Sacredness of Christ continuously bringing out his Holiness.  As God, he took on humanity and when he died the divine couldn’t die, but his divinity did suffer as well as his humanity did.  When he shed his blood it was both natures giving up his life to save us.  

Proclaiming his holiness as God, we also proclaim his holiness as a man.  One essence may never be divided from the other.  The Sacredness of his being is the holiness of his all.

Ralph B. Hathaway