A.  What were His words?

  (1) The word of Christ: It is not a human word, or even a philosophical and contemplative one. Human speech expresses human potential, which, however correct and good it may be, nevertheless conveys our fallen human nature. And this means human words do not have the power to 'raise' man from his impassioned attachment to the world and its appealing sin. We can see this in the various philosophies as well as the various religions.

(2) His word is God's revelation and yet another form of His presence - the bearer of His omnipotent energy: let us not forget that 'by the word of the Lord the heavens were fixed in place.' 'He said and they were born, He commanded and they were created', that is, His word, the Lord Himself, is the Creator. Christ, according to His own suggestion, 'hides' in His words. 'If you love me, keep my commandments and I will reveal Myself to you, and together with My Father I will come to dwell in you, and you will become our monastery.'  'I came to set fire, and what I want has already been lit' - His words are the fire of the Holy Spirit, which burns the passions and illuminates the existence of man. We already hear the terrible prophetic words: 'my word is exceedingly fired up '!

(3) This is why every word of His and every command of His constitute salvation for man: they return him to his normal and physiological course. The word of Christ constitutes the 'way' on which the believer must walk in order to reach the Realm of God.

(4) Any words of His, no matter how 'cruel' and 'paradoxical' they may sound, function for the benefit of man. The characterization of “cruel” is ascribed to fallen man – our attachment to our passions causes us to regard as cruel those things which benefit and heal us. This is reminiscent of medications: they give us a bitter taste, but are nevertheless intended to heal whatever ailment we have.

 

B.  Some "cruel" and "paradoxical" words by Christ.

1. 'Why were you looking for Me?' (Luke 2, 49)

This was the paradoxical response by the young, twelve-year-old Jesus when, three days after he had “disappeared”', His Holy Mother and His foster father, Joseph, were looking for Him. "My child, why did you do this to us?" the Holy Mother asked Him, full of anguish – to which question, albeit small in age, He gave the overwhelming and incomprehensible (even for the Holy Mother) response:  "Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?"

And what did that signify? The Lord's self-awareness that he was God incarnate from the very moment of His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It was not about a man who comes into the world and gradually - after a certain revelation - realizes that he has “matured” – which is what the heretic Nestorius advocated, who preached that the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ the human (Christo-tokos, not Theo- tokos) and that the Logos of God had come to Him later on. Thus, by young Jesus’ specific answer, we can comprehend (being illuminated by God) that Christ is God Who also became human. “Dual in nature, but not in hypostasis”. This is the theology of the 3rd and 4th Ecumenical Synods where they formulated the Church's faith regarding Jesus Christ.

2. "Whoever scandalizes even one of these little ones who believe in Me, it is to his advantage that a millstone be hung around his neck and he be drowned in the depths of the sea".         (Matthew 18, 6)

His words evaluated ​​suicide as a lesser condition than that of scandalizing a person – and even more so of a child. These words must be paid particular attention to, because they emphasize for us that the main criterion that reveals our Christian (or not) stance is precisely our stance towards each of our fellow human beings - above all, those considered smaller and humbler. And this stance of ours must be one of infinite respect and sincere and selfless love, which goes back to our Lord and God himself. "If you have done this to even one of these lesser persons, you have done it to Me." This is how we can comprehend the Apostle Paul’s 'sensitivity' who confessed: “In order to not scandalize a simple fellow human, I prefer to never again eat meat'.

3. “Someone said to Him, 'Look, your mother and your brothers have stood outside, asking to see You.' And He answered and said to him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand over His disciples, He said: ‘Behold: My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother'" (Matthew 12, 47-50)

Natural relationships are evaluated within the context of one’s relationship with God. The Lord came, in order to bring us to Him so that we might “see the countenance” of God. The relationship with Christ is the priority of our life: “seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice and all these things will be added to you”. Thus, one can understand that the spiritual bond which links the faithful within the Church is that being members of Christ and each others’ members is the highest and holiest thing. Physical bonds are thus relativized, because they do not have an eternal perspective. The eternal element determines our course on earth. “By faith we walk, not by species”. “Let us not aim for things that are seen, but the unseen. The things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

4. “He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me”. (Matth. 10:37)   

The absoluteness of love for Christ above every other love.  This phrase expands the previously mentioned thoughts. We are called as believers to direct all the strength of our soul and body towards God and our love for Him. Because not only are we created for this purpose: 'that from Him and through Him and to Him all things', but because only in this way can one love correctly and clearly both his wife and his children and everything that exists within in the world. In other words, our gaze must always be the in-Christ gaze . If we do not put Christ in everything we do, say or think, then they are 'tainted' by the selfishness that exists in us anyway due to man's fall into sin.

5. “Woe to you, o hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, because you resemble whitewashed tombs, which on the outside may appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of dead people's bones and every impurity”..... “Serpents, offspring of vipers” (Matth. 23, 27; 33)

His statement seems 'abusive' and offensive, but Christ did not come to caress human ears. His word, according to Paul, “cuts more than any two-edged sword”. It is because He came to call people to repentance; that is, to leave their impassioned condition and to wholly accept Him.  Of course the Lord can discern between sin and the sinner. He had condemned the perversion of the Jewish rulers, not them as persons - for whose sake also He was crucified in order to take away their sin and to offer them His justice.

6. 'Do you too perhaps want to depart?' (John 6, 67).

Christ does not want followers, but faithful people to follow Him, even if it means sacrificing their lives.   He had said those words when He spoke of divine Communion as a partaking of His Body and His Blood. “These words are tough. Who can listen to Him?”  - was the assessment by many of those who were following Him. The purpose of those words was to emphasize (in order to follow Him) that He was asking us for the most determinant element that characterizes us humans: our free will. Without our wanting His offer, without our synergy (collaboration), nothing can be done for our salvation and our relationship with God. “Whoever wants to follow Me...” He had stressed; “those who want such an exercise…” adds our Church: Freedom, the greatest gift of all, which, if not used properly will most certainly also be the cause of our condemnation.

7. “Woe to that person by whom the Son of Man is being handed over; it would be better for him if that person had never been born.” (Matth. 26, 24)

This was Jesus’ assessment of His disciple Judas. It was one of the most paradoxical statements by the Lord: He - Who had collaborated so that Judas would come into the world as a human - had made this assessment. We are looking at a grand mystery here, which clearly reveals just how much the Lord respects our freedom of choice. He may strive to motivate it, to charm it, but He invariably leaves the final choice to us.

8. “Get thee behind me, Satan, because you do not believe the things of God, but of men”. (Mark 8, 33)

These words were addressed to His disciple Peter, who had tried to dissuade Him from going to His passion! Peter was of course trying to express his love for his teacher, but his love was merely an emotional, completely human love – deep down egotistic and lacking faith. Because by exhorting Jesus to not follow the will of God the Father, Peter was displaying that ultimately, he was not accepting Jesus as Lord; he was making himself 'Lord', and not regarding Jesus (the real Lord) as God. We humans often behave similarly, inciting and exhorting our beloved fellow human beings to “save their lives”, but dismissing the will of God. We become “weapons” of the cunning one, through our well-meaning attempts - that is, it appears that we are doing something good, but in reality we are serving the wicked and cunning one.

9.  “Do not touch Me; I have not yet ascended to My Father” (John 20, 17)

The words of the risen Lord were addressing Mary of Magdala (Mary Magdalene). This was yet another, truly paradoxical statement. What could be more natural for Mary who loved the Lord exceedingly - Who had freed her from the oppression of her passions to live free - than to kneel and hug His feet? After all, hadn’t the same action taken place - twice in fact - with other women, quite possibly with Mary Magdalene witnessing, given that she was a faithful follower of the Lord?  The one instance was by the prodigal harlot who poured the precious myrrh to anoint the feet of the Lord and then wiped them with her long hair, and the second instance was with Mary the sister of Lazarus who had made a similar move. So why would the Lord now sternly prevent her from touching Him?  It was because after the Resurrection of the Lord, the only way to approach Him is no longer the tangible one (the way He was in His bodily form, together with His disciples); instead, from then on, He could be approached through the divine Sacrament of Holy Communion and through the observance of His holy commandments - an approach far superior to a physical touch, since with the Holy Communion we become “of one body and of one blood” with Him. The apostle Paul says something similar, which illuminates this truth: “That I had seen the Lord while He was in this world does not add anything to me. My spiritual relationship with Him is what is important.”

10. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power (in you) is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12, 9)

These were the Lord’s words to the suffering apostle Paul. They were about Paul’s partaking in the Lord's passion which leads man to the Resurrection even in this life.  Just as the Lord on the Cross reveals His omnipotence, so does the faithful one: from within his physical weakness, through his pains and illnesses, when he faces them in faith, and with the feeling that he is a member of Christ, he is actually led to the maximum of power that can be reached. His weakness constitutes the prerequisite for the power of Christ to be activated within his being. In other words, as he “decreases”, so the Lord “increases” within him. 'When I become ill, then I am strong.'  From this aspect, whenever we begin to hurt and not feel well, whenever we begin to feel as though we are losing the world under our feet, it is then that we must turn our thought to the way that our God is intervening; that is, through our pain and sufferings, He is undertaking us in order to take us to a higher level!  Plus, we can thus also perceive why the “strongest” areas on earth - the ones that enclose the omnipotence of God's Grace - are the various hospitals, clinics, and the beds of the sufferers in them. In the presence of ailing patients it is proper that we rather bow our heads and take off our shoes, as we are truly “on holy ground”. And this certainly applies, not only to others but to us also.

  

C. 'The Church lives and projects a Christ Who is a “danger” to our comfort, our mentality and our culture.

Christ is “dangerous” because to the ego-laden omnipotence of man, He counter-projects the sacrifice of the God-man. The Christ of the Church is not a teacher, He is the Savior of us all; He doesn't merely talk about Love but actually applies love in practice by sacrificing His existence so that we can live eternally, despite being absolutely aware that those after Him will continue daily to crucify Him with their sins and that many will not even believe.

The Christ of the Church is “dangerous” because albeit God, He became a human and died for us - despite knowing that man will continue to see himself as a god.

The Christ of the Church is “dangerous” because He knows how to forgive and place a Thief in Paradise, while today’s man knows only how to vilify the other and render him his private Hell. Christ is “dangerous“, because He accepts man as is - with wounds, with weaknesses – and He transforms man, whereas mankind only accepts the advertised “perfect” ones and those who willingly run their errands.

Christ is “dangerous”, because He offers Love that is beginning-less, whereas human authority rests on the rights of the economically powerful.

He is “dangerous” because He proposes a different life that is based on sensitivity for the Other, whereas our era only focuses on individual rights that must be weighed and measured in one’s favour.

He is “dangerous” because He talks about Pain and Toil, whereas people want to acquire everything without toiling for anything.

He is “dangerous” because He extends the hand of Resurrection to us all, whereas we have learned to rely only on our own hands.

He gives us His Body and His Blood as nourishment, and not daily life’s straw.

The Christ of the Church is “dangerous” because He gave us freedom, instead of enslavement to passions, indifference, and leisure!

Most of us live with a “harmless” Christ, a “nice” person.  Time now to live with the “dangerous” God-Man, the One Who stabs our hearts with His knife and cuts them into pieces that can be shared with everyone - out of Love, and for true Freedom; and the more that those who direct our lives realize that the “dangerous” Christ exists, the more they will struggle for us and for themselves to preserve the “harmless” Christ.

 

Translation:  A.N.