There has been a lot of discussion, within certain circles, relating to what Jesus knew or did not know about himself.
Frankly, I do not think that it is any of our business!
I believe that delving into such matters is presumptuous. Furthermore, I do not think that we have been endowed with the degree of intelligence that would justify our prying into the mysteries his dual natures.
I suggest that Jesus has revealed all that he wants us to know about himself. His request to be baptized by John was a major element of that self-revelation.
Yes, there was the matter of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy but that too was ultimately ordered to Jesus' intention of assuring us that no matter what else he was, he was truly one of us. He was a flesh and blood human being with human needs and aspirations but without sin and therefore without need of redemption.
Accepting baptism at the hands of John, just like all the others who went down to the Jordan before him, was a vivid symbol of his identity with us.
It was, in fact, an epiphany, a momentous revelation, an expression of God as trinity, a divine announcement that put the heavenly seal of approval, the stamp of authenticity on the stranger from Nazareth, the Son of God made man.
And so in hindsight it told them who he was but that didn’t mean that they grasped the full meaning of the Incarnation. In all fairness, that would have been too much to expect.
Years later Jesus would ask his disciples who people thought he really was. Most of the answers hinted at some form of re-incarnation. When Peter blurted out the truth Jesus told him that in essence he was right but that it was not something that he had figured out on his own. It was something revealed to him by God.
It was a gift...the gift of faith. And so it remains today.
Anyone of us who can profess the belief that Jesus Christ was and remains the son of Mary and the son of God, true man and true God, has been blessed with that gift.
Pray that if it be lost it will be given again, that if it is weak it will be strengthened and if it is strong it will be lived and shared.
