Have We Forgotten What Christ Did on the Cross?

There comes a time when the ability to accept reality, or even more, the truth about a subject, becomes too unbearable to some because it means their position is incorrect. They will ultimately have to concede the point. The anatomy of this process is where we either encounter the exercise of humility or hubris, and in the case of hubris, potential anger or worse, hatred. This example is found quite often within sacred Scripture and becomes more vivid in Jesus’ interaction with Jewish leaders after Jesus’ miracles.

The backdrop of this interaction is carefully presented by St. John in his Gospel on the feast of the dedication of Jerusalem during the winter season, which in many respects is ominous of how the Jewish leaders felt about Christ. As Jesus walked within the temple, specifically in the portico of Solomon, the Jewish leaders could not hold their contempt of Jesus and asked him if he was the Christ by demanding to “tell us plainly.”[1] The nature of the question reveals the Jewish leader's unwillingness to acknowledge the Son of God and the miracles he had performed. Jesus’ response to their demand is blunt and direct,

I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. [2]

Continued below.