Which of the moments in Jesus’ life would you say best shows the Father to us: calming the storm? healing the lepers? raising the dead? feeding the five thousand? the transfiguration? the crucifixion?
For me it is the crucifixion. Many writers down thru the ages, embarrassed by the passion, speak of Jesus laying aside or hiding his divinity. I think it is just the opposite. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus, in choosing to accept crucifixion, was glorifying the Father and the Father was glorifying him. On the cross Jesus was being God. On the cross the Father was revealing the depths of his love. As the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus on the cross was not pleading with the Father. The Father is pleading with us: Can you now believe that I love you? Can you now believe that I truly forgive you?
—Fr. Jonathan Haschka, S.J. writes from the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa WI, where he serves as Assistant to the Superior.