Christ's Perfection and His Integrated Personality

 

He behaved with an exalted wisdom, as was mentioned in the Book of Ecclesiastes "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven". He used to do the suitable job on the appropriate time. Not acting monotonously in every matter or with everybody.

And so, He knew when to be compassionate and

when to chasten; whereas while chastening He is

compassionate.

He knew when to talk and when to become quiet,

whereby in His silence there is wisdom and advice …

When to look with sympathy and when to look

with anger? When to use strength and when to

behave in a gentle manner? Generally, he knows how

to behave with various aspects of people.

So, He was practically the integrated personality

which is characterized by acquiring attributes that

seemed dissimilar but they accord in an amazing

harmony.

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􀂙 Solitude and also working for others

He was in a life of both contemplation and also

work. Life of contemplation was on the mountain. The

mountain in the life of Jesus Christ had its stand and

its own status, speaking about that needs more

space. One of His most famous solitary places was

the Mount of Olives and the Gethsemane garden. So

how deep what is said about Him in the Book of

Mathew "And everyone went to his own house. But

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives" (Mt 8:1).

On the mountain, He was pouring out His love to

the Heavenly Father. And in the city, He was

spreading out His love to people. It was said about

Him that He "went about doing good and healing all

who were oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38). He

was teaching in their synagogues, preaching the

gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of

sickness and all kinds of disease among the people

(MT4:23)… "All those who had any that were sick with

various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid

His hands on every one of them and healed them"

(Lk 4:40). He was teaching, healing the blind and

raising the death…each one who met Him had a

blessing from Him. So everyone loved Him.

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􀂙 Jesus Christ was both Great, and humble

He encompassed reverence and veneration; with

Simplicity on the other hand…

In His reverence they called him "Teacher", "Good

Teacher" or the Master…

Some listened to Him while sitting at His feet, and

some were bowing to Him… He was greatly esteemed

by the people; He had such an honor, respect and

great population…

In His greatness, He transfigured in a great light

on Mount Tabor (Mk 9).

In His Humbleness, He emptied Himself and took

the form of a servant, He bended His knees and

washed the Disciples' feet (Jn 13). He was so simple

with the children. He attended dinners at the houses

of tax collectors and sinners. When they blamed Him

for that He answered "Those who are well have no

need of a physician, but those who are sick…I did not

come to call the righteous, but sinners, to

repentance" (Mt 9:12, 13).

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􀂙 In the Integration of His Personality, Christ

also acquired both Meekness and Resolution:

He was gentle and lowly in heart (Mt 11:29). In

His gentleness it was said that "He will not quarrel nor

cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

A bruised reed He will not break" (Mt 12:19, 20). He

was to a great extent gentle and passionate. In His

compassion, He wept over Jerusalem (Lk 19:40). And

wept on His way to Lazarus tomb (Jn 11:35).

And in His gentleness also, he spoke with the

Samaritan woman without hurting her feelings (Jn 4).

And with the same meekness He spoke with the

woman who was caught in adultery (Jn 8) with such

kindness…

His gentleness though, didn't contradict with His

firmness. As in such resolution and forcefulness He

drove out all those who bought and sold in the

temple, and overturned the tables of the money

changers and said to them, "It is written, "My house

shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made

it a "den of thieves" (Mt 21:13). And with the same

resolution, he Rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees (of

the Jews' scientists) and said to them "woe to you,

scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the

kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in

yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering

to go in" (Mt23:13). He also rebuked the Sadducees

saying to them "You are mistaken, not knowing the

Scriptures" (Mt22:29).

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He reprimanded the Jews many times on how

they were literally keeping the Sabbath. He on

purpose worked miracles on the Sabbath; He gave

sight to the man born blind on a Sabbath (Jn 9) and

raised Lazarus from the dead on a Sabbath (Jn 11).

He also healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on a

Sabbath. To show them that good deeds could be

performed on Sabbaths (Mt 12:9-13).

He sometimes rebuked his Disciples on their

mistakes, in spite of His extreme love to them.

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􀂙 Within His integrated personality; He knew

when to talk and when to be silent?

If He talked, He convinced. And if he exchanged

views; He stroke and silenced. He spoke many times

as a teacher, and they were astonished at His

teachings (Mt 7). In His talk there were words of

benefit, exhortation and teaching. He sometimes

simplified His teaching as by saying parables and

sometimes He taught them as one having authority

(Mt 7:29). He presented teaching as obligatory

principles…He often corrected old concepts, beginning

with the phrase "But I say to you…" (Mt 5).

Sometimes He kept quite, His silence hence is

well spoken than talking and in His silence is wisdom

as he was quite during His trial at the Sanhedrin (Mt

26) and in front of Pilate (Mt 27).

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􀂙 He also knew when to give and when to hold

back:

In His giving he was generous, He granted His

Disciples various kinds of authorities and talents, He

also highly ranked the child and woman and that was

something to which the Jews were not accustomed to.

He opened up the gate of Heaven for everyone and

especially for the Gentiles and the Samaritans whom

had no dealing with the Jews (Jn 4:9). He granted

healing to the sick, release to those possessed by evil

spirits, forgiveness to sinners (Lk 7) (Jn 8) (Mk 2).

And blessing for many others…

And as He gave, He sometimes prohibited. As

when he commanded against granting Priesthood to

the Jews' Priests at His days telling them "the

kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a

nation bearing the fruits of it" (Mt 21:43). He also

refused the demand of the Scribes and the Pharisees

for a sign (a miracle), and said "An evil and

adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign

will be given to it" (Mt 12:39).

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􀂙 And as Christ was the man of people, He also

cared for a single person

Thousands followed Him, great multitude and

people. And in the miracle of feeding the thousands,

it was said about them "were about five thousand

men, besides women and children" (Mt 14:21) which

means about 12 thousands. And when healing the

paralytic, crowd gathered together so much that they

uncovered the roof and let down his bed to where He

was standing (Mk 2:4).

And in His famous sermon on the mount, at its

beginning it was said "And seeing the multitudes, He

went up on a mountain" (Mt 5:1).

Despite of all the multitudes of people who were

around Him, He cared for the one soul. In the story of

Zacchaeus the tax collector, there was much crowd

that he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him,

and among this entire crowd the Master told him

"Zacchaeus make haste and come down for today I

must stay at your house" and when the Jews

complained that He will enter a house of a sinner He

told them " Today salvation has come to this house,

because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of

Man has come to seek and to save that which was

lost" (Lk 19:1-10). He left the crowd and sought for

the lost one, this was repeated in (Lk 15). Seeking

the one soul was also obvious in His meeting with

Nicodemus, with the Samaritan woman and with Mary

and Martha…

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􀂙 In speaking about the integrated personality

of Jesus Christ, we mention some

illustrations:

􀂙 Acquiring both justice and mercy without any

contradiction between both attributes; He was

merciful in His justice and was justice in His

mercy. His justice was full of mercy and His mercy

was full of justice.

􀂙 Also His care for both the soul and the body;

besides His great care for the soul that He said

"The words that I speak to you are spirit, and

they are life" (Jn 6:63), He cared so much for the

body and its healing (Mt 9:12).

􀂙 He was precise in fulfilling the Law of Moses. But

at the same time He cared for its right concept

and for the spirituality of the law not just its literal

sense.

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Lastly, Jesus Christ left us a good example for us

to follow concerning the integration of a personality.

In this feast, we pray for our dear country, for

President Hosni Mubarak that God may support him

with his strength and give him success in his efforts

and in his trips that are for the sake of peace in the

Middle East, in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan and the rest of

the brother countries.