Jesus did not know everything
by Mary Ellen Meyer, Goshen, Ind.
I have been pondering the letter from Jean Martin (Dec. 1, 2009) and would like to offer another possible understanding: One of the most challenging concepts in the Christian faith for us as human beings to wrap our minds around is that of "fully divine/fully human." How could that be? What would it be like? It seems to me that Jean has accepted well the "fully divine" in Jesus but has not adequately grappled with the "fully human."
The whole wonder of the incarnation is that our God, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, was willing to limit that power at a particular time and place within a human being. God was willing to do that out of great love for us, in order that we might be able more fully to understand God's
marvelous plan and what it meant to live that plan out according to God's intention on this earth.
I see in the Gospels that Jesus accepted that limitation. He did not claim to know everything. Where he was talking about the end times, he said he didn’t know, and no one but God knew the time. Not knowing everything indicates an ability to learn. We are told that in his youth he "increased in wisdom and understanding." This would mean an ability to learn.
In all three Gospels in the story of the rich young ruler, Jesus asked not to be called good and said only God was good. I see in the Gospel stories of Jesus’ childhood and ministry an unfolding of his understanding of the meaning of his ministry. Some of us would call that learning; it makes the wonder and mystery and miracle of the incarnation all the more amazing, humbling and life-giving.
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