Person of Jesus

Question 1

What does Jesus call God and what is the reply?

Answer 1

Jesus calls God ‘Abba’ (father) and a heavenly voice calls Jesus ‘my son’.

Question 2

Why did Jesus have to be divine?

Answer 2

As only God has the redemptive power to save humanity from sin.

Question 3

Why did Jesus have to be God?

Answer 3

Because only God can save.

Question 4

Why did Jesus have to be human?

Answer 4

Because only humans needed saving.

Question 5

What analogy does Karl Rahner use to describe Jesus’ consciousness?

Answer 5

An onion with many layers of skin. The expression of fear in Gethsemane or uncertainty in the desert or on the cross makes sense if Jesus’ human self-consciousness was close to the surface but his divine self-consciousness was deep within.

Question 6

What do Miracles point to?

Answer 6

Jesus’ divinity and displays of God’s power.

Question 7

What did Hume suggest about miracles?

Answer 7

That as we have no current day proof of Jesus’ miracles, it is not possible to trust them.

Question 8

What did Schillebeeckx say about miracles?

Answer 8

Maybe Jesus calming the storm is a metaphor for him bringing calm to our lives.

Question 9

What did Wright say about Jesus’ miracles?

Answer 9

Wright says Jesus was also bringing calm to a factionalised society and he brings everyone together to start establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Question 10

What does the resurrection teach us? (2)

Answer 10

• That Jesus is the meeting point between God and humanity.

- Jesus’ resurrection relates to the ultimate end for Christians- that there is life after death for those that believe.

Question 11

What does Jesus say when he healed a blind man?

Answer 11

That he is not just there to heal the physical blindness but the ‘spiritual blindness’ that the Jews were suffering from (that they don’t realise who he is).

Question 12

What does Jesus say when he walks on water and how does this demonstrate his relationship with God?

Answer 12

Jesus says ‘I am’- identifying himself with God.

Question 13

What is meant when Jesus is called the teacher of wisdom?

Answer 13

That he gave moral guidance.

Question 14

What did Jesus teach people in order for him to gain the title of the teacher of wisdom? (3)

Answer 14

• He taught people how to be good.
• Jesus’ teachings encouraged his listeners to love their God and love their neighbour (greatest commandments).
• Jesus highlights our responsibility towards those less fortunate and warns that we will be judged if we fail to help them. E.g. parable of the Good Samaritan.

Question 15

What does John Hick say about Jesus’ divinity? (2 points)

Answer 15

• That there is nothing unique in Jesus attitude about love.
• Hick suggests that Jesus is an incarnation of the ultimate role model of how to be good, but that is not the same as Jesus being divine.

Question 16

What does C.S. Lewis have to say about Hick’s view?

Answer 16

C.S. Lewis criticised Hick saying that you cannot separate Jesus as a moral guide from Jesus the Son of God.

Question 17

What were Bonhoeffer’s beliefs?

Answer 17

Bonhoeffer believed that we become closer to God when we suffer because when God became flesh in Jesus, he experienced human emotion and suffering. This is backed up by Jesus’ teachings in the beatitudes.

Question 18

What was the message behind the parable of the lost Son?

Answer 18

That we have to take responsibility for our own actions, but if we repent and are truly sorry, God will forgive us for anything.

Question 19

What did Jesus do on the sermon on the mount?

Answer 19

Jesus clarified teaching from the Old Testament that may have been misinterpreted over the years.

Question 20

What are the three titles of Jesus that we need to know?

Answer 20

Jesus as the Son of God.
Jesus as the teacher of Wisdom.
Jesus the Liberator.

Question 21

What is the third title Jesus has been regarded as?

Answer 21

A liberator who freed people from different types of oppression.

Question 22

How did Jesus challenge political authority? (3)

Answer 22

• He talked about the Kingdom of God which suggested that God was in charge and those on earth would lose their authority.
• He made tax collectors, who represented the government, turn away from this work and follow him.
• In the last week of his life he turned over the tables in the temple, objecting to the fact that it had lost its religious focus.

Question 23

How did Jesus challenge religious authority? (3)

Answer 23

• Jesus was criticised for meeting with outcasts, but he said that he was here to help those most in need.
• Jesus was accused of not following the laws from the Old Testament, but he said that following religious rules was not the same as worshipping God properly.
• The religious authorities thought that Jesus was blaspheming when he forgave sins as only God can forgive sins.

Question 24

What does Jesus and the parable of the Good Samaritan teach us?

Answer 24

The parable teaches us that we must be neighbours to everyone. Jesus teaches that all people are treated equally by him and all people can be liberated by him (through their faith).

Question 25

In ‘The woman who touched Jesus’ cloak’, what was shown? (2)

Answer 25

• That the woman’s faith in Jesus healed her.

- Her interaction with Jesus freed her from being an outcast.

Question 26

What can Jesus be described as when he liberates different groups from social constraints?

Answer 26

A social leveller, who breaks down social barriers and racist attitudes.

Question 27

What did Dawkins say about Jesus as a teacher of wisdom?

Answer 27

Dawkins said that Jesus was a great moral teacher (although this is a back-handed compliment as Dawkins believes that Jesus was nothing but a teacher).

Question 28

In what ways is Jesus a social revolutionary? (2)

Answer 28

• He tries to bring different groups in society together, e.g. in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus breaks down social barriers and racist attitudes as he shows the Samaritan to be the good guy.
• Jesus mixed openly with groups of people who have been marginalised in society, e.g. the extremely poor and the very sick, tax collectors, etc.