Jesus reveals the Father
The revelation is the Act by God reveals himself to men. About God, man knows only what God communicates him, and for this, the God of the Ancient Testament is an hidden God (Is. 45,15).
Rarely God has revealed himself. This has happened only in particular events, like to Abraham (Gn 18, 1-5; 19, 27-28), Jacob (32,64 ss.), and Moses (Es. 3,6-19) on the Oreb and on the Sinai (Es. 19,20, 24; Dt 5,4-5).
God has directly spoken to the prophets: to Elijah (1 Re 17, 2-8), to Isaiah (7,3; 8,15) to Jeremiah (1,2; 2,1; 36,26).
God has revealed himself by many signs like the cloud(Es. 13.21), the fire (Es 3,2), the storm (Es. 19,16), the puff of the wind (1 Re 19,12 ss.).
Besides he shows himself in the vision, in the dream (Gn 28,10-16; 37,5-11), in the apparitions (Gn 15,1; Es. 20,22; 1 Sam 3) and, above all, by his word (Es. 24,38; Dt 4,8; Is 6,8; Ger. 1,2).
The first impression that Jesus provokes in the disciples and in the people follows him, is that of a Prophet; a great Prophet. But slowly the disciples begin to understand that Jesus is more important than a prophet. His words, his actions, the signs and miracles operated by him, they show this affirmation.
Clearly Jesus demonstrates "the pretension to behave in the place of God, pardoning the sins, proclaiming himself: Lord of Saturday, operating miracles in the first persono, requiring a total sole love for himself, saying to be above all the personages, above all the institutions and the religious reality of his people. (La Legge, il tempio, il sabato, David, Salomone, i profeti, gli angeli, etc.) (Franco Ardusso, Gesł rivelatore definitivo, in Storia di Gesł, ed. Rizzoli, vol II, p. 470).
Jesus reveals himself like a prophet and, above all, like the "Definitive revealer of the Father. Paul's epistle to Hebrews declare this sublime reality: "God, which in the ancient times had spoken many times and in diverse manners to the ancestors by the prophets, recently, in these days, has spoken to us by his Son, that has constituted heir of all things, and by him, God has created the world (Eb 1,1-2).
In the beginning of the fourth Gospel (John's Gospel), we can read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Gv 1,1). Then, God reveals himself by the Son which is the Word, the incarnated Word: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known (Gv 1,18).
Not only Jesus "has seen the Father" (Gv 6,46), but he is also "the link of connection among the invisible Father and men" (Franco Ardusso, Gesł rivelatore definitivo, in Storia di Gesł, ed. Rizzoli, vol II, p. 470).
"Jesus reveals the Father during his worldly life, but he promises his disciples that, after his death, they'll understand all about the Father. This will happen "not more by similitudes, but openly"(Gv 16,25). That is the Holy Spirit will light christian people for the full comprehension of the words sayed by Jesus about his Father.
In the thought of Saint John of the cross we can read what the Father says to humanity as regard of Jesus, the Word of the Father. The Father Says : "If I told you all the truth in my Word, that is in my Son, and I don't have other things to show you, as I can to answer and reveal some other things? Gaze your eyes to Him, in which I told and revealed you all things, and you'll find more of what you ask and wish... If you look at him, you'll discovery all in him... as I already have spoken you, answered, shown and revealed every thing, giving him like a brother, a friend, a master, a value and a reward"(John of the Cross, Ascent of the mount Carmelo II, 22, 5 , in Franco Ardusso, Gesł rivelatore definitivo, in Storia di Gesł, ed. Rizzoli, vol II, p. 470).
TO THE DISCOVERY OF JESUS OF NAZARETH
