The gospels approach Jesus’ identity in narrative and oblique fashion rather than in systematic assertions that a reader can bullet-point, store, and pull out of the drawer on demand. It took the emerging Church centuries to define the Christian understanding of God in terms that would command philosophical assent. The biblical materials fueled that endeavor but display a marked nonchalance about it.
When Jesus was confronted by his eventual arrestors in Gethesemane, the Fourth Gospel narrates an encounter that probes at Jesus’ complex identity. Jesus asks those who confront him, ‘Whom do you seek?’ (more…)
