Have faith in God and have faith in me
Catechesis by Pope John Paul II on Jesus Christ
General Audience, Wednesday 21 October 1987 - in Italian & Spanish
"1. The facts, which we have analyzed in preceding catecheses, provide eloquent and convincing proof of the consciousness of his own divinity shown by Jesus when he claimed for himself the name of God, the divine attributes, the power of final judgment on the deeds of all humanity, the power to forgive sins and the power over the law of God itself. They are all aspects of the one truth strongly affirmed by him, that of being true God, one with the Father. It is what he said openly to the Jews when speaking to them in the Temple on the feast of the Dedication, "The Father and I are one" (Jn 10:30). However, in attributing to himself what is proper to God, Jesus spoke of himself as Son of Man. He did this both because of his unity of person as man and as God, and to follow the pedagogy chosen to lead the disciples gradually, as though taking them by the hand, to the mysterious heights and depths of his truth. As "Son of Man" he did not hesitate to ask, "Have faith in God and have faith in me" (Jn 14:1).
The development of the whole discourse in chapters 14-17 of John, and especially Jesus' replies to Thomas and Philip, prove that when he asked them to believe in him, it was not merely a question of faith in the Messiah as the anointed one sent by God. It concerned faith in the Son who is one in being with the Father. "Have faith in God and have faith in me" (Jn 14:1).
2. These words must be examined in the context of Jesus' conversation with the apostles at the Last Supper, recorded by John. Jesus told the apostles that he was going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house (cf. Jn 14:2-3). When Thomas asked the way to that house, to that new kingdom, Jesus replied that he is the way, the truth and life (cf. Jn 14:6). When Philip asked that the disciples be shown the Father, Jesus replied with absolute clarity, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves" (Jn 14:9-1).
It is not possible to escape the grip which this statement of Jesus has on human intelligence unless one begins from an a priori prejudice against the divine. To those who admit the Father and sincerely seek him, Jesus showed himself and said, "Behold, the Father is in me!"
3. If motives of credibility were needed, Jesus appealed to his works, to all that he did before the eyes of the disciples and the whole people. These were holy and frequently miraculous works which served as a confirmation of his truth. For this reason he is worthy of belief. Jesus said so not only in the circle of the apostles, but also before the entire people. We read that on the day following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the large crowd who had come for the paschal celebrations were discussing the figure of the Christ, and generally they did not believe in Jesus, "although he had performed so many signs in their presence" (Jn 12:37). At a certain point "Jesus cried out, 'Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me'" (Jn 12:44). It can therefore be said that Jesus Christ identified himself with God as the object of the faith asked of and proposed to his followers. He explained to them, "What I say, I say as the Father told me" (Jn 12:50). This is an obvious allusion to the eternal utterance whereby the Father generates the Word-Son in the trinitarian life.
This faith, linked to the works and words of Jesus, becomes a logical consequence for those who honestly listen to Jesus, observe his works and reflect on his words. But it is also the presupposition and indispensable condition which Jesus demands of those who wish to become his disciples or benefit from his divine power.
4. Significant in this regard is what Jesus said to the father of the epileptic youth, possessed from infancy by a mute spirit which raged in him in a frightening way. The poor father begged Jesus, "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus replied, "'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith." Then the boy's father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!" (Mk 9:22-23). Jesus performed the cure and freed the unfortunate youth. However, he desired from the boy's father an opening of his soul in faith. That is what has been given to Jesus in the course of the centuries by so many humble and afflicted creatures who, like the father of the epileptic youth, have turned to him to ask his help in temporal and especially in spiritual needs.
5. However, when people, whatever their social and cultural tradition, resisted through pride or incredulity, Jesus chastised this attitude of theirs by not admitting them to the benefits of his divine power. What we read of the people of Nazareth is significant and striking. Jesus had returned there after beginning his ministry and working his first miracles. They were not only amazed by his teaching and his works, but they were even "scandalized by him." In other words, they spoke of him and treated him with suspicion and hostility, as one who was unwelcome.
"But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his native place, and among his own kin and in his own house.' So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith" (Mk 6:4-6). Miracles are signs of Jesus' divine power. When there is an obstinate blindness in recognizing such power, a miracle loses its raison d'être. Moreover, when the disciples asked Jesus after the curing of the epileptic why they, who had received power from him, could not cast out the demon, he told them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Mt 17:19-20). The language is symbolic and exaggerated, but Jesus used it to inculcate in his followers the necessity and power of faith.
6. This is also so emphasized by Jesus after the miraculous cure of the man born blind. When Jesus met him he asked him, "'Do you believe in the Son of Man?' He answered and said, 'Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?' Jesus said to him, 'You have seen him and the one speaking to you is he.' He said, 'I do believe, Lord,' and he worshipped him" (Jn 9:35-38). It was the act of faith of a humble man, the image of all humble people who seek God (cf. Dt 29:3; Is 6:9 f.; Jer 5:21; Ez 12:2). He obtained the grace not only of physical sight but also of spiritual vision, because he recognized the Son of Man. He was not like the self-sufficient ones who trust only in their own lights and reject the light which comes from on high, and consequently condemn themselves to blindness before Christ and God (cf Jn 9, 39-41).
7. The decisive importance of faith appears even more clearly in the dialogue between Jesus and Martha before the tomb of Lazarus. "Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise.' Martha said to him, 'I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus told her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world'" (Jn 11:23-27). Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead as a sign of Jesus' own divine power not only to raise the dead, because he is the Lord of life, but also to conquer death—he who is the resurrection and the life, as he said to Martha.
8. Jesus' teaching on faith as a condition of his saving action is summed up and confirmed in his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus, a Jewish leader who was well disposed to him and ready to recognize him as a "teacher come from God" (cf. Jn 3:12). Jesus spoke to him at length about the new life and, eventually, about the new economy of salvation based on faith in the "Son of Man who must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him, might not perish but might have eternal life" (Jn 3:15-16). Therefore faith in Christ is a constitutive condition of salvation, of eternal life. It is faith in the only-begotten Son—one in being with the Father—in whom the Father's love is manifested. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:17). The judgment is implicit in the choice of accepting or rejecting faith in Christ. "Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (Jn 3:18).
When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus indicated in the paschal mystery the central point of the faith which saves: "The Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (Jn 3:14-15). This can also be called the critical point of faith in Christ. The cross was the definitive test of faith for Christ's apostles and disciples. In the presence of that lifting up one should have been overwhelmed, as partly happened. But the fact that he "rose on the third day" enabled them to emerge victoriously from the final test. Also Thomas, who was the last to overcome the paschal test of faith, burst out into that stupendous profession of faith during his meeting with the risen one, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20:28). As in the case of Peter at Caesarea Philippi (cf. Mt 16:16), so likewise Thomas in this paschal meeting burst out with the cry of faith which comes from the Father—Jesus crucified and risen is "Lord and God."
9. Immediately after recording this profession of faith and Jesus' response which proclaimed blessed those "who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn 20:29), John offers a first conclusion of his Gospel: "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:30-31).
Therefore all that Jesus did and taught, all that the apostles preached and bore witness to and that the evangelists wrote, all that the Church preserves and repeats of their teaching, should be at the service of faith, so that, by believing, one might attain salvation. Salvation—and therefore eternal life—is linked to Jesus Christ's messianic mission from which derives the whole "logic" and "economy" of the Christian faith. John himself proclaimed it from the prologue of his Gospel: "To those who did accept him, (the Word) gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name" (Jn 1:12)."
After the Catechesis, Pope John Paul II greeted the pilgrims in various languages
Ai fedeli di lingua francese
Je salue les membres de la Coordination Internationale de la Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne (CIJOC). Chers jeunes qui êtes à Rome pour votre Assemblée mondiale, je vous invite à être des chercheurs de Dieu pour devenir aussi ses témoins, à l’exemple du bienheureux Marcel Callo. Comme tous les jeunes, ce jociste avait une foule de projets auxquels il tenait, mais, voulant servir le Christ, il n’a pas hésité à donner sa vie pour lui. Vous aussi, approfondissez vos motivations, pour donner à votre Mouvement toute sa dimension éducative et évangélisatrice. Avec les jeunes travailleurs du monde, découvrez des voies nouvelles pour évangéliser votre milieu avec dynamisme, fidèles à votre fondateur, le Père Cardijn. De grand cœur, je vous bénis ainsi que tous les membres de la CIJOC et tous vos camarades du monde ouvrier.
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Je suis heureux d’accueillir aussi les pèlerins de l’Ordre du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem venant de toutes les régions de France, et je les félicite d’apporter leur aide aux chrétiens de Terre Sainte. Enfin, je salue cordialement les nombreux pèlerins de Suisse Romande, et je souhaite que leur séjour à Rome contribue à affermir leur foi et leur attachement à l’Eglise. Je leur donne bien volontiers, ainsi qu’à tous les pèlerins et visiteurs de langue française ici présents, ma Bénédiction Apostolique.
Ad alcuni gruppi di espressione inglese
I would like to extend a special word of welcome to the members of the Marian Year Pilgrimage from the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana. I also greet the group of Officers from the New York City Fire Department and their wives. And a warm welcome goes to the visitors from the Diocese of Allentown who have come to Rome for the Diaconate Ordination of three of their Seminarians.
* * *
I offer cordial greetings to the pilgrims from Thailand and to the visitors from Denmark. It is a pleasure, too, to welcome the Anglican visitors who have wished to take part in today’s audience.
I express fraternal greetings to the Redemptorist Brothers who have come from around the world to celebrate the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the death of Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Dear Brothers, as you visit the places dear to your great Founder, may you be renewed in love for our merciful Redeemer, and may you be filled with gratitude for your religious consecration.
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It is a Joy to welcome the group of Catholic lay leaders from the United States. The Synod of Bishops presently taking place is a clear sign of the Church’s desire to confirm the laity in their special vocation and mission. I hope that your stay in Rome will deepen your awareness of the Church’s esteem for you in your leadership roles. I pray, too, that you will always be inspired by the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And to all the English-speaking visitors I extend cordial greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ. May he bless you with his peace and joy.
Ai numerosi pellegrini di lingua tedesca
Beten wir füreinander, daß uns dieser Glaube unser ganzes Leben hindurch gelinge, an hellen wie an dunklen Tagen. Mit diesem Gebetswunsch grüße ich euch alle noch einmal von Herzen. Einem besonderen Gruß richte ich heute an die Gruppe der Niels-Stensen-Gemeinschaft und wünsche euch einen guten Erfolg bei den vielfältigen Vorbereitungen auf die nicht mehr ferne Seligsprechung eures großen Bischofs und Patrons. Ein froher Glückwunsch gilt dann der Pilgergruppe der Pfarrei Sankt Severus in Boppard zum siebenhundertfünfzigsten Bestehen dieser bekannten Ortsgemeinde am Rheinstrom. Lebt die besten Ideale dieser langen Vergangenheit mit neuer Frische in der gegenwärtigen Zeit, als Bürger und Christen von heute, zum Wohl für Stadt und Gemeinde. Euch und allen anwesenden Besuchern deutscher Sprache gelten mein Dank und meine Verbundenheit.
Ai fedeli giunti dalla Spagna e da diversi Paesi dell’America Latina
Deseo ahora presentar mi más cordial saludo a todas las personas, familias y grupos procedentes de los diversos Países de América Latina y de España. En particular, saludo a las peregrinaciones provenientes de la Diócesis de Matamoros (México) y de la parroquia de San Agustín Polanco, de Ciudad de México. A todos los peregrinos y visitantes de lengua española imparto con afecto la Bendición Apostólica.
A numerosi fedeli polacchi
Wszczególnósci pozdrawiam pielgrzymów z parafii Najświętszego Salwatora w Krakowie; z parafii-sanktuarium Świętego Krzyża w Mogile-Nowej Hucie z ojcem Opatem; pielgrzymów z Raby Wyżnej, archidiecezja krakowska; z parafii pallotyńskiej Matki Boskiej Fatimskiej z Zakopanego; z archidiecezji warszawskiej; z Katowic lekarzy i pielęgniarki z Górniczego Centrum Medycznego; z dekanatu pszczyńskiego, diecezja katowicka; również z diecezji katowickiej z parafii Wniebowzięcia Matki Boskiej w Wodzisławiu Śląskim; z archidiecezji wrocławskiej z dekanatu Milicz; prócz tego uczestników chóru “Wesoły tułacz” z Holandii, duszpasterstwo księży Chrystusowców, na sześćdziesięciolecie istnienia oraz z parafii polonijnej św. Wojciecha w Bostonie; wreszcie uczestników różnych grup turystycznych . . . Wszystkim obecnym tutaj w dniu, w którym Kościół w Polsce wspomina postać błogosławionego Jakuba Strzemię, pierwszego arcybiskupa lwowskiego, przekazuję moje pozdrowienie i błogosławieństwo; również dla wszystkich Rodaków żyjących w Ojczyźnie i na emigracji.
Ai Seminaristi e Sacerdoti del Pontificio Collegio Urbano “De Propaganda Fide”
Rivolgo ora un saluto particolare ai Seminaristi e ai Sacerdoti del Pontificio Collegio Urbano “De Propaganda Fide”, i quali partecipano a questa Udienza in occasione del 360° anniversario della fondazione del loro Istituto.
Carissimi, siate memori e degni continuatori delle tradizioni di studio, di fede e di zelo apostolico che hanno contraddistinto coloro che vi hanno preceduto nell’impegno di formazione sacerdotale. Saper meditare e assorbire gli insegnamenti che vi sono impartiti qui, al centro del Cristianesimo, è quanto di meglio potete fare per rendere più fruttuoso il vostro futuro ministero e per meglio penetrare nell’animo delle vostre rispettive popolazioni, alle quali siete chiamati ad offrire una genuina testimonianza di Cristo.
Benedico di cuore voi e i vostri familiari lontani.
Ai giovani
Carissimi giovani! A voi rivolgo ora il mio saluto particolare, con grande affetto e con viva gioia per la vostra presenza. Sono con voi stamane i giovani premiati con l’attestato di “Alfiere del Lavoro” e i partecipanti al Congresso del Coordinamento Internazionale della Gioventù Operaia Cristiana. Siate i benvenuti! Pochi giorni or sono ho avuto la gioia di proclamare “beato” il giovane Marcel Callo, che fu membro della JOC durante gli anni bui della guerra mondiale: egli seppe, mentre infuriava l’odio, testimoniare l’amore di Cristo fino al supremo sacrificio di se stesso. Il suo esempio sia per tutti voi di incitamento a vivere coerenza la vostra fede per irraggiare nel vostro ambiente il messaggio liberatore del Vangelo.
A tutti la mia Benedizione.
Agli ammalati
Cari ammalati, il mio pensiero si rivolge a voi con particolare affetto e cordialità e, mentre vi ringrazio per la vostra preziosa presenza, voglio sottolineare il grande valore della vostra sofferenza, unita alla Croce di Cristo, per la redenzione del mondo. Specialmente a voi che soffrite voglio ricordare l’accorata invocazione di Cristo al Padre: “Adveniat Regnum tuum!”. La vostra malattia, vissuta nella prospettiva della fede, sia una prolungata e fervorosa “Giornata Missionaria”, a sostegno dei sacerdoti e dei laici impegnati nel mondo nell’annunzio del Vangelo! E vi sia di conforto anche la mia Benedizione, che estendo di cuore a coloro che vi accompagnano e vi assistono.
Agli sposi novelli
Carissimi sposi novelli! Giunga anche a voi il mio speciale saluto, unito all’augurio più cordiale per la nuova vita, che avete iniziato col Sacramento del matrimonio! La grazia del Signore, che vi ha uniti in Lui per sempre, vi mantenga saldi nella fede e nell’amore, felici di poter donare a Dio nuovi figli e di potervi aiutare e comprendere nella gioia e nelle difficoltà. A tal fine, in questo mese di ottobre dedicato alla Madonna del Rosario, vi esorto di gran cuore alla recita di questa bella preghiera; siate convinti che non con i mezzi umani si vince il male e si compie il bene, ma con l’aiuto di dio, ottenuto mediante la preghiera. Che il Signore vi accompagni sempre con la sua grazia!
A voi e ai vostri cari la mia Benedizione.
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