At Easter, Here Is What To Know About Jesus

Jesus’ behavior in the Gospels provides a living demonstration of the dynamics involved in balanced human behavior. Even approaching his crucifixion, the fully human and fully divine Jesus expresses himself on each compass point of the Self Compass, without getting stranded on any of them. 

Jesus' Last Supper

LOVE

As Jesus nears his passion week, his expression of the Love compass point intensifies. “Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love” (Jn 13:1). John, the beloved disciple, devotes five chapters of his Gospel to record all the words Jesus uttered at the Last Supper (Jn 13-17). This profoundly intimate conversation is shared with the disciples, but extends beyond them to all who call upon the name of Christ. 

From these words, all of us can learn that: 

1. Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet shows what love looks like in action.
2. Anyone who truly loves Jesus will carry out his teachings, opening their interior lives to receive the Father’s love for them.
3. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will make their home within those who love Jesus and follow his commandments, bringing an inner peace the world cannot take away.
4. His command is this: “Love each other as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12).
5. Jesus is the vine and his followers are the branches who bear the fruit of faithful love as they abide in Christ.
6. Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of humanity, “that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (Jn 17:26).

For good reason Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, a name that reflects the Love compass point. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). From the cross he forgives even those who crucify him, flinging open the door to salvation for anyone who walks through it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Christ's Self Compass

ASSERTION

Understanding Christ requires not only perceiving the depth of his love, but also respecting the power of his assertion. Christ expresses the Assertion compass point when he disperses the Galilean crowd who are so impressed by his feeding of the five thousand they try to declare him king, rebukes the disciples who want to call down fire upon a Samaritan village for rejecting Jesus, and challenges the Sanhedrin during his trumped-up trial.

In other words, Jesus has no trouble saying what he thinks, acting in congruence with his identity, and standing up for the Son of God’s evaluation of people’s true motives. In this spirit, the book of Revelation describes Christ as the Lion of Judah, a name that provides an operational description of his Assertion compass point.

WEAKNESS

From the Weakness compass point, approaching his passion week, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, for the people neither honor his teaching nor recognize the presence of the Messiah in their midst.

If there is any doubt as to Jesus’ humanity, or his willingness to suffer, he falls to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death” (Mk 14:34). Once he passes through this turmoil and self-doubt, Jesus surrenders to the Father’s will that requires his humiliation and crucifixion. 

On the cross in the hour of his fully human death, he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46), perhaps aligning himself with every human being who has ever felt broken and forsaken. Christ’s name from the Weakness compass point is the Lamb of God.

STRENGTH

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah employs these strength-oriented titles to describe Jesus Christ, the Messiah: Prince of Peace, Mighty Counselor, Savior, and Lord of Lords. 

Jesus himself declares in strength: 

• “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). 
• “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9). 
• “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25). 
• “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

When his last Passover arrives, though Jesus knows that heading to Jerusalem means he will die as a criminal, he sets his face like flint, determined to carry out the Father’s will. 

And what is the Father's will? That his Son, Jesus Christ, this God-person, who died for our sins, is resurrected  by the power of the Holy Spirit to sit at the right hand of God the Father. 

Resurrected Jesus

In Christ Jesus, then, lies the Trinity Easter gift to humanity; a gift waiting at the door of every individual’s heart: the gift of a whole personality, intimately connected to God. The gift of interpersonal selfhood through Jesus Christ the Lord.