The person of
Jesus is the critical point for Christians of being Christian. Therefore, as a
Christian I believe that Jesus Christ is the perfect example of being human. He
is the core of my identity, of my self actualization because he is the perfect
image of God. I will use the six steps of the act of will, which is introduced
by Roberto Assagioli as a way of understanding "Jesus' being will".
"Father,
if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be
done" (Luke 22:42)
There are four
stages of willing according to Roberto Assagioli, these are, 1) "having no
will", 2) "will exists", 3) "having a will", and 4)
"being will". He sees that the fourth one is the final stage of the
will's evolution in human beings' life-experience because in this stage the
person is reaching alignment with the trans-person of self and the deepest,
most spiritual aspects of will.[1]
The
life-ministry-experience of Jesus throws light to understand Assagioli's
statement above. Jesus reached his purpose on the Cross -"It is finished"- when he accomplished
his works under the will of God. Jesus did not see himself as
"will-less" but as "he is will" because Jesus was aware of
his identity: human and divine nature and of his relationship with Father. In
many of his massage and the manner of life, Jesus always addressed God as
Father. Some examples of this are when Jesus prayed to the Father, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son,
that your Son may glorify you" (John 17:1) and when Jesus responded to
Philip's statement, "Don't you
believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?" (John
14:10). Furthermore, Jesus was full of authority claiming the name of Yahweh
"I am who I am" (see Ex.
3:14) to be his own name "I am He"
(see John 18: 4-8). The action of Jesus also identified this authority; for
example, when Jesus forgave the sinner -only God can forgive sinners- in Mk.
2:5-7.
These
life-ministries-experiences of Jesus show that the act of Jesus' will is in
accordance to the Father' will. Jesus seemed very free in making the choice;
there is no hesitate in him but only joyous. This aspect, that is, the joy and
satisfaction is seen by Assagioli as the essential aspect of the act of will.
He says, "…the realisation of … being a self… gives a sense of freedom, of
power, of mastery, which is profoundly joyous". However, the joyous
experience of Jesus can be called "blissful" in Assagioli's word
because here Jesus had the bliss of the identification with the Universal Will
(God). [2]
As I have
mentioned above that although Jesus was aware of his close relationship with God
and aware of his authority in God, the Father, He still put his
life-ministry-experience under the will of God. However, how Jesus came to this
awareness, which brought him to do the Will of God is still a question.
Theologically, we can answer it that because of the "Communicatio
Idiomatum" in Jesus as human and divine beings and that he and the Father
are one. However, psycho synthetically, we can only see the awareness of Jesus
in doing the Will of God in a inter-linked process, that is, the process of
doing the Will of God. Hence, the six steps of the act of will offered by
Robert Assagioli will help us to discover the act of Jesus' being will.
First Step: Investigation. Here, according
to Assagioli, one has to find out what it is he/she wish to do. This is about
investigating the purpose of one's life. Jesus, in his
life-ministry-experience, was led to investigate his mission. This
investigation led him to be tempted. For example Satan tempted Jesus and
offered him the material fulfillment but Jesus was able to avoid them (Matt.
4:1-11). When he spoke of his death, Peter rebuked him but Jesus said,
"you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men"
(Mk. 8:31-33). On the other occasion when Jesus knew that people intended to
make him king by force he withdrew into the hill (John 6:14-15). This action
saw the ways which Jesus was led to see his mission clearly. He found that the
central of his life is the preaching about the Kingdom of God, which brings
liberation to all people.
Second Step: Deliberation. Jesus'
life-ministry-experience was full of action and reaction. Jesus thought,
preached the good news of the Kingdom, healed the sick, and did the miraculous
works. These brought up some reactions from the people: like and dislike him.
In his awareness of his special relationship with the Father, Jesus took a time
for himself going out to a solitary place and when people tried to keep him
from leaving them, he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of
God to the other town also because that is why I was sent" (Luke 4:42-43).
Jesus seemed to have a time to pray, searching for the Father's Will -the
moment of transfiguration in Matt. 17:1-8 and the his prayer on the Mount of
Olives in Luke 22:39-45 are two best example-which show how Jesus had examined
his mission.
Third Step: Decision. After Jesus knew what the
Father's Will for him was. Jesus then freely chose to do this will. He
consciously decided to do the Will of God, the Father. The highest point of his
life is when he chose to go to Jerusalem for his death, although we cannot
separate this decision with his life-ministry-experience before that. His words
and deeds brought him into direct conflict with the official leaders of
Judaism. However, there is no doubt that the journey up to Jerusalem by Jesus
was a very significant, deliberate, and conscious decision.[3]
Fourth Step: Affirmation. Here, Jesus
constantly stayed connected to his decision by always affirming himself that
what he had done is what the Father's Will was all about: "it is the
Father, living in me, who is doing his work … I am in the Father and the Father
is in me" (John. 14:10-11). Jesus was aware of his oneness with the
Father. This confidence was built by the public witness by God when Jesus was
baptised in the River Jordan: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased" (see Matt. 3:13-17), and when Jesus was in the Mount Tabor:
"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I well pleased. Listen to him"
(Matt. 17:5).
Fifth Step: Plan. Did Jesus has a plan in his
life? Looking at his purpose of life we can see that the concrete plan was
really set up by Jesus, that is the Father' plan in him. Therefore, in the
beginning of his ministry in Cana when his mother asked him to do something he
said, "Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come"
(John 2:4). However, when he knew that his time for his glorification had come
he said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (see
John 12:23). This plan was actualized in the action of Jesus.
Sixth Step: Action. The action of Jesus: his
calling to the disciples, his attitudes towards people and the authority, his
teaching of the Kingdom of God, his miracles-healing, and his suffering and
death showed how he had a well planned. However, these actions were so concrete
that Jesus was faced with many reaction. There was no neutral position: love
him or hate him; receive him or not receive him (see John 1:11-12). The action
of Jesus was the way where Jesus did the Will of God. Yet the completion of the
works of Jesus is the Cross and all the works of Jesus are related to it. These
action of Jesus reveal the action of the Father.[4]
These six steps of the act of will are interconnected in
the life-ministry-experience of Jesus because every choice and decision Jesus
made involve them to a greater or lesser degree. However, the act of Jesus
will was his way where he was searching to do the Will of God, the Father.
I come to a
conclusion that what Jesus had done in his time has its relevance for me as a
follower of him, a Christian. The process of Jesus' being will is the way where
Jesus tried to do the will of the Father. Father's Will as the Universal Will
was very central in Jesus' life-ministry-experience. The centrality of the
Father's will become his project. However, we can say that the Father's will
and Jesus' will are one because of its nature that the Father and Son are one.
Looking at Jesus'
life-ministry-experience in the light of my faith, I see that Jesus is actually
the realization of the Universal Will. There is no doubt about it. Jesus is the
Christ who was, is and will be present in my life-ministry-experience. Hence,
there are two way of approaching Jesus as the Ultimate Reality as suggested by
Assagioli, the first is the intuitional approach and the second one is
perception of analogies;[5]
the first is using the deductive method and the second inductive one.
Therefore, I can only encounter Jesus as the Ultimate Reality, the Universal
Will by living in harmony within myself (the micro-cosmos of my being) and by
living in equilibrium with outside me (the macro-cosmos of my being).
However, living in
the very challenging world today where everybody seems so busy and so in rush, I
therefore, must stand up by knowing myself as "I am will" and knowing
the Universal Will because it will lead me to live rightly in this world. I
hope.
[1] Robert Assagioli, The Act of
Will: Self Actualisation Through Psychosynthesis (London: The Aquarian
Press) 1994, 59-60.
[2] Ibid., 201.
[3] Dermot A. Lane, The Reality
of Jesus (Dublin and London: Veritas Publications and Sheed & Ward)
1975, 40-41.
[4] Xavier Leon-Dufour (ed), Dictionary
of Biblical Theology (London: Geoffrey Chapman) 1967, 594.
[5] See Assagioli, The Act of
Will…, 124-125.
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