Does Jesus have 'defects'? This question was raised by Rev Fr John Koovakunnel, a voracious reader, speaker and theologian. Some of us may even think that it’s sacrilegious and blasphemous to even think of any 'defects' of Jesus. He is the Son of God. Rev Fr John says our Lord Jesus has five 'defects'. But wait. He hastened to add: “because of these defects we are saved.”
Quoting from the book ‘Testimony of Hope’ by Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Rev Fr John repeats, “Jesus has five defects.” Let’s see these defects one after another.
The first defect is that Jesus has a terrible memory, Rev Fr John said in his sermon during the feast celebrations at Little Flower Church, Nerul.
“When we go to Jesus and seeks forgiveness and redemption, Jesus forgets our sins. He is a forgiving Lord. He forgets our sins. This is what happened on Calvary as well. When the thief on the right side of Jesus asked for forgiveness of his sins, Jesus, ‘today you will be in heaven with me’. He won't keep our sins and sinful nature in His mind once we surrender ourselves to Him,” Rev Fr John says.
The second defect is that Jesus doesn’t know maths. His maths is equally bad a la His memory. Leaving 99 sheep, Jesus goes around searching for one missing sheep. “Is one sheep more important than 99 remaining sheep? For Him, that one sheep is important. It’s much moré than or equal to 99 sheep, he says.
The parable of the ‘prodigal son’ also teaches us this fact. When the son returns to the father, he forgets everything, embraced his son and gave him a grand welcome.
What’s the third defect? Jesus doesn’t have any logic. We human beings look at things logically. Please read the parable of missing coin in Luke 15:8-10. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
There’s a feast when a missing coin is found. The woman might have spent more than 10 silver coins to arrange the feast. For human mortals, there’s no logic in this story.
The fourth defect is risk taking. “During the time of elections, politicians make various promises that we will do this and that. Mostly these promises turn out to be just hollow ones. But Jesus promises one thing, if you follow me, you will face persecution and sufferings. In fact, all our saints took this risk and followed Jesus. This risk is worth taking,” said Rev Fr John.
By taking this risk, we get sanctification. What more you want.
The fifth and last defect of Jesus is: Jesus doesn’t know economics. He doesn’t follow the principles of economics -- no Keynesian or trickle-down theories. Please read Mathew 20:1-16. “The owner of a vineyard went to the marketplace at the first hour of the morning to find workers for the day. His offered wage of one denarius, a Roman’s soldier’s pay for a day, was generous indeed. The workers in the first group were more than happy to work for the generous wage.
As the day progressed and more workers were hired, the specific wage was not mentioned, but the landowner promised to pay “whatever is right.” Four groups of workers were hired, the last group just one hour before the end of the day. When the time came for the wages to be paid, the first group of workers saw the last group being paid a denarius and were naturally thinking they would be paid more since they had worked the longest. Their anger against the landowner spilled forth when they saw they would all be paid the same, even though they got exactly what they had agreed upon when they were hired.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is also like vineyard owner. The reward will be the same whether you were saved much early in the life or just minutes before the death. The good thief on Calvary is also a good example of this.
I find the five 'defects' of Jesus very interesting, illuminating and enlightening. Thanks to Rev Fr John and Cardinal Francis Van Thuan.
Who is Cardinal Francis Van Thuan?
Arrested only a few months after his appointment, Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for 13 years and then released to house arrest. In 1991, Van Thuan was expelled from Vietnam. He went to Rome and began his work in the Roman Curia as Vice President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Since 1998, Archbishop Van Thuan served as the Council's President. In 2001, Van Thuan was named a Cardinal.
Every year, John Paul 2 used to select a preacher for a course of spiritual exercises for himself and the Vatican's Roman Curia. For the Jubilee 2000, he chose Archbishop Van Thuan. Testimony of Hope is the complete text of those Spiritual Exercises. In his book, Cardinal Van Thuan addresses our need for hope at the beginning of the 21st century. He faced what he described as the agonizing pain of isolation and abandonment. The hope he discovered in imprisonment is also our hope for the Church and the world at this momentous point in history.
