102. It is believed that the Lord as to His Human not only was, but also is, the Son of Mary; but in this the Christian world is mistaken. That He was the Son of Mary is true, but that He still is, is not true; for by the acts of redemption He put off the Human derived from the mother and put on the Human from the Father. Consequently the Human of the Lord is Divine, and in Him God is Man, and Man God. That He put off the Human from the mother, and put on the Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human, is evident from the fact that He never called Mary His mother. This may be seen from the following passages:

"The mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come" John 2:3-4;

and elsewhere;

"When Jesus saw" from the cross "His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother!" John 19:26-27; and once He did not acknowledge her.

It was told Jesus "by certain, which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. And He answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Word of God, and do it" Luke 8:20-21; Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35.

Thus the Lord did not call her "mother," but "woman," and entrusted her to John as a mother; in other places she is called His mother, but not by Himself.

[2] This is also proved by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the Son of David: for we read in the Evangelists:

that Jesus asked the Pharisees, "saying, What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son? And no man was able to answer Him a word" Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Psalms 110:1.

[3] ¹ To the above I will add this account of an incident not hitherto recorded: ²

It was once granted me to speak with Mary, the mother. She was then passing by, and appeared in heaven over my head, clothed in white raiment like silk. Pausing for a little she said that she had been the mother of the Lord, for He was born of her; but that He, having become God, put off all the Human He had from her; and therefore that she now worships Him as her God, and is unwilling that any one should acknowledge Him as her Son, because the whole Divinity is in Him.

From what has been said this truth is now clear that Jehovah is Man in first things and in last, as the following passages declare:

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,... which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" Revelation 1:8, 11.

When John saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven candle-sticks, he fell at His feet as dead; and He laid His right hand upon him, saying, "I am the first and the last" Revelation 1:13, 17; 21:6;

"Behold, I come quickly, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" Revelation 22:12-13.

Again in Isaiah it is written:

"Thus saith JEHOVAH the King of Israel, and His Redeemer JEHOVAH ZEBAOTH; I am the first, and I am the last" Isaiah 44:6; 48:12.

Фусноте:

6044. 'And the men are shepherds of the flock' means that they lead to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'shepherds of the flock' as those who lead to good, dealt with in 343, 3795, 5201; for a shepherd or pastor is one who teaches and leads, and the flock one who is taught or led; but in the internal sense truths that lead to good are meant since the sons of Israel, to whom 'the men are shepherds of the flock' refers here, represent spiritual truths, 6040, and also since truths present with those who teach are what do the leading. It has been shown previously that truths, which are the essence of faith, lead to good, which is the essence of charity. This is also evident from the consideration that every single thing is related to an end and has that end in view, and that things which do not have an end in view cannot remain in being. For the Lord has never created anything for any other reason than its end in view. So true is this that one may speak of the end as the all in all created things. And created things exist within this state of order: Even as the end looks from Him who is the First through means to what is last, so the end within what is last looks to the end in Him who is the First. This is the way things link together. By virtue of its very own origin the end itself is nothing else than the Divine Good of Divine Love, thus the Lord Himself, which also is why in the Word He is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Revelation 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13.

[2] This being so, every single aspect of the life a person has looks to an end and has that end in view. Anyone who is at all rational can see that the factual knowledge a person has looks to truths as its end in view, and that truths look to forms of good as their end in view, and that forms of good look to the Lord as their last and first ends in view, their last when motivated by truths, their first when motivated by good. This is how it is with the truths the Church possesses, in that they lead to good, meant by 'the men are shepherds of the flock' and by 'they are keepers of livestock', as in what follows below.