What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ? Part Two

In tonight’s post, we will continue to examine what the Church teaches about Jesus Christ by continuing our look at what is said about him in the Creed:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

Last night, we discussed the first two lines in which were encompassed the name, “Jesus”, and the titles “Christ”, “Lord”, and “Son of God.”

Tonight, we will discuss the next section which deals with Christ’s position in the Blessed Trinity.

born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.

Trying to explain the Trinity is probably the most difficult thing to do in all of Catholic teaching.   It is a mystery that can never be fully grasped, but we can take some steps towards some degree of understanding.    Considering the topic of this series, Jesus, we will focus in this post on Jesus’ role in the Trinity.

There are some important points in this section of the Creed about Jesus as he is in the Trinity.

1)     Jesus came down from heaven from the Father, but he is still one and eternally of the same substance (consubstantial) as the Father.   Since he is of the same substance, he is God.

2)   Jesus reveals himself as the Son, and therefore, reveals God as Father.   He is the reason God is Father, and therefore, has a special understanding of him.  He says: All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)   Through the Sacraments, we can begin to share in that knowledge and love.

  

3)      Jesus is conceived (begotten) in the mind of the Father, but not as we are conceived.  For there are moments when we were not.   However, there never was a moment Jesus was not.   This is made clear in the prologue to John’s Gospel:"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.”   (John 1:1-2)

4)      Through Jesus, all things came into being.  We read further in the aforementioned Prologue to John’s Gospel:  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. (John 1:3)    The world came into being through the Word of God.  Jesus is tied intimately into the creation of the world, and our creation.

5)      Jesus, because it was through him that the world came to be, is the light of the world.  We read in the Prologue:  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:4-5).    We also hear directly from Our Lord further in John’s Gospel:  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “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)  Jesus sheds light on the reality of nature and man.

So I think here we can see draw some valuable lessons from these insights:

1)      Jesus was active long before he descended to Earth.   In the same way, he was active for us before we were born!

2)      Because Jesus was the vehicle through whom the world was created, he understands our lives and the world we live in better than anyone.  We can turn to him for answers.

3)      When we study, and seek understanding, ultimately we are seeking Jesus because he is the Wisdom of God.

4)      Jesus has an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of God because he is God, and therefore, if we seek to understand God, we can turn to Him reliably for insight.

5)      Because Jesus is God, and not just a representative of God, or someone close to him, he can be, for us, a perfect advocate, a perfect friend, and above all, a perfect Savior.

It is very good to be intrigued by the life of Jesus as he lived as a man on Earth, and we will look at that later in this series.  However, we must always keep in mind that Jesus has always had, has now, and will for all eternity have, “another life”, the life in the Blessed Trinity as the Second Person, the Son of God.   Let us always be mindful of that, and give Jesus not just the love, but the honor, praise, and worship he deserves, and that will help us get ready to spend eternity in the Blessed Trinity, in the inner life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Joseph, light of patriarchs, pray for us.