Jesus, Son of God November 16, 17, 19

Welcome Thank you for your presence Journey together Looking forward to a deeper look at our Creed

Question How do you follow Jesus?

Overview of evening Prayer Age specific breakout Grade 10 - Adults Fr Tom Grades 6-9 Dennis Grades 1-5 Libby 3-5 years old Maureen Closing prayer around font

Focus GOF focus for the year The Creed (“I believe”) Use Bible & Catechism as main sources Numerous sources from Fr. Bob to Luke Timothy Johnson

Creed Longest part devoted to the Son of God Two sections First describes his relationship with God the Father, maker of heaven and earth the second deals with his involvement with humanity, from his incarnation to his second coming

Distinction not division It is the One Lord Jesus Chris who is proclaimed in the Creed To focus on his “divinity” and then on his “humanity” should not lead us to separate them The Creed asserts simultaneously: he is once fully human and divine

Creed This first part of the Creed characterizes Jesus’ relationship to God in order to safeguard the belief that Jesus Christ is our savior Jesus was the way in which God became human and through that humanity made it possible for all humans to share in the divine life

Creed Developed through theological debates Greatest disputes are about identity of Jesus – specifically how he was related to God – in third and fourth centuries Present Creed language defines even more closely the core truths challenged by heretics

CREED We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

A mystery is something we can’t say enough about Thought A mystery is something we can’t say enough about

One Lord, Jesus Christ CCC 430 Jesus means in Hebrew: “God saves” At Annunciation Gabriel gave Jesus his proper name In Jesus, God “will save his people from their sins”

One Lord, Jesus Christ CCC 436 The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah which means “anointed” Anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also a prophet

One Lord, Jesus Christ Gal 4:4-5 Mark 1:1 God has visited his people Fulfilled the promise made to Abraham and his descendants He has sent his own “beloved Son” CCC 422 We acknowledge his authority over our own hearts

One Lord, Jesus Christ To say Jesus is Lord because of his resurrection meant that he had entered into the life of God and therefore shared in the power and authority of the Lord God, creator of heaven and earth

Only Son of God Acts 9:20 Gal 1:15-16 Jesus’ Baptism (Mt. 3:17) and Transfiguration (Mt. 17:5) CCC 455 – The title “Lord” indicates divine sovereignty. To invoke Jesus as Lord is to believe in his divinity (1 Cor. 12:3)

Begotten Assert truth: that Christ came from and returned to God in a way that no other human being has or will or could, because when he came from God he remained what he had been and when he returned to God he returned to his own place In response to Arianism (reduce Jesus to a creature)

Begotten not made CCC 460 - The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”. For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God

Begotten not made CCC 460….. – For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods

Begotten Not talking about birth of Jesus as a human but part of God’s life This begetting is not a making by God but a sharing by the Father out of himself (begotten, not made) Johns gospel (1:1-18) speaks of the Word becoming flesh Helps us to think in spiritual not physical terms

One in Being Trinity CCC 262 – The Incarnation of God’s Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father, the Son is one and the same God

All things were made Creation Genesis God, Maker of heaven and earth seen and unseen If Jesus is “maker” he is not made (Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:15-16, Hebrews prologue)

The Incarnation CCC 461 John 1:14 The Word became flesh The Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it Phil. 2:5-8

The Incarnation CCC 483 – The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word

Incarnation Incarnation is not an after-thought, not a rescue operation Implicit from the beginning Gen. 1:26 from the beginning God created them Male and female… Image of Christ, in which the new creation, we are being formed

For our salvation The heart of the Creed Confess that Jesus is Son of God Reveals God’s love for us A passionate God Salvation - 2 Peter 1:3-4 Salvation not a rescue or restoration but an elevation (Rom 5:12-21)

Heaven “For our salvation he came down from heaven……” CCC 326 – heaven can designate both the firmament and God’s own “place” – “our Father in heaven” and consequently the “heaven” too which is eschatological glory This says two things Jesus is divine in origin and is truly among us

Holy Spirit CCC 485 – The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of Life”, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own

Born of Virgin Mary CCC 484 – Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the “whole fullness of deity” would dwell “bodily” (Col. 2:9) CCC 487 – What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ

Immaculate Conception CCC 490 – To become the mother of the Savior, Mary was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. CCC 491 – proclaimed in 1854 CCC 511 – She uttered her “yes” in the name of all human nature

Conclusion The Creed helps us speak about our experiences of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit God entered our world Fully human and divine Change our hearts and help us to see ourselves, others and this world differently