owards the end of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, He traveled north with His disciples into non-Jewish territory. Near Caesarea Philippi (today called Banyas, close to the Lebanese border), the Gospel tells us, “He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’” because there were all sorts of ideas about who Jesus might be. The Gospel continues, “And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:13-16).

What is the Messiah?

We call Jesus the Christ. This word is based on the Greek translation of the Semitic term Messiah. In both languages it means the Anointed One. In Jewish tradition the Messiah was someone specially blessed or anointed by God to deliver God’s People from their enemies. Jesus would deliver His people, not from earthly enemies, but from the tyranny of sin and death.

How is Jesus the Son of God?

St Peter called Jesus “the Son of the living God.” For centuries the Church struggled to understand what this might mean. Without being able to understand the mystery of how God might beget a Son, the Church affirms that the Only-begotten is “Light from Light, true God from true God” (the Nicene Creed). At the Divine Liturgy the Church praises Him as the “Only-begotten Son and Word of God,” the Immortal One. He is true God (“begotten of the Father before all ages…”) and at the same time true man.

Why do we call Jesus the Word of God?

Elsewhere in the Gospels we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14).

The Gospel teaches that there was One who was with God from the beginning, who was Himself divine, and through Him all Creation came to be. The Gospel calls this Person the Word of God, because it is He who communicates God to us: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known” (John 1:18).

And so from its earliest days the Church has affirmed that the Son of God is only-begotten: the Gospels speak of the unseen God as Father and of His Word, who is His only-begotten Son. He is the only Son of the Father by nature. He is the Word who communicates God to us, from the beginning of creation.

What is the Incarnation?

Literally, the word means “taking flesh.” In the Creed we summarize the story of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 1:18-2:23; Luke 1:26-2:20), saying “…He came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.” According to the Gospels, then:

a)      Jesus was not conceived by a human father, but by the Spirit of God.

b)     His conception was not the beginning of His existence; rather He came from heaven, from His heavenly Father; and

c)      His mother, Mary, was and remained a virgin. 

Yet, He did not simply take a human form, He “became man.” Jesus is only one person, and that Person is both divine and human. In Him the eternal divine nature He receives from God was joined to the earthly human nature He received from His mother. He is no less human for being divine, but He expresses the divine life of the Trinity in His humanity. This is what we call the mystery of the Incarnation.

How do we show that Jesus is true God and true man?

Our Church has two traditions that affirm the Divinity and humanity of Jesus. The first is the sign of the cross. When we make this gesture we hold our thumb and first two fingers together to represent the Trinity. We hold the remaining two fingers together in the palm of our hand to represent Christ whose divinity was joined to our humanity in the womb of His virgin mother.

The second tradition is the icon. At one time in the history of the Church some Christians rejected the idea of icons. They said that you could not paint an icon of the Son of God, because you could not show His divine nature. After a long struggle, the Church affirmed you could paint an icon of the incarnate Son of God, because in His one person divinity and humanity were joined.

This is represented in icons by the colors of the clothing Jesus wears: usually a red inner garment covered by a blue outer garment. The red represents the divine nature of the Son of God while the blue represents the human nature He took on for us. The Virgin’s garments show the opposite: her blue inner garment represents her human nature while her red mantle points to the divinity of the Son she bore. Sometimes this color scheme is reversed, with blue representing the heavenly and the red of blood suggesting the earthly. 

How is Jesus’ Incarnation “for us men and for our salvation"
as we say in the Creed?

The Jews looked for the Messiah or Christ to save their nation from their enemies. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah or Savior, who delivers us all from our ultimate enemy, sin and death. Jesus was completely human, and “…who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Because He was sinless, sin and death could have no lasting hold on Him and He rose from the dead.

We also believe that by taking our human nature He has shared this victory over sin and death with us. This is what we celebrate on the Feast of the Resurrection when we sing over and over, “Christ is risen from the dead and by His death He has trampled upon Death and has given life to those who are in the tomb.”

This hymn is depicted in the icon of the resurrection. Christ is astride the open gates of the tombs (representing Death) arranged in the form of the cross (representing His death), trampling upon the power of Death. Clothed in brilliant white to signify His resurrection, Christ gives life to humanity, represented by Adam and Eve, whom He lifts out of the tombs.

St John Chrysostom said that, after Christ’s resurrection, we still die, but need not remain in death – and that is not to die. We do not remain in death when we are united to Christ in baptism and remain united to Him by following His way in our life. Then our death will be merely a pathway to the eternal life of union with God.

Will Jesus Come Again?

In the Creed we say, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” We believe this because the Bible frequently says that Jesus will return. When Jesus ascended into heaven the angels told His followers, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

Many sects have been founded by people who predicted when the world would end and Jesus would come again. Jesus Himself warned us, “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36); still people have claimed the ability to predict the end of the world. Others believe they have “cracked the code” enabling them to find the secrets of the end-time hidden in the Bible.   

We do know that, unlike His first coming in a human birth, Jesus will return by appearing in the heavens in power. The Lord Himself had said it will be sudden and unexpected: “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27). This is why our Byzantine churches are supposed to face the east, the direction from which the Lord will return. We await His coming but have no idea when the coming will take place.

Melkite Greek Catholic

Eparchy of Newton

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