Jesus the Son of God

Little Sarah was afraid to be alone in her bedroom. Her mother tried to comfort her by saying, “Remember, God is with you.” Sarah responded, “Yes, but I want someone with skin.” God has done a remarkable thing. This pure Spirit, has taken on skin—a human body like ours—so that we might come to know God better.

Out of love for us, God the Father sent the Son to become a human being. God the Son taking on flesh (a human body and soul) is called the Incarnation. When Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, became a human being, he continued being fully God. He was also fully human. Jesus is one person with two natures: a human nature and a divine nature. These two natures are united in a way we will never understand.

Jesus is a perfect or sinless human being. He is our model, someone who shows us how to live. Because Jesus is also God, looking at him we see what God is like: loving, compassionate, and forgiving. Jesus makes God known to us.

The Gospels record two events in which Jesus is revealed as God's Son. At his baptism, the heavens opened and a voice was heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Again at Jesus' transfiguration a voice said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7). Jesus referred to God as his Father. In fact, in the agony in the garden, he called God “Abba,” an Aramaic word that is like our word “Daddy.” It implies an intimate relationship.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus was killed for claiming to be the Son of God. His accusers told Pilate that by their law Jesus should die because he made himself the Son of God. The Israelites' strong belief in the one God made it difficult for them to accept a “Son of God.”

In the Old Testament, angels are called sons of God, and Israel is called the son of God. This meant that they were close to God. In the Beatitudes, peacemakers are called the sons of God. Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, Christians came to believe that Jesus was not an ordinary son of God but really the Son of God. Jesus acted like God. He spoke with authority, he was master of the Sabbath, he adapted rules God had given in the Old Testament times, he worked miracles, and he forgave sins.

By becoming one of us and saving us, Jesus has raised us to divine sonship. Sharing the divine life Jesus offers, we, too, call God Father.

Jesus in his humanity is with the Father in glory now. We say he is “seated at the Father's right hand,” a place of honor. Adam was the first man on earth. Jesus is the new Adam, the first man in heaven.

† Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner! †