This morning I had cataract surgery and have been unable to drive. Recently I have been getting a number of calls from friends who do not have cars for rides. None today.
Late the other night, in the very cold, I was giving the adult son of friends, who had been stranded, a ride home. This young man is very intelligent and creative and we got into a discussion about if Jesus Is God. I said it was the deciding factor for being a Christian but he did not think so.
The next day I started thinking about how in my many years as a Catholic and Christian I had learned that Jesus is God. We can call Jesus, Son of God, Christ, Heir of God, Messiah or Savior but no matter what we say from the moment of the Resurrecting the followers of the Way of Jesus realized he was God and a human being, the word made flesh. The mystery of the Incarnation, God become human, is at the heart of my faith.
I have been thinking of various arguments to use with my young friend when tonight and elderly friend send me a drawing of Mary holding the baby Jesus with the words on the side saying: “And Woman said This is My Body, This is My Blood.” These are the words a priest says at liturgy when he consecrates the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Yes Jesus is fully God and is fully human.
In Orthodox churches behind the altar there is an icon of “Theotokos”, Greek word for “Mother of God”. If we believe as Christian Jesus is God then Mary is the Mother of God. The thought of God becoming a human being, being born to a woman, is a simple but mysterious belief and explains why some Christian faiths hold Mary in such high esteem.
In the Gospel Mary is an ordinary young woman when the angel appears to her to tell her she will be the Mother of God. She does not understand who this could happen but she says “let it be”, the will of God be done.
Back to the beginning. There is no way to prove Jesus is God and Human except by an act of faith, saying like Mother Mary, “let it be.”
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