Belief in Jesus

For Christians, Jesus is the redeemer

In the ancient world the word redeem referred to buying the freedom of a slave. So, for Christians,
Jesus is called the Redeemer because he came to free people from the slavery of sin [Catechism
601]. The way he did so was by:

conquering the power of human sinfulness
sharing with all the nature and power of God.

To understand better what this means, we need to consider four basic Christian beliefs. These are
that:

in the Jesus of Nazareth, the nature of God and human nature became one
Jesus conquered the power of sinfulness over human nature
Jesus shares with believers the very nature of God
Jesus transforms human nature today.

The Church recognises Mary as Mother of Jesus the Redeemer
In Lukes Gospel, the early tradition of Marys role as mother of Jesus, is told in the story of the
Annunciation.

Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must call him Jesus.
[Luke1: 31-32]

Luke then goes on to say how this will happen and that it will be through the Holy Spirit that this
conception will take place and this child will be called the Son of God [Luke 1 35-36].

From the earliest times in the history of the Church, Mary has been recognised by the Christian
community as Jesus mother and has been specially venerated. This came to fruition at the Council of
Ephesus in 431AD when Mary was given the title of Theotokos, Mother of God.

Mary has been identified as the perfect role model for all followers of Jesus. She is, and always has
been, another human being and with the help of Gods grace, she was able to demonstrate the
perfect response to the Fathers will. She was with Jesus till the moment of his death and at different
times in her life we are told by Luke:

As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart [Luke 2: 19].

Like all of us she did not understand immediately Gods plan in the whole Jesus story, but by
surrendering herself completely to God, and through her prayer and meditation, she was able to
accept in faith what her son was doing and what was happening to him.

Marys Immaculate Conception
Mary was specially prepared for this by the Holy Spirit and from the moment of conception in her
mothers womb she was preserved from original sin. This is what is meant by her Immaculate
Conception. Mary still had free will and could have rejected this special gift. The fact that she did not
is where she shows us how to respond to Gods grace.

Marys Assumption
The final seal of recognition for Mary in her role as the mother of Jesus is in her assumption into
heaven.

The Immaculate Virgin, preserved from all stain of original sin, when the course of her
earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the
Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the
Lord of Lords and conqueror of sin and death [Catechism 966].

This is part of the text used by Pope Pius XII when he declared infallibly on 1 November 1950 that
Marys Assumption is an official dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church.

In Jesus the nature of God and human nature became one
Jesus is the Son of God. At his conception, he accepted fully the human condition. At that moment, in
him, the divine and the human became one. While remaining Son of God, Jesus accepted human
understanding, feelings and limitations. As the early Christians sang in a hymn inspired by the Holy
Spirit, and which came to be recorded in the Scriptures less than thirty years after the Ascension of
Jesus (56-57 AD) [Philippians 2:5-8]:

Make your own the mind of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped.
But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and
being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death
on a cross.

Jesus of Nazareth lived the human condition in every respect except that he did not sin [Hebrews
4:15]. He knew confusion, feelings, grief, temptations, tiredness, disappointment and everything else
that all people experience. As the Catechism explains [475]:

Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human. They are not
opposed to each other, but cooperate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly
in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit
for our salvation. Christs human will does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his
divine and almighty will.

The fact that Jesus never sinned does not make him less human, for God created human nature
originally to reflect its Creator, who is goodness itself. Sin is the result of people choosing not to
behave in ways that reflect God. Sin is not consistent with human nature as its Creator planned it.

Like the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, Jesus performed miracles that showed God working
through him. He raised the dead, multiplied food, healed and performed other miracles but he was as
human as they.

Jesus was not the Son of God who simply acted out the human condition, using a human body like a
costume. Rather, he became truly man while remaining truly God [Catechism 469]:

(Jesus) is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God...became a man and our
brother.

The great event through which Jesus conquered sinfulness was his death and resurrection. At his
death, in order to remain faithful to God the Father, Jesus overcame the greatest of all the human
instincts that of self-preservation. At that moment, his humanity was free of all human limitations,
including death. In the one Jesus, the divine and the human were revealed fully.

There were many resurrection appearances by Jesus. Some are recorded in the New Testament. The
earliest of these is in St Pauls letter to the Corinthians [1Corinthians 15:5-7]:

(Christ) appeared to Cephas (Peter); and later to the Twelve; and next he appeared to more
than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though
some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all
he appeared to me too, as though I was a child born abnormally.

The Twelve
The Twelve in the above text refers to the twelve Apostles; the apostles refer to other men and
women, who saw the Risen Christ and were charged to preach his message through the societies of
the time. As the latter apostles died, the term apart from being used for the Twelve was dropped.

Later, the inspired writers of the Gospels recorded other resurrection stories handed down from those
who saw the Risen Jesus. These show both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus. For example:

he could appear among his disciples even though doors were locked [John 20:19, 26]
he ate [Luke 24:42-43] and could be touched [John 20:27ff].

Jesus conquered the power of sinfulness
In the biblical story of the Fall of Adam and Eve, God reveals that the Devil was the cause and the
source of human sinfulness, figuratively portrayed as a serpent [Genesis 3:1]. The first step Jesus
took to destroy the power of human sinfulness, therefore, was to conquer the Devil.

Examples of Jesus conquering the Devil include:

his resistance to temptations from the Devil [e.g. Matthew 4:1-11]
his exorcising of demons from those possessed [Mark 1:23-28; 5:1-20 etc.]
his remaining faithful to his Father in the Agony in the Garden, the greatest personal struggle of
Jesus against the Devil [Luke 22:41-44]. This has to be read in the light of the Devil setting in train
the course of events that led to the death of Jesus [John 13:27- Satan entered (Judas)].

If human sinfulness is the result of the Devils influence over human nature, in conquering the power
of the Devil, Jesus conquered also the power of human sinfulness.

Jesus obeyed the Father
Jesus obeyed God the Father by teaching everyone he could about Gods love and the freedom God
offers. To carry out this task, he had to teach in Jerusalem, the capital of the people of Israel.

Jesus knew of the resentment and the plotting by the Jewish authorities. They could not see the truth
of his message, and worried about issues of power and possible reactions by the Romans who ruled
the country. These authorities had decided that one man should die for the people rather than that
the whole nation should perish [John 11:50].

Jesus was tempted not to continue his mission when Peter, horrified at hearing Jesus was destined to
go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously and to be put to death, tried to persuade him not to go. Jesus
reacted strongly, saying [Matthew 16:23]:

Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God
thinks but as human beings do.

Jesus redeems people from the power of Original Sin
In the Biblical Stories of Creation, Adam and Eve are portrayed as truly free. They could think, speak
and behave as human beings created in Gods image and likeness.

However, in creating the will as part of human nature, God did not force Adam and Eve to live as
God wanted. They could and did choose not to.

As a result, as it is portrayed in the Story of the Fall, they disobeyed God and the powerfully negative
influences of what is now referred to as Original Sin entered human history. This would make it
impossible for people to think, speak and behave completely as God intended originally. Throughout
human history, there are many examples of horrendous and cruel evils committed by people who
have allowed the influence of Original Sin to dominate their lives.

Jesus, on the other hand, was free of the influence of Original Sin, for he was divine as well as
human. This meant that he was truly free, for he could live as originally God intended people to live.

Jesus shares with believers the very nature of God
Jesus modelled in his actions and words the ideals and values people need to live if they are to reflect
God. For people to live like him, Jesus knew that they would need the divine nature to be within
them. So, Jesus promised that God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, would make a home in
all who would believe in Jesus [John 14:23; 14:16-18]:

Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we shall come to
him and make a home in him.

I shall ask the Father and he will give you the Spirit of truth you know him because he is
with you, he is in you.

Jesus has fulfilled this promise in all who have accepted Baptism. God dwells within them, the divine
becoming present in the human.

The mission of Jesus to make it possible for people to share the very nature of God is a fundamental
belief of Catholic faith. As the Catechism explains [460]:

(Jesus) became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature 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 us
gods.

So that he could continue to fulfil this promise for every generation and culture Jesus told his
Apostles to proclaim the Gospel and to offer Baptism to all nations [Matthew 28:19]:

baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them
to observe all the commands I gave you.

Jesus transforms human nature today
By making it possible for God to make a home in people, Jesus changes forever the human nature of
all who accept Baptism. As the divine and the human grow increasingly one in the responsive
believer, the result is the believers gradual transformation by God.

In this context, human transformation means that human nature within a person is restored by
Christ to function as God originally intended. Its potential goodness grows, gradually overcoming
sinfulness. So, for example, gradually:

love grows stronger and selfishness declines
unjust tendencies are replaced by justice
forgiveness increases as resentments weaken
discriminatory attitudes gradually are replaced by growing respect for human rights
tendencies to exploit are replaced gradually with respect.

Believers experience transformation through worshipping, praying and by trying to live as Jesus
taught. As they do so, increasingly the original goodness created in human nature by God shines
through. Gradually, the ways they behave change for the better. The goodness within them affects
their families, friends, peers, work colleagues and others in their lives. The ways believers treat
others, influence society and treat the environment are transformed also. Their activities reflect Gods
mastery more and increasingly they find fulfilment as Gods fellow-workers.

A life-time of co-operation
The transformation Christ came to offer is not magical. It takes a life-time. The reason for this is that
God always respects the freedom God has given the human will.

Though Gods power is infinite, human willingness to co-operate is not. People have mixed motives
and conflicting desires.

Though Christ offers transformation, it can be experienced only as people struggle to reverse the
choice described in the Story of the Fall. In practice, this means struggling to obey God by living as
Jesus taught.

This is a very real struggle, and often people fail to make it. Temptations to disobey God often seem
irresistible in daily life situations.

The heart of the work of Jesus was to restore human nature in people, making it possible for the
aspects of human nature that reflect God to grow stronger. As they do so, other aspects decline.

This process takes a life-time, for the struggles against temptations to do wrong often will be no less
than those of Jesus [e.g. Luke 4:1-13; 22:41-44]. It requires daily struggles to live as Jesus
commands.

Jesus made clear that the challenge to co-operate with the divine will never be easy. So Jesus warned
[Luke 9:24]:

If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross
every day and follow me

The growing understanding of Jesus
Gods original intention was for each person to discover everything that is good. In the Creators plan,
everything created has a good purpose. As people discovered that good in everything, they could, like
God, see everything as very good [Genesis 1:31].

To the extent that a person functions as God intended, people discover the good in themselves, in
others, the environment and the universe. As a result they develop good self-images. Being able to
see the good in themselves and others and can enjoy good relationships.

Through the goodness they discover, people who function as originally God intended, come not only
to realise the goodness of the Creator, but they actually come to know (and not just to know about)
and to relate with the Creator.

From the earliest chapters of the Bible, people learn that God never wanted people to know evil. This
is why God forbade Adam from eating the fruit of the tree [Genesis 2:17]:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of
that, you are doomed to die.

Jesus, though aware of evil, could think only of what was consistent with Gods love and goodness.

Being human in every way Jesus human understanding grew.

The Catechism points out [Catechism 472]:

This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, increase in wisdom and in stature,
and in favour with God and man, and would even have to inquire for himself about what one
in the human condition can learn only from experience. This corresponds to the reality of his
voluntary emptying of himself, taking the form of a slave.

In the Gospel of Luke, we see the human understanding of Jesus growing. We read of Jesus asking
questions as a child [Luke 2:46] and praying for guidance [Luke 6:12]. He learnt also how to read
[Luke 4:16] and studied the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as heard them being explained in the
synagogue. He, in his turn, taught their meaning to others [Luke 4:21-22].

Yet, as he questioned and learned from teachers, read, prayed and studied the Scriptures, Jesus was
shaped by the divine within him. His thoughts, questions, insights and ideas were as God thinks
[Matthew 16:23].

In the Gospels, we find examples of Jesus recognising the goodness in himself and in others,
especially those others condemned as sinners [Luke 7:36-50]. His use of nature in his parables and
examples showed he could see the good in creation, for example [Matthew 6:29]:

Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you
that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these.

The Church as the People of God
At the Covenant at Sinai, God revealed to the twelve tribes of Israel that they were Gods own people,
that is, they were now the People of God [Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6]:

...if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you, out of all peoples, shall
be my personal possession

For you are a people consecrated to Yahweh your God; of all the peoples on earth, you have
been chosen by Yahweh your God to be his own people.

Thirteen centuries later, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, built on the foundation of the Sinai Covenant
and formed a new People of God, with its members referred to as his Church.

The intention of Jesus was that all who belonged to his Church be the new People of God. This
involved transforming the foundations of the people of Israel. Three examples are:

the institution of the Twelve, or the Apostles (this replaced the twelve patriarchs of Israel)
the institution of the new law of Christ (which included, but was broader than, the law of Israel,
given to Moses at Mount Sinai)
the institution of the Eucharist (which replaced the most sacred Jewish celebration, the
Passover).

The new People of God embraces people from every nation on earth and is not confined to one
nation or a spiritual elite.

In the Old Testament the People of God shared the same blood, descending as they did from the
twelve patriarchs. The People of God instituted by Jesus did not share common blood but a common
spirit the Holy Spirit.

It was at Pentecost [Acts 2:113] that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus followers, binding them
together as his Church, instituting the new People of God. Since Pentecost, it is by believing in Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, and by receiving Baptism that people become the new People of God.

The Church recognises Christ as its Head
From the earliest years, Christians were amazed at how the Holy Spirit gave believers the boldness to
continue living and spreading the Gospel as Jesus had commanded. They realised that the expansion
of the Church could not be explained except by the power of the Spirit. It was simply too difficult and
risky to be a Christian.

From the earliest times, therefore, Christians recognised that Jesus was the Head of the Church. It
was he who was the source of the Holy Spirit whose influence was so dramatic and powerful.
To the early Christians, two images of their relationship with Christ became particularly powerful.
These were:
a vine and its branches
the head of a body.

The vine and its branches
In Johns Gospel, Jesus is presented as using this image [John 15:5]:

I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.

To live, a branch needs to be attached to its vine. Otherwise, without the vines life-giving sap, the
branch withers.

The sap in this image is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who makes it possible to live the Christian life.

Jesus is the source of the Spirit in the Christians life, just as the vine is the source of the sap for its
branches.

Jesus as Head of his Church
The early New Testament Scriptures refer to Jesus as Head of his Church. This is because, through
the Holy Spirit, he provides all that is needed for its growth [Catechism 794]:

to make us grow toward him, our head, he provides in his Body, the Church, the gifts and
assistance by which we help one another along the way of salvation.

Another image of Jesus as Head of the Church is that of the head of a body. The head is the source
of the bodys action. Its sight, hearing and smell help the brain to perceive the situations in which the
body finds itself, and the brain directs the entire body how to respond [Ephesians 5:23; 1:23;
Colossians 1:18]:

Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body
(Christ is) the head of the Church; which is his Body...
(Christ) is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church.

At first, the command of Jesus to teach his Gospel to others and invite them to accept Baptism, was
beyond the Apostles. They lacked the courage to follow the path that had led to the death of Jesus.

Anyone who knows how hard it is to deliberately go against peer and social trends will know how
hard the call of Jesus was to the first Apostles. The Apostles were afraid because they had witnessed
Jesus being crucified. Like many people today, the Apostles would have found it easier to follow social
trends and adopt the views of their society without question.

Jesus knew how hard his followers would find it. He told them [Luke 24:49]:

And now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised.
Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.

Following his instruction the Apostles did as he told them and when they gathered together to
celebrate the Jewish feast of Pentecost they were changed. As the Acts of the Apostles records it
[Acts 2:1-4]:

...suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house
in which they were sitting; and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated
and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and
began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.

Then Peter, who some weeks earlier had been so afraid that he had even denied knowing Jesus,
spoke to the crowd which had gathered from curiosity at the sound [Acts 2:41]:

They accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were
added to their number.

The effect of the Holy Spirit moved and strengthened the Apostles to teach about the God who wants
intimacy with all people. The work of the Apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, led others to seek
Baptism, the sacrament through which God comes to make a home in them [John 14:23].

Christians realise that ever since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gives guidance and power to all who are
willing to teach and work to change their society for the better. They become empowered to
overcome pressures towards conforming to societal pressures that prevent people from discovering
and knowing God.

In contemporary society Christians are unlikely to find themselves moved as dramatically as Peter and
the Apostles. The more common experience is that of wanting to live as Christ taught in daily life.
This involves wanting to give good example, and to overcome pressures to do wrong, especially peer
and social pressures.

Mary, Mother of the Church
Marys association with the Church is first recorded in the Acts of the Apostles when the Apostles
returned to the upper room in Jerusalem after Jesus ascension into heaven,

With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women,
including Mary, the mother of Jesus [Acts 1:14].

This is the last scriptural reference to Mary, though the woman in Chapter 12 of the Book of
Revelation is seen as a reference to her.

The early writers and fathers of the Church saw Mary as the new Eve and so as the new mother of all
people. For them, Marys acceptance of Gods will at the Annunciation was the beginning of the new
creation.

Devotion to Mary increased following the Council of Ephesus and by the Middle Ages, Mary was
invoked under many titles. One of the first references to her as Mother of the Church was by
Berengaud, (d1125) Bishop of Treves and then in the 15
th
century St Antonius and St Lawrence
Justinian used the title on their writings.

The basis for this can be found in the scriptural references regarding the relationship of Jesus with
the Church. Jesus spoke of the profound intimacy between himself and his followers:

You will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you [John 14:20].

This theme is taken up by Paul in his letters:

And he is head of the Body, that is, the Church [Col 1:18].

If the Church is the body of Christ then it follows that Mary can be regarded as the spiritual mother of
the Church.

The Second Vatican Council spelt out Marys role in the economy of salvation in the final chapter of
the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium.

She is the new Eve, the model of the Church in perfect unity with her Son and the model of
the Church as mother who by her preaching and baptism brings forth to a new and immortal
life, children who are conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God (Lumen Gentium #64).

So it was, that after the third session of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI proclaimed Mary as Mother of the
Church,

We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in
heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the member of Christ [Catechism 975].