Day 63: The Only Son of God (441-445)

• It is DAY 63!!

• Yesterday, we talked about Jesus as THE CHRIST

• How important that is

• That is ABSOLUTELY VITALl that Jesus reveals himself fully to be THE ANOINTED ONE

• NOT JUST ANOTHER ONE of the anointed ones,

• But THE Anointed One

• Today we’re talking about Jesus being THE ONLY SON OF GOD

• As was kind of obvious from yesterday and the day before

• To talk about the name of Jesus, we just had maybe six paragraphs

• And yesterday to talk about Jesus as the Christ we had about six paragraphs, give or take

• Today there is again only about five paragraphs

• So we’re not plumbing the depths of the reality of the name of Jesus, or the title Christ, or even the title today THE ONLY SON OF GOD

• BUT…

• Jesus has his root in Hebrew, which means GOD SAVES

• Christ, root in Hebrew, Mashiach, Messiah, which is ANOINTED

• Or Christos in Greek, The Anointed One

• So there’s rooting in that

• So in a similar way, the title, the term “Son of God” is a term that’s used in the Old Testament

• It’s given to the ANGELS

• It’s given the THE CHOSEN PEOPLE

• It’s given to the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

• It’s given to their KINGS

• So many of them are called son of God

• It’s ONLY in Jesus, WHEN he fulfills the life, death and Resurrection

• THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

• That the title, that term, reaches is FULFILLMENT

• At one point we’re going to hear about this today

• Peter recognizes the UNIQUE character

• The TRANSCENDENT character, in fact

• Paragraph 443 says, “Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah’s divine sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood.”

• That was in Matthew Ch 16

• Remember when we talked about this yesterday, in Paragraph 440

• That Jesus accepted Peter’s profession of faith in Matthew 16, when he asked the question, “Who do you say that I am?”

• And Simon responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

• So both of these titles

• The Christ, Messiah

• And the Son of the Living God, the ONLY Son of God

• Those two titles Jesus accepts from Peter because he affirms something unique

• He says “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father has revealed this to you.”

• Which tells us something

• One of the things it tells US is Jesus as CHRIST or Jesus as SON OF GOD is UNIQUE

• This is not just like the OTHER anointed ones

• This is not just like the OTHER WAYS in which that term “son of God” has been used in the past

• It’s a COMPLETELY UNIQUE THING

• AND THEN…

• The term Christ, the Anointed One, reaches its FULFILLMENT when Jesus is lifted up on the cross

• The title Only Son of God only reaches its fulfillment in Jesus at his RESURRECTION

• Paragraph 445 says, “After his Resurrection, Jesus’ divine Sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity.”

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• THIS MAKES SENSE!!

• When we talked about the name of Jesus, it’s rooting in Hebrew is GOD SAVES

• Then when we have the name Christ, rooted in Hebrew is Anointed One 

• Now, today, the Son of God, again, rooted in Jewish life and rooted in Jewish Scripture

• But every one of those words

• JESUS

• CHRIST

• SON OF GOD

• Every one of them are reaching their FULFILLMENT in Jesus

• It’s remarkable to recognize they all have a background

• BUT…

• THEY ALL HAVE THEIR FULFILLMENT IN JESUS!!

• THAT IS FASCINATING!!

• As we begin this day today, let’s turn to our Father and pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike:  “Father in heaven, in the name of your Son, Jesus, Jesus the only Son of God, we ask that you send your Holy Spirit to enter our minds, to penetrate our hearts, so that we can know you more clearly, so that we can love you more accurately and love you more fully. Lord God, we entrust ourselves to you because we know that, in time, you revealed yourself as the one who saves. In time, you revealed the Anointed One, priest, prophet, and king. You revealed yourself in your Son, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father. And then by sending your Holy Spirit to us, you allowed us to participate in His Divine Sonship.You’ve allowed us to participate in His being able to cry out ‘Abba, Father.’ And so, today, we do. You have made us, who have been baptized, your children. So you are our Dad, and we cry out to you today. Father, hear our prayer. In the name of Jesus, Amen”

• Alright, only five short paragraphs today on Jesus as THE ONLY SON OF GOD

• Paragraph 441 says, “In the Old Testament, ‘son of God’ is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah-King is called ‘son of God,’ it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human…”

• AND YET…

• We ultimately realize that that is what it indicates LATER ON

• That’s why Paragraph 441 (Fr. Mike says 442 but he clearly means 441, I’m sure 😉) says there are people who call Jesus the Son of God

• They might have meant no more than it signifies a special closeness, special relationship between God and this particular individual

• AND YET…

• Paragraph 442 says, “Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ for Jesus responds solemnly: ‘Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’ Similarly Paul will write, regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus, ‘When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…”

• When he PROCLAIMED Jesus Christ in Acts Ch 9, Saint Paul would also say, in the synagogues, he proclaimed Jesus, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

• After the Resurrection, Son of God didn’t just indicate the closeness with God, closeness with the Father.

• But it REVEALED Jesus Christ as the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD

• This is a UNIQUE term now when it’s applied to Jesus in his DIVINE SONSHIP

• WHICH IS JUST REMARKABLE!!

• Paragraph 443 says, “He distinguished his sonship from that of his disciples by never saying ‘our Father,’ except to command them: ‘You, then, pray like this: ‘Our Father,’ and he emphasized this distinction, saying ‘my Father and your Father.’”

• Have you ever noticed that?

• When Jesus is praying to the Father, he never says “our Father”

• He would say “My Father”

• Jesus tells his disciples, “When YOU pray, say “Our Father.” 

• Because he has a particular relationship with the Father

• THE ONLY ETERNAL, DIVINE, BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD!!

• WHICH IS REALLY REMARKABLE!!

• There’s also a couple of times when the Father himself claims Jesus as the Son of God

• Paragraph 444 says, “The Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the Baptism and the Transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus his ‘beloved Son.’”

• And this is really remarkable because it indicates that this title, Son of God,has TRANSFORMED, has CHANGED

• It has its ROOT in the Old Testament, indicating this particular closeness

• But it reaches its FULFILLMENT in Jesus, where the Father says, ”This is my beloved son.”

• And then even the centurion, after Jesus dies on the cross says “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”

• Paragraph 444 continues, “Only in the Paschal mystery can the believer give the title “Son of God” it’s full meaning.”

• It had a PARTIAL MEANING in the Old Testament

• It had HINTS of this fuller meaning throughout the course of Jesus’ life,

• BUT…

• Only in the Paschal Mystery, which is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, can the believer give the title “Son of God” its FULL MEANING

• Paragraph 445 says, “After his Resurrection, Jesus’ divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity.”

• Now there has been a TRANSFORMATION

• Jesus is FULLY HUMAN

• BUT…

• It is also revealed that he is FULLY DIVINE

• We talked about this in the first chapter about God the Father

• Here is God who is a TRINITY OF PERSONS

• FATHER

• SON

• HOLY SPIRIT

• COEQUAL

• COETERNAL

• NOT MIXED TOGETHER!!

• BUT…

• SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM EACH OTHER

• BUT…

• ALWAYS UNITED IN THEIR DIVINITY

• UNITED IN THEIR BEING

• So here is another piece of this revelation of God as Trinity IN JESUS’ DIVINE SONSHIP 

• WHICH IS REMARKABLE!!

• In John Ch 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

• John 1:14, “And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

• And this is our DESTINY

• This is what the apostles have been able to bear witness to

• The glory of the ONLY son of God, the ONLY Son of the Father, full of grace and truth

• And this is the one in whom we place our faith and the one to whom we point

• The one to whom we direct all of our love, all of our lives, is the only Son from the Father

• Tomorrow we’re going to talk about the title, LORD

• So here we have these four titles

• One is the name of Jesus

• The next is that term Christ

• Today, the Only Son of God

• And tomorrow, we’ll talk about what is it to begin to even understand what is it to say that Jesus is the Lord

• But today, we get to…

• DECLARE

• PROCLAIM

• AFFIRM

• That Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God

• It had its HINTS in the Old Testament

• It had even MORE REVELATION in the life of Jesus

• And it reaches its FULL UNDERSTANDING and FULL REVELATION in his life, then his Death and his Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father

• It is REMARKABLE that we get to declare that

• Jesus Christ IS the Only Son of God

• Let’s pray for that because we all want deeper understandings

• Pray for each other that we continue to plumb the depths of these mysteries

• That we continue to rise to this challenge of being able to profess, not just with our lips, but with our lives, 

• That Jesus is the Son of God

• Fr. Mike is  praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!