Day 64: The Lord (446-455)
Fr. Mike is really grateful that you are here!!
It’s sometimes hard to press play
Fr. Mike completely understands and gets that
AT THE SAME TIME…
Here you are on Day 64, which is so remarkable!!
We’ve been talking for the last couple of days about the titles of Jesus
The name of Jesus means “God Saves”
The title of Christ means “Anointed One”
Yesterday we talked about how Jesus is THE ONLY SON OF GOD
How that title itself has a root in the Old Testament
And didn’t necessarily reveal or connote Divinity
BUT NOW…
In the Resurrection
In the fullness of Revelation
We know that the The Only Son of God means something very, very UNIQUE
And here lastly, we have the term LORD
Before we move on to the next section, which is about how Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary
That’s tomorrow
Today we have this term LORD
Now, we’re going to find this in Paragraph 446 that when Hebrew, or when the Old Testament was written, it was principally written in Hebrew
And so the ineffable name of the Lord God that God revealed to Moses in the burning bush is the name “Yahweh”, which is SO HOLY that, it was only uttered ONE TIME by the high priest as he entered into the Holy of Holies
In Greek that holy name of God, which is ineffable, it’s almost unutterable
It’s translated in Greek as the name KYRIOS which means LORD
And that has been the way in which almost all English translations are
With the L-O-R-D
That indicates that sacred name of Yahweh without printing it every time because of the fact that the sacred name IS SO SACRED
Now that term Kyrios is also ascribed to Jesus
Just like these other titles
Just like the title Messiah
Just like the title Son of God
Lord could be a title of honor
It could simply be a way in which it expresses the respect and trust of those who approached Jesus for help
So say, “Lord, my servant is dying”
Or “Lord, my daughter is dying.”
Paragraph 448 says, “In the encounter with the risen Jesus, this title becomes adoration: ‘My Lord and my God!’ It thus takes on a connotation of love and affection that remains proper to the Christian tradition: ‘It is the Lord!’”
Jesus reveals himself and says, “Thomas, put your hand in my side and see that I’m alive and that it goes to the heart of flesh and blood as I do.”
Thomas says, “My Lord and my God!”
There’s the DIVINE TITLE Lord that is now attributed to Jesus where we realize WHO he ultimately is and WHAT he ultimately is
He is the ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER
He is GOD FROM GOD
He is LIGHT FROM LIGHT
He is TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD
He is FULLY God just as the Father is FULLY God
OH MY GOSH!!
The way in which God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ is REMARKABLE
Again, the title Messiah
We had NO IDEA that the Messiah would also be the Son of God
We had no idea that the title Son of God would also mean he was the Divine Eternally Begotten Son of God
This title LORD that is a title of honor is TRULY and FULLY revealed to be an expression of DEEP AND PROFOUND FAITH
And we recognize that Jesus is the Lord in the sense that HE IS GOD HIMSELF
Paragraph 450 says, “From the very beginning of Christian history, the assertion of Christ’s Lordship over the world and over history has implicitly recognized that we should not submit his personal freedom in an absolute manner to any earthly power, but only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...”
IN FACT…
there is this feast at the very end of the Church year, right before Advent starts
THE SOLEMNITY OF JESUS CHRIST KING OF THE UNIVERSE!!
OR…
THE SOLEMNITY OF JESUS CHRIST LORD OF THE UNIVERSE!!
Even just the title of it is just REMARKABLE
Iit reminds us that we may never submit ourselves fully, in an absolute manner, to ANYTHING or ANYONE or ANY POWER other than God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
THAT IS JUST REMARKABLE!!
Of course, our prayers are always characterized by this term LORD
We’re going to hear all about that today in Paragraph 446
We’re also going to have four little MCNUGGETS
Summarizing the name Jesus, the title Christ, the title Son of God, and this last title Lord
Since we are talking about God, our Lord, we turn to our Father and we just ask Him to bless this time we have together!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we praise you and glorify you. We do declare in the power of your Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord of the living. He is Lord of all. He is Lord who has given himself so fully that all things have been placed under his feet. It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we get to say Jesus is Lord. And so we declare, together, as this Catechism in a Year community, we declare that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father now and always, Amen”
Fr. Mike LOVES this section!!
The title Lord comes from Kyrios, which is Greek translation of that sacred name, Divine name of God in Hebrew
That name I hesitate to even pronounce
Or even to enunciate the name, Yahweh, that God revealed to Moses when Moses asked, “What is your name?”
And God reveals that is his divine name
Now of course, here is Jesus
The New Testament uses this full sense of the title LORD, both for the FATHER
And this is the new thing, it says here, for Jesus, who was thereby recognized as God himself
And it’s so remarkable that here we have Jesus who doesn’t just CLAIM to be Lord
Jesus doesn’t just claim to be God
He DEMONSTRATES his Divine Sovereignty
Which means Divine
His GODLINESS and SOVEREIGNTY
He is TRULY Lord
He has DOMINION
Paragraph 447 says, “Throughout his public life, he demonstrated his divine sovereignty by works of power over nature, illnesses, demons, death, and sin.”
Jesus can CALM the storm with a word
Jesus can MULTIPLY FOOD just by blessing and breaking food
He has DOMINION…
He has SOVEREIGNTY…
Over ILLNESSES
Over DEMONS
He can cast them out
EVEN OVER DEATH
He can raise Lazarus from the dead with a word
He can raise the little girl from death by simply saying “talitha kumi” and raising her up
And he has divine sovereignty over SIN
THIS IS REMARKABLE!!
THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
Whenever you and I say “Jesus is Lord,” we are testifying to his Divinity
WE HAVE TO DO THAT!!
BUT…
We are also testifying that that Divinity is completely connected to his Sovereignty, his Dominion
IN FACT…
To be able to say, “Jesus is Lord of my life. I’m saying that Jesus has dominion over my life, that he actually has Lordship over my life.”
Which means to say He has access to every PIECE, every PART of my life
PAST
PRESENT
AND FUTURE
THINK ABOUT THIS…
If Jesus is the Lord of my life, of course, he’s the Lord of my PRESENT LIFE
Of course he’s the Lord of TODAY
BUT…
If Jesus is the Lord, he has meaning, he has dominion, over all of my life, every aspect
That means he has dominion over my PAST
How often do we want to go back into the past and just change it?
We can’t
BUT…
We can SURRENDER to that
We can SUBMIT that to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
And realize his Divine Sovereignty can DO something with it
We don’t know the future, obviously
AND YET…
We can invoke his Divine Sovereignty
We can invoke his DOMINION and say, “Jesus you are the Lord of my future as well. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I CAN declare that you ARE the Lord of my past, of my present, and of my future.”
Because He’s demonstrated this, right?
THIS IS JUST REMARKABLE!!
Paragraph 449 says, “By attributing to Jesus the divine title ‘Lord,’ the first confessions of the Church's faith affirm from the beginning that the power, honor, and glory due to God the Father are also due to Jesus.”
THIS IS REALLY TRULY SO VERY ULTIMATELY IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 450 says, “ From the very beginning of Christian history, the assertion of Christ’s lordship over the world and over history has implicitly recognized that man should not submit his personal freedom in an absolute manner to any earthly power, but only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Caesar is not ‘the Lord.’”
We may not
The Catechism says “should not”
WE MUST NOT!!
There was a phrase
Kaiser Kyrios
Caesar is Lord
And we could not say that as Christians
We have to say CHRISTOS KYRIOS
CHRIST IS THE LORD!!
This is so essentially important because here’s what Gaudium et Spes says in Paragraph 450, “The Church… believes the key, the center, and the purpose of the whole of man’s history is to be found in its Lord and Master.”
We affirm this so FULLY
Paragraph 454 says, “To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
In its fullest sense that he is TRULY God
GOD FROM GOD!!
LIGHT FROM LIGHT!!
TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD!!
That he is as fully God as the Father is God
To be a Christian MEANS this
To NOT believe that, is to NOT be a Christian
Now, I can say, “I believe in Jesus”
BUT…
If I don’t believe in his Divinity, then I’m not a Christian
I think you’ll see what they were saying here
Now this is one of those places where the Catechism is
I don’t want to say is about drawing boundaries
BUT…
It IS about highlighting the fact that TO BELIEVE…
To be part of the faithful…
To be part of the Church…
It means that what we TESTIFY is what the Church testifies
And what we PROFESS is what the Church professes
And C.S. Lewis even talks about this
He said that back in the day, people would describe someone as a Christian
If they were simply nice
If they were simply polite
If they were simply kind
And Lewis says, “That’s great. Hopefully people associate being Christian with being nice or being polite or being kind. But, that’s not what makes a Christian. A Christian is someone who BELIEVES and PROFESSES certain things and DESIRES and STRIVES to live in a certain way.”
Paragraph 454 says, “To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
SO MANY of our prayers highlight this reality that Jesus is Lord
Or we say “The Lord be with you”
Or “Through Christ our Lord”
Or “Come Lord Jesus”
BUT ALSO…
Paragraph 455 says, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
It is the Spirit of God dwelling inside of us
That ALLOWS us to PROCLAIM
And MEAN
And have that be REALITY
JESUS CHRIST IS TRULY THE LORD!!
Not just the Lord objectively
BUT…
Also YOUR Lord
And MY Lord
OUR Lord
We know this
We know that all things were created THROUGH HIM
We know that EVERYTHING in the world EXISTS through Jesus
Because of that He is THE Lord
The question we have to answer is
WILL I LET THE LORD BE MY LORD?
And we get to answer that question today
We get to say, “Lord you have DOMINION. Lord Jesus, you have DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY over every aspect of my life. Over all my relationships. Over my free time. Over my work. Over my family. Over my past, my present, and my future.”
And we just give God glory today
So, Fr. Mike is just praying for you because it’s a BIG DEAL
It’s a big deal to say “Jesus is Lord”
It’s a big deal to say “Christos Kyrios”
It’s a big deal to say “Jesus is not just THE Lord BUT He is MY Lord.”
Let’s pray for each other that we can say that and MEAN IT
That we can live it truly and freely and joyfully
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!