Jesus Christ Son of God

God knew that human beings are weak. He saw that sin was like a disease destroying his beloved creation. He saw how we hurt and suffer because of sin, and he wanted to fix it, to heal his creation, to reconcile us to himself. So God became like us, in every way except sin in order to heal us from the inside. God became incarnate. “The Word became flesh.” 1 The eternal, infinite Being, the Source of Life and the Creator of all things became a human being. God took upon Himself our humanity. God, the infinite, incomprehensible, unknowable, God became a little tiny helpless baby – Jesus, the Christ. This is known as the INCARNATION.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus was born to a young woman, Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus - it was the Holy Spirit who came upon her and overshadowed her. This miraculous event, Mary’s conception of Jesus while she was still a virgin points to Jesus’ divine origin. We call Mary the THEOTOKOS, which means, “mother of God.”

Who is Jesus?

St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians gives us one of the earliest documented statements about who Jesus is:

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 2

Jesus is Fully God and Fully Human

Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human at the same time. He is fully God in that he is the Son of God. God did not just simply “zap” a man named Jesus and make him super holy. Christ, as the eternal Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, has always existed, and all things were created through Him. It is the eternal Son of God who became a human being in Mary’s womb.

Jesus is also fully human. God, as Jesus, did not just appear to be a human, but became a full human being with all of the problems and blessings associated with this. Jesus got thirsty, he got tired, he got angry, he even cried. He was fully human, like we are. But unlike us, Jesus did not sin. Jesus was always in communion with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus overcame sin and death

When we sin, we cut ourselves off from the Source of Life. Jesus, though He was sinless, allowed Himself to feel the same effect of sin that we do. Jesus experienced what it feels like to be cut off from God. Jesus experienced death.

Jesus’ death on the cross was an act of obedience out of love to the Father. Unlike Adam, who chose sin which led to death, Jesus chose obedience, which means life. In this way, his death became life giving. Jesus felt the effect of our sins (death) on our behalf, taking upon himself the consequences of our sinfulness.

We sing at Easter “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death.” In dying, Jesus conquered the enemy of humanity and of all creation: death.

Though he was human and could experience death, Jesus was also divine and therefore the Giver of Life. Although he died, death had no power over him. St. John Chrysostom spoke about this in an Easter sermon: “Hell received a body, and encountered God; it received mortal dust, and met Heaven face to face.”

“In Christ, death enters into divinity and there exhausts itself, for ‘it does not find a place there’”. 3 If we think of death as a place, Christ entered into that place, which we call Hades. But because He is God and is infinite and the Source of Life, He burst that place apart, letting out all those who had been held captive. In experiencing death, in entering into Hades, we can say that there truly is not a place where God is not. For God is found even in death.

In this way, “Death became redemption, the grave turned from the pit of death into the fountain of life.” 4

The Icon of the Crucifixion

The central figure of the icon is Christ. Christ in this icon is shown with his eyes closed and his head bowed, showing us that he has died. As is typical in Byzantine iconography, the terrible suffering of Christ is not emphasized in the portrayal of the scene. Instead, we see Christ in his majesty on the cross. Christ is the victor, not the victim. He is at peace, in a prayerful stance. His hands are open, suggesting a prayerful openness to the will of God. He and his garment are filled with divine light.

Underneath the footrest are the letters AMLRB which stand for the phrase “The Place of the Skull becomes Paradise.” Also, in the cave below the cross we see a skull and the letters AG for ADAMA GOLOVA (which means “Adam’s Skull.”)

The Icon of the Descent into Hades

At Easter, the greatest celebration of the Church year, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. We celebrate Jesus’ victory over death and His new life. Christ not only raised Himself, but He also raised us up too. Before Jesus’ resurrection, dead people stayed in a place called Hades. Hades was not a happy or sad place, it was just dead. When Jesus died He went there and smashed open the doors, letting all the dead people have new life. Now death cannot hold us.

In this icon we see Christ standing on the broken doors of Hades pulling Adam and Eve from their graves. We also see many saints from the Old Testament, such as King David the Psalmist and King Solomon the Wise, and saints from the New Testament, such as St. John the Baptist and St. Joseph who died before Jesus did. These saints are free from the hold of death and are given new life. Now everyone, even those who have died, can live and love Jesus as we wait for Him to come again.

The Resurrection

The foundation of our faith in Christ as God comes from the fact that he did not remain dead, but that he resurrected - he rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t just mean that His memory lived on in His followers, or that He was just spiritually alive. His resurrection means that His Spirit and His body, which were separated at death, were reunited. Jesus’ body was made alive again, but not in the same way as before. His body was transfigured. It was still physical (Jesus ate with the apostles) but in a glorious state (Jesus appeared to His disciples even though all of the doors to the room were locked).

In overcoming death, Christ not only restored human beings to the same state as Adam and Eve before the fall, but he raised humanity to a new level. In Christ, we see the full possibility of our human nature. We will all be resurrected one day.

It is not without reason that St. Paul said, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” 5 What is more important in the theology of the Church, which actually believes that He has risen, is this: “If Christ be raised and His resurrection became a reality within us, then our faith is true and we are no longer in our sins.” This means that Christ’s resurrection in the flesh on the third day has become the fundamental and effective power for the forgiveness of sins. Consequently, resurrection in the Church’s view is the basis of the concept of atonement. Therefore we cannot say that Christ’s death by itself meant paying the price for our sins and appeasing God in order to remove His wrath from us. It is the resurrection that gave the death of Christ this force, atonement and reconciliation. 6

Baptism: Participation in Christ’s Death and Resurrection

Baptism is a way of sacramentally participating in what Jesus did. In a mystical way, the immersion of the person in the baptismal water connects and unites that person with the death of Jesus. Similarly, the rising up out of the baptismal water connects and unites that person with the resurrection of Jesus.

In baptism, we experience a real, but mystical death. The death is a death to the old person: the old sinful self is put to death in baptism. “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin”. 7 “For he who has died has been freed from sin” 8

In baptism, we die to our old way of life and to the world that does not recognize God as creator and Lord. Our old sinful habits, our old ways of thinking, etc. are left at the cross – they are crucified. We experience a real death in baptism, a death to sin. Our sins are forgiven. We no longer have to fear death and struggle to survive.

Jesus shows us who we are

Jesus shows us how to be fully human and alive. During his life on earth, Jesus helped many people by healing them, feeding them, comforting them, teaching them and forgiving them. When we do these things, we are like Jesus.

Jesus gave of himself for others, even to the point of death. Out of love, He totally emptied himself in order to fulfill the Father’s plan. Jesus told us that we are to do the same: “For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” 9

Jesus’ resurrection shows us we don’t need to be afraid of death. We do not need to be afraid to forget about ourselves. Each time we lovingly choose the good of the other instead of ourselves we experience a “little death.” Jesus’ resurrection gives us the power to die to ourselves and live for God and others.