Who Is Jesus? A fish holds the answer to this question. During the persecutions of the first Christians, they used the sign of a fish as a secret means of identification. In Greek, each letter of the word fish (ichthys) begins a word in the phrase “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
The Christ
Jesus is the Christ, which means the Messiah, the great leader sent by God. He is the one the prophets foretold and the Jewish people awaited. Jesus, however, was much more than the Israelites expected.
Son of God
With the help of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus came to realize that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus had often referred to God as “my Father.” He even called God Abba, a Hebrew word for “Dad.” As Son of God, Jesus was God too. Like the Jewish and Muslim people, Christians believe in one God. What makes us different is our belief in the Trinity. This main Catholic dogma (belief) states there are three Persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These divine Persons are equal and work together. They have always existed together in a community of love, and they always will.
Since Jesus is God, when we look at Jesus, we know what God is like. God had revealed himself to us before. Creation gives clues about his power and goodness. The Old Testament also tells of God’s love through God’s words and actions in history. With the Incarnation, God is revealed to us as fully divine and fully human. Jesus said, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) We call Jesus the Word from the Father. Despite God’s Revelation, God remains a mystery beyond words.
Savior
Jesus is also the Savior. Even his name, Jesus, means “the Lord saves.” By his life, especially through the Paschal (Easter) Mystery, Jesus rescued the human race. The Paschal Mystery is the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ through his suffering, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. By taking our sins upon himself, and dying and rising, Jesus ended the power of sin and death over us. He made it possible for us to have eternal life. At every Eucharist, we, the community of believers, proclaim and celebrate this great mystery of our faith.
❮ Fish, Symbol of Christianity.
At a point in time, God the Father sent his only Son to give us eternal life. His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, obeyed the Father and became man, Jesus. Jesus then is a person who has both a divine nature and a human nature. He is completely God and completely human. Jesus is not only Emmanuel, which means “God with us,” but he is our brother. The mystery of God becoming human is called the Incarnation (in + carn = in the flesh). God shared in our humanity so that we could share in divinity.
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