| LESSON 17 Jesus Christ is True God 
My Lord and My God Jesus Christ is true God; Jesus Christ is really GOD. He is not some sort of inferior god. He is equal to God the Father in all things. He has existed from all eternity with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. He is God just as truly as God the Father and God the Holy Ghost are God. This lesson is very important; it is a key lesson in the whole series. If Jesus Christ is God - and He is- then everything He teaches is the teaching of God Almighty. It follows that the Church He founded is the only true Church and the Sacraments which He gives us make us share in the life of God. If you accept this fact that Jesus Christ is God, you must accept Christ's teachings and Christ's only true Church. CHRIST DID WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO: THEREFORE HE IS GOD Let us pretend that we are in the Holy Land more than 1900 years ago. the time of Jesus Christ We have heard much about Christ; we wish to see Him. Let us imagine that we are standing on a street corner in Jerusalem. We ask the people many questions about Christ. One person tells us that he has been cured of cancer; another says that he was cured of leprosy; another says that his aunt was healed by Jesus Christ. The people on the corner tell us that Jesus has performed many other miracles. As we are talking, the crowd begins to shout. "Here He comes now! We turn and we see Jesus Christ coming down the street. He is a man almost six feet in height; He is a Jew and has ordinary Jewish features. The people bring the sick from their homes on to the lawns and sidewalks. As Christ walks down the street. He is talking with a group of men accompanying Him. With hardly any effort on His part. He touches some of the sick, some He blesses, and on some only His shadow falls. MANY ARE CURED INSTANTLY! We are filled with awe and amazement! Who is this man? Finally, Christ comes to the corner where we are standing. We have come a long way to see Him. So we eagerly push our way into the crowd. We are determined to find out who this man is. As we follow Christ down the street. more of the sick, the blind. and the lame are brought out on the sidewalk. MOST ARE CURED INSTANTLY by His touch. or by His blessing. or by His shadow. A woman with an issue of blood tries to push her way into the crowd; the crowd shoves her back, but she is determined. We inquire about this woman and find that she has suffered from this illness for many years; she has spent most of her money on physicians without success. Finally, she gets close to Our Lord, but she cannot gain His attention. so she reaches down and touches the hem of His garment. And she is cured! With Christ and His followers we reach the city gates. In those days there were walls around every city; the people in one city did not trust the people in the next city. We pass through the city gates into the countryside. In the distance we see a crowd of people coming toward us; we are alarmed; they may be robbers-the countryside is infested with them. But as they come closer. we see that it is a funeral procession. The principal mourner is an old lady; she is crying bitterly. We learn that she is a widow from the town ofNaim, and she is weeping because her only son has died. He had been a good son, the only support for his elderly mother. and now she could not be consoled. Christ walks towards the body; it is being carried on a sort of stretcher (not in a casket) to be buried in a cave. Again we are filled with wonder and awe and expectation. What will Christ do? He takes the hand of the dead youth, and life seems to leap from Christ.s hand into the corpse. The boy sits up, very much alive. Startled by His power. we draw back and watch the widow of Naim joyfully embrace and kiss her son. She is so happy that she does not remember to thank Jesus; but He does not care. He smiles and we go on in silence. Everyone is thinking and praying over what he has just seen. Who is this Man? We are afraid. As we walk along with Christ. foot-runners come to Him bringing a message. But He pays no attention to the message; He seems indifferent. After He reads the message. He throws it on the ground; we pick it up. The message is this: "Come quickly. Lazarus is very sick.'. It is signed "Mary and Martha." Mary and Martha and Lazarus were dear friends of Christ. Since one of them was sick, it would be expected that He would come to them. After we follow Our Lord for several more hours, a foot-runner comes with a new message: "Lazarus is dead.'. Christ turns to us and says "Lazarus. ..sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." (John 11:11) We are puzzled. The crowd following Christ comes to a sea. We get into boats about the size of modern life boats; each one holds about thirty people and has four or five pairs of oars. We get into a boat with Christ. Our Lord sits in the back seat and soon falls asleep. When we are about half way across the sea a great storm comes up; soon the waves are ten or fifteen feet high; lightning darts across the sky and the thunder crashes; the women cry in fear. The boat is tossed about like a little cork, and the men try to bailout the water. Finally, one of the Apostles crawls to the back of the boat where Jesus Christ is sleeping. He cries out. "Lord. save us, we perish!.. Our Lord awakes. rubs the sleep from His eyes and says. "Why are you fearful. oh you of little faith?. And to the storm He says three words: "Peace, be stiIl... And suddenly the sea becomes calm. The thunder clouds pass, and the sun breaks through. We row on in silence; everyone is thinking about what Our Lord has just done. When we reach the other side of the lake, we leave our boats and travel some distance to the town of Bethany where Mary and Martha live. When Martha learns that Our Lord has arrived she says to Jesus. "Lord. if You had only been here, my brother would not have died... Then her sister, Mary, comes up to Christ and utters the same reverent complaint. "Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died." Even the people who stand about are saying: "Could not He that opened the eyes of the men born blind have caused that this man should not die? Then Christ Himself begins to cry with human grief. He asks Mary and Martha where Lazarus is buried. But they do not want Him to open the tomb because Lazarus has been buried for four days. But Christ insists. and several men remove the stone from the entrance of the tomb. Christ stands before the tomb and says three words: "Lazarus. come forth!.. Again we are struck with fear: Lazarus. the dead man walks out of the tomb. Now ask yourself these questions: Who alone can cure illness in His own name and by His own power? Who alone has absolute control over the sea and over all the forces of nature? Who alone has power over life and death? Only God! Jesus Christ is truly God, equal to the Father and the Holy Ghost in all things. The incidents related in this narrative actually happened and can be found in the gospel. CHRIST AROSE FROM THE DEAD: THE STRONGEST PROOF THAT HE IS GOD Several times during His life Christ told both His friends and His enemies that He would rise from the dead to prove that He was God. And on Easter morning He did arise from the dead. Everyone knows that no mere man can come back from the dead by his own power. By His resurrection from the dead. Christ proved that He was God. St. Paul tells us that the miracle of the resurrection is the foundation of our faith: "And if Christ be not risen again. then is our preaching vain: and your faith is also vain." ( 1 Cor. 5:14) CHRIST SAID THAT HE IS GOD When on trial for His life. Christ was asked one question which determined whether He would live or die: " Are you the Son of the Living God?. He replied: "I am... And He was condemned to death because of blasphemy-because of a crime by which a man claims to be God. Jesus Christ was either insane or a liar or God. The beauty and harmony of His doctrine proves that He was not insane. And He was not a liar. He was the most holy of men. Even His enemies could find no sin in Him. Therefore He must be God. CHRIST IS ALSO REAL MAN Besides being God. Jesus Christ is also real man -not a sort of man. Not someone who took on only the appearance of man. He is real man. born of a woman, with a body and soul like ours. He knew what it meant to be hungry and thirsty, to be tired, to suffer pain. Jesus Christ is both man and God. He is the man-God. Do not be confused. Christ is God for all eternity: He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He always was. is. and will be God. But Christ became man in time; He was born of the Virgin Mary on a Christmas day, more than nineteen hundred years ago; and as man He ascended into heaven. And there He now reigns forever as God and man. | 
