Who is Jesus?

Herod’s distrustful soul and bad conscience caused him to suspect Jesus John the Baptist, who, in his opinion, had risen from the dead after he had him executed. Such superstition was entirely possible at that time. In that case, Herod may have thought that the Baptist’s execution would have been unnecessary. The committed John did not do any miracles. John rose again and led the nation to even greater rebellion through his gifts. For Jesus, this means a new danger because, in addition to the Lord’s religious enemies within Judaism, there is political hostility from the state authorities, who see Jesus as a political danger. There are also different opinions about Jesus circulating among the people. They see in him not only the coming again of John the Baptist but also Elijah, or one of the prophets of old. From these judgments, we see that none of them point to Jesus as the promised Messiah. Jesus, in his poverty and humility, was not at all suited to the great and glorious idea the Jews had formed of a “Messiah.

Who is Jesus Christ to us? Who do we think he is? Is he not just some historical figure to us? The son of an ordinary carpenter who could do supernatural things and became famous? Don’t we perhaps understand him as some political leader, like the Jews, who were able to win the masses of people to their side during the Roman occupation? Or is he not for us a person who strove for goodness and love on earth – and that is why he founded a new religion?

If only we understood Jesus this way, we would be like those in today’s Gospel. Such a characterization of Jesus is undoubtedly accurate in some ways. But that is not the point. The Christian should first confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who came to suffer on this earth to save us from eternal damnation and reopen the gates of heaven, which we have closed to ourselves by original sin.
Jesus came to this earth and became man so that we might become children of God. He did not hesitate to die for us. And He did it out of love to bring us back to our heavenly Father. Jesus is a model of love for us. Love can indeed do great things. Just take that human love of ours.

A boy who falls in love…how his behavior changes immediately – he can even make sacrifices for the one he loves.
And how great must have been the love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who did not hesitate to die for us? Now He is waiting for us in heavenly glory to reciprocate that boundless love of His, even in a small measure, by fulfilling the commandments of God so that we may one day come to Him and see Him face to face.

The gravely ill man grasped the hand of his physician: ‘I am afraid of death, Doctor. Tell me, what awaits me after death? How will it be on the other side?” “I don’t know,” replies the doctor. “You don’t know?” whispered the dying man. Instead of answering, the doctor opened the door to the corridor. Here a dog came running up to him, jumping up on him and showing every sign of joy at seeing his master. The doctor turned to the sick man and said: “Have you noticed the dog’s behavior? He has never been in this room nor knows its people. But he knew that his master was on the other side of the door, so he excitedly ran in as soon as the door was opened. Look, even though I don’t know anything more about what awaits us after death, it is enough for me that my Lord and Master are on the other side. Therefore, when one day the door is opened, I will go to the other side with great joy.”

Let us try not to cause the worst confusion in our lives lest we mistake God, who is supposed to be first on our value ladder, for something else so that we do not cling to earthly things more than spiritual things. But that when the heavenly gate of eternity is opened to us, we may joyfully cross over to the other side – to our Lord and Master.