Jesus Christ
Saviour
Shortly before Joseph was married to Mary he had a dream. In this dream he saw an angel who told him that Mary was going to have a Son, God’s Son, and the angel added, “…you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (NRSV, Matthew 1:21). So the name Jesus means Saviour, and reminds us that Jesus came to save us from our sins and from the Devil.
You often see embroidered or carved in churches the first three letters of the Name of Jesus in Greek. They look like I H S, but the H is really a long E, the whole Name in Greek being spelt IESOUS.Anointed One
The word Christ is a title meaning the Anointed One, or in Hebrew, Messiah. Messiah or Christ was the name that the Jews gave to the great King and Deliverer whom they believed would one day be sent by God to save them from their enemies, and in particular from the Romans who occupied their country. They did not realise that he would come to save them from their sins and to rescue their souls from the power of the Devil.
We’ve seen that the word Christ means the Anointed One. This is significant because in Old Testament times men also were anointed with oil when they were made prophets, priests and kings. This is still done when kings and queens of England are crowned in Westminster Abbey. So the title Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, also means that Jesus is the true Prophet, Priest and King.
His only Son Our Lord
God’s only Son
It is very important always to remember that Jesus Christ is God the Son who became one of us. St Joseph was only his foster-father and guardian. In the Creed Jesus is called God’s only Son, that is, Son in a way that no one else can be because as God he has always shared Heaven with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We call him Lord because he is the Lord God.
Truly God and truly Man
So the Nicene Creed, which we sing or say at the Eucharist, states this truth several times over by saying that he was “begotten of his Father before all worlds. God of God…”. In the original Greek that word ‘of’ means out of or from. So the Creed declares that Our Lord is “God from God, Light from Light, Very God from Very God (that is, True God from True God) begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father”. That means that Our Lord Jesus Christ is as truly God as is God the Father. And the Creed then adds that by Our Lord all things were made.
Our Lord is God the Son who became one of us. But he did more than that. He became not just a man, but Man. He took human nature itself and made it his own. That means that everything that is best in us, as human beings, is to be found in him. So, however different we may be from one another, we can all see our best selves in him, and in becoming like him we become the kind of people God meant us to be. Our Lord is perfect God and perfect Man and has taken our nature upon him. Therefore he can make each one of us perfect simply by uniting himself with us. He does this in Holy Communion when in the Blessed Sacrament he fills our souls, he in us and we in him.
So the Nicene Creed goes on, “And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man…”. Incarnate means ‘in the flesh’, God in human flesh. We bow our heads at these words in the Creed in order to show our reverence and love and humble adoration to Our Lord for bringing himself down to the level of people like us.
Emmanuel
If we had lived in those days before Jesus was born and had been told that God was coming to this earth, I wonder how we would have pictured it? Perhaps we would have expected him to come in the skies with such splendour that all would bow down in obedience to him.
Expectation of the Jews: a King of force
The Jews, although they did not know that the Lord God himself was coming, were at that time expecting a great King sent by God and they believed that, when he came, he would make war on the Romans. Palestine was, you remember, part of the Roman Empire and Roman soldiers were stationed in various parts of the country to keep the people in order. The Jews thought that the great King they expected would lead the people in battle against the Romans and drive them out; and if he did this for them no doubt they would be very glad and proud to have him and to obey him.
Reality: the King of Love
How different it was when God the Son, the King of Kings, did come! No gorgeous palace with marble pillars and floor and furnished with silken curtains was his birthplace – only a dark little stable cave, with rough, rocky walls and a straw-covered floor; no court officials and waiting servants, no bodyguard of soldiers outside with brilliant uniforms – only a few poor shepherds. That is how the Lord God, Jesus Christ, came to this world.
He came like that, quietly and humbly as a little child, in order that he might stir up our love for him. He would not make us obey him by force but only persuade us through love, and therefore it was as King of Love, not King of force that he was born that Christmas night.
He had no splendid palace because, through his love for us, he wanted to share and understand the life of even the poorest of us. So, later on, he could say, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man (that is, Jesus) has nowhere to lay his head” (NRSV, Luke 9:58). He knew what it was to be tired and sad and in pain and, at the end of his life on earth, all he had was three nails and a Cross.
With us always
So when you are sad or lonely or in pain, of one thing you may be quite certain; God knows and understands, for in Palestine he has been through it all himself. And more than that, we know that he is always near us and with us now, as he himself said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (NRSV, Matthew 28:20). That is why one of the names by which Jesus Christ is called is ‘Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God with us’.
SUMMARY
1. ‘Jesus’ means ‘Deliverer’, ‘Saviour’; and ‘Christ’ means the Anointed One, the true Prophet, Priest and King.
2. He is God’s ‘only’ Son (that is, Son in a way no one else can be) because as God he has always shared Heaven with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. ‘Our Lord’ means ‘Our Lord God’. He is truly God and truly Man.
3. We also call him ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God with us’, because he became Man and is still with us now.