Episode Transcript  

One

The Catholic Church has always been delighted to present the truth about Jesus in as dramatic, and almost incredible, a style as possible.  For instance, the Catechism puts it like this, “We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal son of God made man.”

Isn’t that amazing? The Church just comes right out and says it, “There was this guy, He lived in a really small country under Roman rule a couple thousand years ago. He had a mom, He grew up, He worked, He lived, He died. He didn’t live that long, He didn’t meet that many people, didn’t write any books or rule any nations. But, anyway, that guy was the Creator of the Universe.”

It sounds unbelievable. But that’s the heart of our faith. To be Christian is to believe exactly that. When we say that Jesus is both God and man, we really believe it. We mean He is fully God and fully human.

Two

Fully God

Jesus is Fully God. When the Son of God joined Himself to human nature, He did not cease being God. Jesus Christ had all the attributes (or characteristics) of God. He was eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful. 

Jesus didn’t just teach about God. He said He was God, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), using the divine name revealed to Moses. The Jews understood exactly what He meant—they picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy. He also said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), again prompting accusations that He, a man, was making Himself God. When Thomas saw the risen Jesus, he declared, “My Lord and my God!”—and Jesus accepted it (John 20:28). Jesus forgave sins, accepted worship, and claimed divine authority.

So, we can’t say He was merely a good man or a wise teacher like Gandhi. If He said He was God but wasn’t, then He was either a liar or a lunatic—not a good man. But everything about His life, His wisdom, love, and fulfillment of prophecy, points to the truth: He is Lord. 

Jesus heals the sick, commands storms to be still, casts out demons, and raises the dead. He cures a paralyzed servant with a word, calms a violent sea with a command, drives out a legion of demons, and raises a little girl to life. Then He does what no one else can: He rises from the dead by His own power. He is not just a healer or a teacher. The wind and sea obey Him. Hell flees before Him. Death submits to Him. Jesus is God. His miracles are the evidence. They shout: This is the Son of God.

As C.S. Lewis put it, Jesus forces us to a choice: “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God—or else a madman or something worse.” There is no middle ground. He is either Lord, liar, or lunatic. And the evidence overwhelmingly points to Lord.

Three

Fully Man

Jesus is also Fully Human. He has a human body and a human soul, a complete physiology and psychology just like us. Every event in Our Lord’s life shows His humanity. From His humble birth, to His early childhood, through His maturity, we see that He didn’t shy away from the nitty-gritty details of human existence. If His family couldn’t find a hotel room for Him to be born in, He’d have to be born in a barn. He was circumcised and offered to God, just like the other Jewish kids. 

When He was in danger, His family had to emigrate, and couldn’t come home until things were safe. When He went missing, His family had to look for Him anxiously until they found Him. So Jesus has a humanity that is like ours “in all things but sin.” And even there, although never subject to sin in any form, He even allowed Himself to undergo the pressure of temptation in order to sympathize with our weakness. 

More than that, Christ’s resistance to Satan counterbalances Adam’s weakness in yielding to the serpent. We have a new hero, a new representative, and a new champion. Where Adam failed, Christ succeeded, and all of us reap the benefits. But returning to the main point, Christ’s full humanity is shown in the way He went through all our experiences, even what it is like to be tempted and overcome temptation. So, He knows firsthand how difficult the struggle can be.

Four

Jesus is the only way to God 

The great paradox of our human condition is this: we are made for union with God, yet we cannot attain it by our own power. We are finite, yet we are made for the Infinite. Created with a longing for eternal life, we find ourselves unable to bridge the chasm that sin has opened between us and God. We are too small, too weak, to return on our own.

Imagine trying to cross a river that is infinitely wide, deep, and powerful. We are born on the wrong side, and though our hearts cry out for the far shore, we cannot reach it. But at one moment in history, something astonishing happened: the far shore—God—came to us. In Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the divine became human (CCC 464–470). A land bridge was formed. His humanity became the way across.

Jesus is the only bridge, the only hope. In the Eucharist, He gives us His very Body and Blood, His humanity that connects us with His divinity, so that we can cross over and enter eternal life with God.

Five

The Only Way

In John 14, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He doesn’t say, “I am one of many ways, one of many truths, or one of your various options for life.” There’s only one bridge to God – Jesus Christ. No other religion even claims to have found a different case where God has become man, where the far shore has become the near shore. So if you don’t go across the bridge that is Jesus, you don’t get to God.

Which means you have to be very careful not to say, “Well, everyone has their own path to God.” That’s not really true. Everyone has the same path – it’s Jesus. Maybe people can get across that bridge without knowing it. Hopefully, they can. But there’s only one bridge, there’s only one path to salvation, and if you know where to look for it, you’ll definitely have a better chance of getting across it.

Jesus is the only chance anybody has of getting to Heaven. He’s the one you want to go to.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Spend thirty minutes in meditation every morning, sitting quietly and getting to know Christ as you would a close friend.

• Commit to at least one Adoration each week.

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