WHO DO I SAY THAT JESUS IS?

by Lenora Grimaud


I believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man. If he were only a man, he could not know me and I could not know him. His life and teaching would have no relevance for me, today. If Jesus were only God, I could easily dismiss him as a figment of my imagination—I could not have a personal relationship with him, and through him, come to know the Father and the Holy Spirit.

I believe that Jesus Christ is God—the only Son of the living God. I have not seen him, but I have come to know him, because he lives within my heart. Jesus is the source of a beauty and glory that does not fade, a truth that does not change, a goodness that cannot be corrupted by evil, and a love that is constant and never-ending.

If I did not believe this, I could not believe in, or love, the Church who taught me about Jesus—she would be a tyrant. If I did not believe in Jesus, I could not believe in the kingdom of God—a kingdom that is eternal.

Jesus is my hope—hope in a life that is not temporary, a kingdom that is not temporary. This hope gives meaning and purpose to the life that I have lived, the life that I am living now, and the life that I will live—that in the worst of times and the best of times, it is not in vain, not passing, not meaningless, not here today and gone tomorrow.

Without this hope, beauty is fleeting, goodness is futile, truth is only conjecture or opinion, and love is merely sentiment. Without this hope, the Beatitudes are merely a description of insanity; creation is only an illusion without rhyme or reason—a temporary pleasure—and we may as well “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

Jesus is the reason for life—he is life.