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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
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Gospel text (Mk 3:7-12): Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea (...). He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Jesus, Son "con-substantial" with God

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, we see, fully aghast, how people with evil spirits —prior to other men— would recognize Jesus Christ as being the "Son of God". Jesus warns them not to tell anyone who He is: this mystery should be revealed to men with pedagogy. The term "Son of God" identified Him with the living God present among us; it connected Him with the being of God Himself.

To get deeper into this truth demanded great efforts. Is He the Son in the sense of a "special closeness" to God (it was thus how Israel considered its Kings), or was He really truly "equal to God", "True God from true God"? The first Council of Nicaea (AD 325) explained the term "homooúsios" ("of the same substance"). This philosophical term (which has been incorporated into the "Creed") serves, however, to highlight that Jesus is not "the Son" in a mythological or political sense (those being the most obvious interpretations given the context of the time), but it is meant to be understood quite literally.

—Yes, in God Himself there is an eternal dialogue between Father and Son, who are both truly one and the same God in the Holy Spirit.