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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
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Gospel text (Lk 7:18b-23): The disciples of John told him about all these things. John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (…). And he said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus of Nazareth: a recognizable historical figure from the faith

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

Today, we meet the disciples of the Baptist. With common sense, we understand that the Jesus of the Gospels is not an "invention", but the real Jesus Christ, strictly "historical". This figure is more logical and, from an historical point of view, also more understandable than the theoretical reconstructions through which some have tried to exclude faith in His divinity.

Yes, something extraordinary happened (Jesus Christ refers to the facts) which explains His crucifixion and effectiveness. Just twenty years after His death we found in the great hymn to Christ from the "Letter to the Philippians" (cf. 2:6-11) a fully developed Christology of Jesus: it asserts that Jesus was equal to God, but relinquished His rank, became man, humbled Himself to death on the cross, and only He should be honored by the cosmos, the worship that God had announced to the prophet Isaiah.

—Jesus, Your greatness lies in Your divine origin from which we understand with facts and confess with faith.