Who is Jesus Christ?

Jesus is God's son, sent by God to become human like us.  In his life and being he broke through the prison of sinfulness and thus restored the relationship of love and trust that God intended to exist between himself and his children.  Though he is eternal, with God at the beginning of time, he was born on earth of a virgin, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was at once truly God and truly human.

The man, Jesus of Nazareth, lived and died in Palestine during the governorship of the Roman administrator Pontius Pilate; we believe him to be the Messiah chosen by God to show his love for the world.  He is God, yet with all the limitations of being human.   His relationship to God, however, was not one of sin but rather of perfect obedience to the Father's will.  For the sake of a sinful world, Jesus was condemned to death on the cross.

But death could not contain him.  On the third day after his execution, the day Christians observe as Easter, Jesus appeared among his followers as the risen, living Lord.  By this great victory God has declared the Good News of reconciliation.   The gap between all that separates us from our Creator has been bridged.   Thus, Christ lives today wherever there are people who faithfully believe in him and wherever the Good News of reconciliation is preached and the Sacraments administered.