Jesus Christ Comes in the Power of the Holy Spirit General audience of August 5, 1987

1
Jesus Christ Comes in the Power of the Holy
SpiritGeneral audience of August 5, 1987
2

•  I came from the Father and have come into the
  world again, I am leaving the world and going to
  the Father"
• (Jn 1628).
• Jesus Christ is aware of his origin from the
  Father
• he is the Son because he comes from the Father.
• His mission (missio) which is based on the
  eternal origin of Christ the Son from the Father,
  is rooted in him.

3

•  Therefore in this mission the Father reveals the
  Son and bears witness to Christ as his Son, while
  the Son reveals the Father.
• No one "knows the Son except the Father, and no
  one knows the Father except the Son and any one
  to whom the Son chooses to reveal him"
• (Mt 1127).
•  

4

•  The Son, who came from the Father, expresses and
  confirms his own sonship inasmuch as he reveals
  the Father before the world.
• He does so not only by the words of the Gospel,
• but also through his life,
• by the fact that he lives completely for the
  Father,
• and this
• to the sacrifice of his life on the cross.

5

• This saving mission of the Son of God as man was
  carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Numerous passages of the Gospels and the whole of
  the New Testament bear witness to this.
• In the Old Testament the truth about the close
  relationship between the Son's mission and the
  coming of the Holy Spirit
• (which is also his "mission")
• was hidden,
• even if in a certain way already announced.

6

• The words of Isaiah have a particular intimation
  of it.
• Jesus referred to them at the beginning of his
  messianic activity at Nazareth.
• "The spirit of the Lord is upon me
• therefore he has anointed me.
• He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
  
• to proclaim liberty to captives,
• recovery of sight to the blind and release to
  prisoners,
• and to announce a year of favor from the Lord"
• (Lk 417-19 cf. Is 611-2).

7

• These words refer to the Messiah,
• a word which means
• "consecrated with oil"
• (anointed),
• that is to say,
• he who comes in the power of the Spirit of the
  Lord.
• Jesus stated before his fellow townspeople that
  these words refer to himself
• "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your
  hearing"
• (cf. Lk 421).

8

• This truth about the Messiah who comes in the
  power of the Holy Spirit was confirmed during
  Jesus' baptism in the Jordan at the beginning of
  his messianic activity.

9

• Particularly striking is the text of John which
  records the words of the Baptist
• "I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from the
  sky, and it came to rest on him.
• But I did not recognize him.
• The one who sent me to baptize with water told
  me,
• 'When you see the Spirit descend and rest on
  someone, it is he who is to baptize with the Holy
  Spirit.'
• Now I have seen for myself and have testified,
• 'This is God's chosen One'"
• (Jn 132-34).

10

• Jesus, then, is the Son of God,
• he who
• "went forth from the Father and came into the
  world"
• to bring the Holy Spirit.
• (cf. Jn 1628)
• He came
• "to baptize with the Holy Spirit"
• (cf. Mk 18),
• that is, to institute the new reality of being
  reborn from God on the part of the children of
  Adam burdened with sin.

11

• The coming of the Son of God into the world, his
  human conception and virginal birth were the work
  of the Holy Spirit.
• The Son of God was made man and was born of the
  Virgin Mary through the work of the Holy Spirit,
  and in his power.

12

• John's testimony to Jesus of Nazareth as Son of
  God is closely linked to the passage of Luke's
  Gospel where we read that at the annunciation the
  angel told Mary that she would
• "conceive and bear a son who shall be called Son
  of the Most High"
• (cf. Lk 131-32).
• She asked,
• "How can this be, since I have no husband?"
• She received the answer
• "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power
  of the Most High will overshadow you, hence, the
  holy offspring to be born will be called Son of
  God"
• (Lk 134-35).

13

• If therefore the going forth from the Father and
  coming into the world
• of the Son of God as man
• (the Son of Man),
• was done in the power of the Holy Spirit, this
  manifests the mystery of God's trinitarian life.
• (cf. Jn 1628)
• This vivifying power of the Holy Spirit was
  confirmed from the very beginning of Jesus'
  messianic activity, as is clear from the Gospel
  texts
• (Mk 110 Mt 316 Lk 322 Jn 132-34).

14

• The sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit
• Already in the infancy narrative, when it is said
  of Jesus that
• "the grace of God was upon him"
• (Lk 240),
• the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit is
  indirectly shown.

15

• However, it is from the moment of the baptism in
  the Jordan that the Gospels speak more explicitly
  of Christ's activity in the power of the Spirit.
• "The Spirit immediately drove him out into the
  wilderness,"
• according to Mark (112).

16

• In the desert, after a forty days' fast, the
  Spirit of God permitted Jesus to be tempted by
  the devil, as a result of which he gained his
  first messianic victory
• (cf. Lk 41-14).

17

• Also during his public life, Jesus showed the
  same power of the Holy Spirit in dealing with
  those possessed by the devil.
• Jesus himself emphasized it with the words,
• "If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out
  demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon
  you"
• (Mt 1228).

18

• The conclusion of the whole messianic struggle
  against the forces of evil was the paschal event
• the death on the cross and the resurrection of
  him who came from the Father in the power of the
  Holy Spirit.

19

• Likewise, after the ascension, Jesus remained for
  his disciples he whom
• "God anointed with the Holy Spirit and with
  power"
• (Acts 1038).
• They recalled that thanks to this power, the
  people, hearkening to Jesus' teaching, praised
  God and said,
• "A great prophet has arisen among us and God has
  visited his people"
• (Lk 716).
• "No man ever spoke like this man"
• (Jn 746).

20
They testified that by virtue of this power,
Jesus "performed mighty works and wonders and
signs" (Acts 222), and so

• "all the crowd sought to touch him, for power
  came forth from him and healed them all"
• (Lk 619).

21

• In all that Jesus of Nazareth,
• the Son of Man,
• did and taught, the words of the prophet Isaiah
  about the Messiah were fulfilled
• (cf. 421)
• "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved
  with whom I am well pleased. I will put my Spirit
  upon him"
• (Mt 1218).

22

• This power of the Holy Spirit is manifested to
  the very depths in Christ's redemptive sacrifice
  and in his resurrection.
• Truly Jesus is the Son of God whom the Father
  anointed and sent into the world
• (cf. Jn 1036).

23

• In obedience to the will of the Father,
• he offered himself to God through the Spirit as a
  spotless victim,
• and this victim purifies our conscience from dead
  works to serve the living God
• (cf. Heb 914).

24

• The same Holy Spirit
• as the Apostle Paul testifies
• "has raised Jesus from the dead"
• (Rom 811).
• Through this
• "rising from the dead"
• Jesus Christ received the fullness of messianic
  power, and was definitively revealed by the Holy
  Spirit as Son of God with power
• "designated Son of God in power according to the
  Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the
  dead"
• (Rom 14).

25

• Therefore Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into
  the world by the work of the Holy Spirit,
• and as Son of Man he fulfilled completely his
  messianic mission in the power of the Holy
  Spirit.
• But if Jesus Christ acted through this power
  during the whole of his saving activity and
  finally in the passion and resurrection, then it
  is the Holy Spirit himself who reveals that Jesus
  is the Son of God.
• Thus today, thanks to the Holy Spirit, the
  divinity of the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, shines
  before the world.

26

• With this in mind St. Paul writes
• "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the
  Holy Spirit"
• (1 Cor 123).