Please read the passage before the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
The centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” The first words of Mark’s gospel say it is “The gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]”. The rest of the gospel shows how Jesus is the Son of God. The passion narrative concludes the gospel. What Jesus did in this gospel in preaching, healing and dying prove he is the Son of God. He followed God’s plan for him completely despite the cost.
Theologians tell us that during his lifetime, the human nature of Jesus did not fully grasp the divine nature of Jesus. In other words, as Jesus was preaching, healing, and moving about, he did not know that he was also God. They say that only in the handing over of his spirit to God as he breathed his last, that his human nature became fully aware of his divinity.
The centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Is it despite the fact that Jesus had a divine nature that he never deviated from doing the right thing or is it because he had a divine nature that he could not deviate?
We are like Jesus. We have been called to share the divine nature of Christ in the Christian faith. We struggle now to live up to the challenge God has given us, but when we hand over our spirit as we die, we hope to experience, as Jesus did, the fulness of God’s divinity.
Jesus was like us in all things, except sin. He was born, he grew up, he died. We are born, we grow up, and we die. We share his divine nature in the Church now. When we die, we look forward to sharing it forever in God’s glory. Truly we likewise are children of God.