60. Jesus, the true ideal of man

Jesus, the true ideal of man

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 60

Ave Maria series

60.  Why is Jesus the greatest example in the world?

Jesus Christ is unique because he shows us not only God’s true nature but also the true ideal of man.

  

[358-359, 381]

Christ and the Samaritan-woman at Jacobs well by Simon Dewey. …..60

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,^* and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” –Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus was more than an ideal man.  Even seemingly ideal men are sinners.  That is why no man can be the measure of humanity.  Jesus, however, was without sin.  We cannot know what it means to be a man, and what makes man infinitely loveable in the truest sense of the word, except in Jesus Christ, who “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning” (Hebrews 4:15).  Jesus, the Son of God, is the authentic, true man.  In him we recognize how God willed man to be.

In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear. Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes

358-359, 381

Man

I.  IN THE IMAGE OF GOD"

358 God created everything for man,( Compare Gaudium et Spes 12 § 1; GS 24 § 3; GS 39 § 1.)²²² but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him:

What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.( St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. Sermo 2,1: Patrologia Graeca 54,587D-588A.)²²³ –Catechism of the Catholic Church. Second Edition

359 "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."( Gaudium et Spes 22 § 1.)²²⁴

St. Paul tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam and Christ. . . The first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. The first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also received his soul, to give him life. . . The second Adam stamped his image on the first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role and the name of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made in his own image. The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a beginning, the last knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: "I am the first and the last."( St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 117: Payrologia Latina 52,520-521.)²²⁵ --CCC

IN BRIEF

381 Man is predestined to reproduce the image of God's Son made man, the "image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15), so that Christ shall be the first-born of a multitude of brothers and sisters (compare Ephesians 1:3-6; Romans 8:29). --CCC