76. Jesus saves! (John 14:6)

Jesus saves! (John 14:6)

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 76

Ave Maria series

76.  Why did God become man in Jesus?

“For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven” (Nicene Creed).  [456-460]

The Lord's Prayer by James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum. “I would be an ungrateful wretch were I not always mindful through all eternity that your salvation and mine are purely gifts of God through Jesus his Son” Don L. Bragg. .....76

In Jesus Christ, God reconciled the world to himself and redeemed mankind from the imprisonment of sin.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (John 3:16).  In Jesus, God took on our mortal human flesh (Incarnation), shared our earthly lot, our sufferings, and our death, and became one like us in all things but sin.

“God is so great that he can become small.  God is so great that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenseless child, so that we can love him.”  Pope Benedict XVI, December 24, 2005

[456-460]

WHY DID THE WORD BECOME FLESH?

456 With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man."--Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

457 The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world", and "he was revealed to take away sins" (1 John 4:10; 1 Jn 4:14; 1 Jn 3:5 ):⁷⁰  –CCC

“Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. catech 15: Patrologia Graeca 45, 48B)⁷¹ --CCC

458 The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9)."⁷² "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)."⁷³

--CCC

459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me ( Matthew 11:29; John 14:6)."⁷⁴ On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him! (Mark 9:7; compare Deuteronomy 6:4-5)"⁷⁵ Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12.)."⁷⁶ This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example (compare Mark 8:34 ).⁷⁷ —CCC

460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4):⁷⁸ "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 19, 1: Patrologia Graeca 7/1, 939)."⁷⁹ "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God (St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: Patrologia Graeca 25, 192B)."⁸⁰ "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods (St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57, 1-4)."⁸¹ --CCC