Monday, November 30, 2015
Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 98 - Part II.
(Youcat
answer - repeated) The violent death of Jesus did not come about through tragic
external circumstances. “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan
and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So that we children of sin and death
might have life, the Father in heaven “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2
Cor 5:21). The magnitude of the sacrifice that God the Father asked of his Son,
corresponded to the magnitude of Christ’s obedience: “And what shall I say?
“Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour”
(Jn 12:27). On both sides, God’s love for men proved itself to the very end on
the Cross.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 601)
The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting
to death of "the righteous one, my Servant" as a mystery of universal
redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of sin
(Isa 53:11; cf. 53:12; Jn 8:34-36; Acts 3:14). Citing a confession of faith
that he himself had "received", St. Paul professes that "Christ
died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3; cf. also
Acts 3:18; 7:52; 13:29; 26:22-23). In particular Jesus' redemptive death fulfills
Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering Servant (Cf. Isa 53:7-8 and Acts 8:32-35).
Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light
of God's suffering Servant (Cf. Mt 20:28). After his Resurrection he gave this
interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus, and then to the
apostles (Cf. Lk 24:25-27, 44-45).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) In order to
save us from death, God embarked on a dangerous mission: He introduced a
“Medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) into our world of death—his Son
Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son were inseparable in this mission, willing
and yearning to take the utmost upon themselves out of love for man. God willed
to make an exchange so as to save us forever. He wanted to give us his eternal
life, so that we might experience his joy, and wanted to suffer our death, our
despair, our abandonment, our death, so as to share with us in everything. So
as to love us to the end and beyond. Christ’s death is the will of the Father
but not his final word. Since Christ died for us, we can exchange our death for
his life.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 602)
Consequently, St. Peter can formulate the apostolic faith in the divine plan of
salvation in this way: "You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
from your fathers... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb
without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but
was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake" (1 Pet 1:18-20).
Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death (Cf. Rom 5:12; 1
Cor 15:56). By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in the form of a
fallen humanity, on account of sin, God "made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21;
cf. Phil 2:7; Rom 8:3).
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