Day 67: The Humanity and Divinity of Christ (470-474)
It is DAY 67!!
Only 298 days left to go!!
We are diving deeply into that mystery of HOW IS GOD MADE MAN?
What is the MIND of Jesus?
What’s His intellect all about?
How does He learn?
Did He learn?
The header is HOW IS THE SON OF GOD MAN?
When we say Jesus Christ is TRUE GOD and TRUE MAN
He became human WITHOUT LOSING HIS DIVINITY
He remained Divine WITHOUT LOSING HIS HUMANITY
THIS IS REMARKABLE!!
Jesus’ human nature was ASSUMED and NOT ABSORBED
We talked about this yesterday
One of the heresies that said when God took on human nature, it was like Alka-Seltzer in water and it absorbed the whole thing
Obliterated almost
Dissolved it
Because how can human nature CONTAIN DIVINITY?
That’s a great question
It is the MYSTERY of the Incarnation
The Church affirms that human nature was ASSUMED NOT ABSORBED
IT WAS NOT OVERRIDDEN!!
IN FACT…
Paragraph 470 says, “...The Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ’s human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body.”
THAT IS REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!!
Jesus had a HUMAN INTELLECT
Jesus had a HUMAN WILL
Jesus had a HUMAN BODY
THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!
Because it is in Christ’s human will that He conforms His will to the will of the Father
He assents intellectually and with everything He is to the Father’s will
He obeys the Father in everything as a human being
And as a divine being
THIS IS REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!!
There is NOTHING that Christ did not assume of human nature
EXCEPT OUR BROKENNESS!!
He did not assume our SIN
He became like us in all things BUT SIN
Paragraph 470 says, “In parallel fashion, [The Church] had to recall on each occasion that Christ’s human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from ‘one of the Trinity.’”
Christ has a HUMAN SOUL
Christ has operations of INTELLECT AND WILL
Christ has a HUMAN BODY
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!
Take a look at Paragraph 470
EVERY SENTENCE clarifies something even more profound about Jesus
Paragraph 470 continues, “The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity.”
Reflect on this
Read that again
What does that mean?
What’s the PERSONAL MODE OF EXISTENCE IN THE TRINITY?
He is the SON OF THE FATHER
He is the SECOND PERSON OF THE TRINITY
He receives the Father’s love and pours Himself back out in love to the Father
That LOVE is the HOLY SPIRIT
THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY
So Jesus communicates to His humanity that mode of existence
Jesus communicates to His humanity that REALITY of being the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF THE FATHER
WHICH IS JUST INCREDIBLE!!
IT IS AMAZING!!
Only 5 short paragraphs today
We will also look at Christ’s Soul and His Human Knowledge
When we use the term “His Human Soul” we are referring to a lot of things
What is its operations of intellect and will?
We think intellect is our brain
YES AND NO!!
Our thoughts happen in our brain
But there is a “superbrain”
Or call it a “suprabrain”
We have a MIND not just a brain
That INTELLECT…
That MIND…
Is a HUMAN MIND
Jesus, in His human soul has the operations of a human MIND, an intellect
AND…
A human WILL, the ability to CHOOSE
The question is, “How does that human mind grow?”
“How does that human mind learn?”
“Was Christ immediately born and could He speak?”
The Church says NO
As a human being
Jesus is a DIVINE PERSON with a human and divine NATURE
In His human nature HE HAD TO LEARN
THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!!
Paragraph 472 says, “This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, ‘increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man,’ and would even have to inquire for himself.”
Paragraph 473 says, “But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person.”
HE HAD TO LEARN!!
HE HAD TO GROW!!
St Maximus the Confessor said in Paragraph 473, “The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.”
HIS HUMAN INTELLECT WAS LIMITED
IT HAD TO GROW!!
AT THE SAME TIME…
HIS HUMAN INTELLECT WAS UNITED WITH THE DIVINE NATURE THAT HE HAD
How does that work?
IT IS A MYSTERY!!
Tomorrow we will look at Christ’s Human Will and Christ’s True Body
Today we are sticking with Christ’s Soul and His Human Knowledge
THIS REALITY THAT IS SO PROFOUND!!
With all that introductory stuff out of the way, let’s say a prayer!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you. We thank you for the mystery, as confusing as it might be, the mystery of the Incarnation of your Son, Jesus Christ. That Second Person of the Trinity. The Word that became Flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory. The glory as of a Father’s Only Son. Because, Father, you so loved the world that you gave your Son, so that everyone who believed in Him might not perish, but might have Eternal Life. Today, help us to know more and more about your Son. Help us, today, to accept Him even more fully. Help us, today, to be loved by Him and to receive that love as we are loved by you and receive your love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen”
WOW!!
That’s a mouthful!!
BUT IT IS SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL!!
Yesterday was a long day with a lot of heresies
The one heresy we are kind of focusing on is Apollinarius of Laodicaea in Paragraph 471, “Apollinarius of Laodicaea asserted that in Christ the divine Word had replaced the soul or spirit. Against this error the Church confessed that the eternal Son also assumed a rational, human soul.”
He said that Jesus didn’t have a HUMAN SOUL or a HUMAN SPIRIT
THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!
Gaudium et Spes stated at the end of Paragraph 470, “The Son of God…worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved.”
Why is that so important?
Because in all of this, Jesus Christ is redeeming the WHOLE LIFE OF HUMANITY
Jesus Christ is living IN FULL UNION and IN FULL OBEDIENCE to the Father
Not only as the ETERNAL DIVINE SON
BUT…
IN THAT HUMAN NATURE!!
So here is a HUMAN NATURE
Here is a HUMAN INTELLECT
Here is a HUMAN WILL
That consistently is OBEDIENT
That consistently is WILLING WHAT THE FATHER WILLS
THIS IS SO VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR US!!
There is not one aspect of HUMANITY
There is not one aspect of HUMAN REALITY
That Jesus has not entered into and has therefore REDEEMED
THAT IS SO SO IMPORTANT FOR US!!
Paragraph 472 says, “This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited.”
Jesus wasn’t born speaking every language
Jesus had to LEARN Aramaic
Jesus had to LEARN Greek
Jesus had to LEARN Latin, if He had to know Latin
Jesus probably did not know English
Obviously, there is nothing that the Eternal God doesn’t know
BUT…
In assuming a TRUE HUMAN SOUL
INTELLECT AND WILL
He actually assumed TRUE HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
Paragraph 472 says, “[He] would even have to inquire for himself about what one in the human condition can only learn from experience.”
HE HAD TO ASK QUESTIONS!!
QUESTIONS THAT HE WOULDN’T KNOW THE ANSWER TO!!
Paragraph 472 continues, “This corresponded to the reality of his voluntary emptying of himself, taking ‘the form of a slave.’”
It is SHOCKING that God would love us so much that He would EMPTY HIMSELF AND TAKE ON LIMITED HUMAN INTELLECT
LIMITED HUMAN WILL
LIMITED HUMAN POWER
In a body that could actually SUFFER AND DIE
THIS IS REMARKABLE!!
So that He could live like us IN ALL THINGS taking the form of a slave
Paragraph 473 says, “But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person.”
St Maximus the Confessor said, “The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.”
That is one of the reasons Jesus could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Jesus has ALWAYS been the Second Person of the Trinity
FROM ETERNITY He is the SON OF THE FATHER
Even when He assumed that HUMAN NATURE He REMAINED THE SON OF THE FATHER
SO INCREDIBLE!!
Paragraph 474 says, “By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal.”
Jesus didn’t walk around thinking, “What’s happening now? Why are they torturing me? Why are they arresting me? Why are they rejecting me?”
HE KNEW WITH DIVINE WISDOM
Here is God who EMBRACED SUFFERING knowing fully what would happen to Him
One of the things that hurts the most about suffering is not just the moment of suffering, but knowing that it is coming
Knowing that it is on its way
Jesus enjoyed in His human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal
We can sit back and marvel at that
We should enter into that in prayer
“God, in taking on human nature, you knew what you were doing. You know you would be rejected. You knew that you would be despised. You knew that the people you were giving your heart to would be the people who would pierce your heart.”
THAT IS GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU!!
These last 67 days is not just about INFORMATION
IT IS ABOUT TRANSFORMATION!!
IT IS ABOUT FALLING IN LOVE WITH THIS GOD!!
Knowing more and more about His intellect and His will
Knowing more and more that He had to grow
BUT AT THE SAME TIME…
As He grew He had in His human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans He had come to reveal
AND SAID YES TO THAT!!
WITH EVERY BREATH SAID YES TO THAT!!
WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT SAID YES TO THAT!!
MAN!!
It can actually BREAK YOUR HEART if you pray about it
HOPE YOU ARE PRAYING ABOUT IT!!
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!