Catholic Replies

2 years ago

Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them.

Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 18)

The name Jesus means “savior” because He came to Earth to save us from our sins. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, Old Testament prophets predicted His coming into our world. The Prophet Isaiah said that the Messiah would be known as “Prince of Peace.” And during His time on Earth, Jesus would say that He had come to bring peace to the world, not peace through military force, however, but rather peace through love and service of others. A descendant of King David, He was born in Bethlehem, of a virgin mother, and He went to His death on a cross to make it possible for us to get to Heaven.

The reason why Jesus came to Earth was because Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit at the temptation of Satan. God could have abandoned Adam and Eve after their sin, but instead He promised to send a redeemer, the offspring of a woman (Mary), who would defeat the power of the Devil. That Redeemer was Jesus, who would leave His place in Heaven and come to Earth as a man so that He could die for our sins. No mere man could atone for original sin, but only a Person who was both God and man.

Jesus never stopped being God, but He took on a human nature so that He could represent us and atone for the sin of Adam and Eve. It is important to remember that Jesus is both God and man at the same time. His human nature and His divine nature are united in the one divine Person of Jesus, who is also known as Christ, which is not Jesus’ last name but rather a title meaning the anointed one sent by God.

You and I are one person with one nature (human), but Jesus is one Person with two natures (divine and human). As man, He could take our place; as God, He could make up for sin with His infinite power. The people of the Old Testament tried to atone for sin by sacrificing the blood of animals, but this was not enough. It took the bloody sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to atone for sin.

One of the first things we learn as children is to make the sign of the cross while saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” That action is the sign of our salvation. It expresses our belief that we can get to Heaven only because Jesus died on the cross. When people in the Old Testament were punished with poisonous snake bites because they turned away from God, Moses erected a serpent of brass on a tree and, when the people looked at that serpent, they were cured of the poison of snake bites. So, too, when we look at the figure of Jesus on the cross, we can be cured of the poison of sin. “When I am lifted up from the Earth,” Jesus said in reference to His crucifixion, “I will draw everyone to myself.”

After Jesus died on the cross, His spirit descended into the lower world, sometimes referred to as the “bosom of Abraham,” to release all the good people who had died from the beginning of time, but who could not get to Heaven until His death on the cross. Imagine the joy of those who had been waiting so long for their release from what St. Peter called “prison.”

On the third day after He died on the cross, Jesus rose from the dead and spent forty days on Earth before returning to Heaven on what we celebrate as Ascension Thursday. During those forty days, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people and gave instructions to the apostles to spread His teachings throughout the whole world, baptizing everyone “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Ten days later, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the apostles to give them the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and courage to carry out His mission in the world in the face of opposition, persecution, and death. He did all of this not because we deserve it, but solely because He loves us. How ungrateful and foolish we would be not to give Christ our unconditional love in return.

List of Answers:

ADAM

APOSTLES

CROSS

DAVID

EVE

FIVE

FORTY

GOD

JESUS

LOVES

MAN

MOSES

NATURES

PRINCE

PRISON

REDEEMER

SAVIOR

Quiz:

1.The name Jesus means __________ because He came to save us from our sins.

Jesus would be known as the “_______________ of Peace.”
He was a descendant of King ___________________.
Jesus came to earth to atone for the sin of ______ and ___.
That is why He is known as our ________________________.
Jesus is both _______ and _________ at the same time.
He is one Person with two _______________________, divine and human.
The Sign of the _______________ is the sign of our salvation.

9.________________ erected a serpent of brass on a tree so people could look at it and be cured of snake bites.

10.__________ was nailed to a cross so that we can obtain forgiveness from sins by looking at Him.
Jesus descended into the lower world to release the good souls from ______.
Jesus spent _______________ days on earth after rising from the dead.
He appeared to more than ________ hundred people during that time.
He told the ____________________ to go out into the whole world and baptize everyone “in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus suffered and died for us because He ________ us, not because we deserve it.