Jesus: Definitive Revelation of God's Plan

Jesus: Definitive Revelation of God's Plan

Unit 4

​Need to Know

• ​God's Plan through Jesus

  • ​To be fully human

    • ​Jesus showing how to live

  • ​The gifts of free will and intellect

    • ​Our choices and decisions

  • ​Call to be stewards of creation

To Be Fully Human

We are made in God's image

• Not physically​ or act like

• ​Rather, we have fundamental dignity

• ​We are predestined to reproduced the image of God

​

​Jesus responded to the dignity of others.

• ​never treated them as things but always as people made in the divine image.

• ​He sought out and ministered to those whose dignity was not recognized in the society of his day.

• healed lepers

• treated sinners with respect

• reached out to Samaritans and to Gentiles.

​Jesus our Model

• ​Jesus embodied all that was good in Humanity

• ​Invites us to follow him and become his disciples

• ​He has given us ways to be like him and become closer to God

  • ​Through humanity

  • ​Prayer

  • ​Poverty

​Following Jesus

• ​Humility

  • ​sign of service and hospitality

  • ​Humble service and visions of God's reign

• ​Prayer

  • ​having a firm relationship with God

  • ​through the Our Father prayer, we speak to God

• ​Poverty

  • ​consider our relationship to material things and our willingness to do without certain physical comforts.

​Gift of Free Will and Intellect

​Intellect:

• ​capacity to think and reason logically and to learn about the world around us.

• ​to make wise decisions and to think about the consequences of our actions.

• ​abilities to pursue “truths of a higher order”: the truths of divine wisdom

• ​leads us to God

​Gift of Free Will and Intellect

​Free Will:

• ​God always wants us to make good, morally correct decisions

• ​God gives each of us a conscience to help us to choose rightly

• ​given us the gift of freedom, to choose our own path in life

• ​cannot force us to act a certain way

• ​Jesus also had free will, he could have walked away from his death but he chose to follow the path his father set for him

​To Love and Be Loved

• ​Through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection - he reveals that we are created to love

• ​We are to love God --> We love God --> We love our neighbors

Jesus Love for Us​

• Spoke t​he truth no matter what - even when threatened with violence

• ​Through healing - curing the blind and lame, resurrecting the dead

• ​seeking out those whom society had excluded and forgotten,

  • poor

  • Samaritans

  • women

• ​willingly gave himself so that all people might be free from sin and death.

​How Jesus wants us to Love

• God loves Jesus --> Jesus loves his disciples --> ​we are to love each other

• ​love others even if and when they disappoint us

• ​seek the good even at our own expense

• ​love your enemy

​Call to be Stewards of Creation

• ​Humanity and the natural world are deeply interconnected

• ​Jesus reveals our call to care for creation responsibly

• ​We see this through Jesus Parables

​The call

• ​We are called to care for the world God has given us as home

• ​By caring for the natural world, we enable all creation to share in the glory of God who is the source of all being

• ​Earth is the "original gift" of God to us and is given to all of humanity

• ​God made us to be stewards of all life - including human life and the earth itself

• ​We have a sacred relationship between humanity and creation

  • ​we are to never exploit creation or use it for our benefit only

  • ​we must acknowledge its goodness and preserve it for future generations