Catholic Thought discussion
Joy to the World
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Chapters 12 thru 14
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One of my favorite takeaways from Hahn's book is his focus on how God the Father establishes His family on earth through the Incarnation. The family in our society is under attack in so many ways and from so many sources, yet it is through families holding strong together in faith that evil can best be overcome, I think. Hahn quotes Pope St. John Paul II: "God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since He has in Himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of family, which is love."The forces of evil find openings in family gatherings and interactions, particularly at celebrations, funerals, weddings, etc. They feed off our basest emotions, desires, greed, envy, resentments, and even off our very helplessness against these tendencies in ourselves. Our best antidote is prayer, and reminding ourselves of our shared status as God's adopted children, our awareness that God is present, but awaits our invitation, or our cries for his help.
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They mostly agreed on things but they did stumble on a disagreement on the nature of God, of course, given their two different religions. Around the 24 minute mark the Rabbi says Jews see the Father as perfect, why does He need to be three? A few minutes before that Bishop Barron explained the central tenet of Christianity that God became man, but he never fully answered the Rabbi. The conversation drifted onto other things after that.
But Scott Hahn in chapter thirteen asks the very question, "Why did God become man? It is one of the insolvable mysteries, like Why is there something rather than nothing?" (p. 145)
To answer the good Rabbi one could just say that's what it is, just like gravity attracts and not repels. God chose to do that, and it doesn't make Him any less perfect. Bishop Barron says it's a mystery, but it's not a mystery. Scott Hahn answers it.
But in this instance an angel gives us a clue by way of the Scriptures. It is the angel who tells Saint Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Surely Jesus’s name, given by heaven, tells us something about his purpose. He came to “save his people”—more specifically, to save them “from their sins.” To do this is a pure act of merciful love, because sins are by definition offenses against almighty God. Yet it is God himself who has taken flesh for the sake of our salvation. He came, moreover, not just to save the wayward members of his chosen people but to save even the gravest sinners of Babylon and Egypt.
In the act of saving us, God drew close to us, so that we could see him and touch him. He became a baby, so that he would need to be picked up and caressed, changed and fed.
As we draw close to God incarnate, we can see more clearly the nature of God eternal. And that, too, was why he became man; revelation is bound up with our salvation. In our fallen state, with our darkened intellect and weakened will, we could not see God or know him, though we could know that he existed.
God drew close so that we could see clearly—and know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). In eternity, that is his deepest identity. Before he created anything to love, he was love; and love is an act that requires both a subject and an object, a lover and a beloved. God is that pure act of love. Because of the revelation of Christmas, we know that love as the Blessed Trinity. Pope Saint John Paul II summarized the matter in a memorable way: “God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude, but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of family, which is love.” (pp. 146-148)
God became man to (1) to save us as part of mankind, therefore redeeming mankind, because it was mankind that lost salvation, (2) to show us that God is love, (3) to reveal that God is a family of persons bound in love of which we are supposed to emulate, (4) to draw us close to Him since He took on physical presence, and (5) to show us that God can humble Himself to come as a babe that requires love and care.
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Is it really an either/or question as to why we have the Incarnation? God did it for our benefit, obviously, but we will never be able to fully penetrate the mind of God, so there will always be a part that remains mystery.
G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, addresses this question, but it is a difficult read, and he goes through many chapters of human history before making the point that the only way man could ever remain free and be redeemed from sin was through God becoming man, and it had to be God Himself taking on our nature to make it happen. Chesterton's style requires a patient and schooled reader, but when I got to the end of the book, all I could think was., WOW! Well worth the time I spent reading it.
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Madeleine, the book club read The Everlasting Man in 2018. I forget which month.
Manny wrote: "Madeleine wrote: "G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, addresses this question, but it is a difficult read, and he goes through many chapters of human history before making the point that the on..."I think I joined soon after that. I'll have to go back and look at the comments. An amazing book.
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No human mind could have invented the triune God. He is not a God we can contain in our categories or tame by our thoughts. No human mind could have conceived a God who is love and who loves us as if we were gods. No human mind, unaided by angels, could have dreamt up Christmas.
Christmas makes us different. Christmas sets us apart. Christmas calls us to share in divine love—and then to share that love with an unbelieving world. (p. 163)
So in chapter thirteen Hahn tells us why the birth of Christ is so important, and then he tells us why we should celebrate it. God entered humanity for our salvation, and that brings joy to us and to the world.
God has created the whole world for the sake of the joy we celebrate at Christmas. He fashioned human nature so that every man, woman, and child should desire Christmas joy and seek fulfillment in Bethlehem, the House of Bread—through the Bread that came down from heaven. God made us so that we would find all other joys unsatisfactory aprt from the joy of Christmas. (pp. 164-165)
So we should spread this joy, despite the commercialism twist that it has taken the last hundred years. Hahn is not afraid of the commercialism. In its own way, it’s “an acknowledgment of Christmas joy. It’s the market’s awkward attempt to join the party and capitalize on joy” (p. 166). And why is Christmas joy so important?
Because the world offers countless pleasures, but no lasting joys. What Jesus Christ gives is joy, even in the midst of hardship and sorrow—even amid persecution, flight, and exile. (p. 165)
It is amazing how people can be secular all year long but celebrate Christmas. In Christmas those people come the closest to tangibly experiencing Christian jubilance, but it still falls short of full mystical joy. This is our calling as Christians, to bring people to this joy.
Mod
That's a superb summary, Manny!
When as a child I learned that there are other religions with other festivals and that they didn't have Christmas, I felt bereft. How could you not have Christmas??? It was inconceivable to me to live through the entire year and not have Christmas to look forward to. This thought is so ingrained in me that when I encounter people from other places, even if it is just on TV, who don't celebrate Christmas, that's one of the first things that pops into my head: this person doesn't know the joy of Christmas.
Wonderful conclusions.Thank you for your insights, Manny. Always pointing us toward learning even more.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Thank you Lisa.
Chapter 12: “Flight Into Joy”
Hahn explains how the flight into Egypt resonates in Biblical history.
Chapter 13: “Blessed Trinities: Heaven and the Holy Family”
Hahn contemplates upon why God entered the world and by entering revealed how God is both a family and love.
Chapter 14: “Joy to the World”
Hahn explains why we celebrate Christmas, why it is important to do so, and the joy it brings to us and to the world.