No one could be saved from sin and attain true righteousness that pleases God without the incarnation of the Son of God, who is one in essence with the Father, and His sacrifice for the sake of sinners. As the apostle Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5–8). In offering His sacrifice on the cross He also offered the sacrifice of obedience to the will of the Father, in place of the sin of disobedience committed by the first Adam. The apostle says, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.”’” (Heb. 10:5–7).
Through the incarnation and the sacrifice of His life, He presented divine love in its most sublime form, saying, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).
Christ the Lord, the new Adam says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me” (Matt. 11:29). Our Messiah accepted the yoke of our suffering and transformed it from the suffering that results from sin into the suffering that results from love. By sharing our suffering, He made it beautiful and blessed. And if He calls us to carry His yoke, it is so that our lives may be blessed. Thus, he teaches us to practice the acceptance of His joyous yoke, something that no being in heaven or on earth can offer us.
In the same spirit, when the disciples of John the Baptist came and told Jesus that the head of John had been brought to Herod’s daughter Herodias on a platter (Matt. 14:11–12), Jesus made no comment, but departed from there to a deserted place by Himself (Matt. 14:13). As an incarnate human being, He showed us a practical way to deal with disasters and persecutions; that is to go to a deserted place — whether our churches or our homes — to be alone with God who alone can deal with all disasters, according to His divine good will. He is indeed the matchless teacher, this new Adam!
318 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 6.11 (NPNF II/7:36) amended.
By His incarnation He founded the Church, His body. We emulate the Head through our mutual love for each other, our humility, and our service. Therefore He says, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). On another occasion, when He washed His disciples’ feet, He said to his them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14–15).
That we might enjoy partaking of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), as Pope Athanasius the Apostolic says, “For [the Word] became man, that we might be made god.”319