The primary reason Jesus came was to fully reveal the true God, so that we may come to know Him, and by knowing Him we should believe in, trust/hope in, and ultimately and most importantly, to love Him. And love, when complete and perfected, “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). The more we know God the more we love Him; it cannot be helped; He’s sheer, unbridled goodness itself. He’s the ultimate Good, that we choose over evil.Taken to its extreme, to fail to know and love God is hell, while to know and love Him is heaven. And, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.“ John 17:3
We all start out with a “distorted image” of God, as the catechism teaches that Adam conceived of at the Fall. This image is of a God who’s “jealous of His prerogatives” a God who’s drug down to our level, whimsical, perhaps, but distant, angry, and aloof in His superiority, the “god” that humans play whenever we abuse power and authority over others in some manner. But that’s not the true God and enmity came from man, not Him-He only desires the very best for us. But there’s a part of us that doesn’t even want to know Him, preferring ourselves to Him as the catechism teaches that Adam did. This is the essence of pride, believing that we know better than God and that freedom from Him might net us a better and fuller, more glorious and happier existence. Adam basically dismissed and lost the “knowledge of God” by becoming his own “god” for all practical purposes. Jesus came to restore that very knowledge as the time became ripe, when man might finally be more malleable, more humble and receptive of the light, to the truth about himself and His Creator after spending time in a world effectively exiled from Him, with all that exile means and entails. Part of the problem is just getting past ourselves, the main obstacle. The Church teaches that, at the Fall, man became divided in some manner from God, from his fellow man, from the rest of creation, and from himself.
At the end of the day our very purpose is fulfilled and our perfection attained to the extent that we’re bound to God (CCC 1732), as we come to freely love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, fulfilling the greatest commandment. This is all a tall order though, impossible on our own, without grace. But that’s the point, “with God all things are possible“ (Matt 19:26). That’s why we need a Savior. ”Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Anyway, I appreciate the words of Basil of Caesarea, a 4th century bishop, as they apply here,
“If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children.”
