EXPOSITION
556. The
Creed puts great stress on Christ’s passion and death. Immediately following
“born of the Virgin Mary,” it proclaims five actions undergone by Jesus: suffered,
was crucified, died, was buried, and descended to the
dead.
This
chapter takes up these five actions of Christ our Lord under five general
themes. First, an introductory section on the Cross, symbol of saving
Love; second, Christ’s view of his suffering and death; third,
its characteristics; fourth, its profound effects of salvation and
radical conversion; and finally, Christ’s descent to the Dead.
I.
THE CROSS: SYMBOL OF SAVING LOVE
557. St. Paul expressed the core of the “Good News” given
him as follows: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also
received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1
Cor 15:3; cf. CCC 601). Far from being a negative, depressing reality, the
suffering and death of Christ help us “to grasp fully, with all the holy ones,
the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge” (Eph 3:18-19).
The innocent Christ’s personal pain and suffering brings home to us, in a way
nothing else possibly could, the evil and ugliness of sin and its power in
creating poverty, disease, hunger, ignorance, corruption and death. A truly
“Christian” sense of sin is a grace received at the foot of the Cross, within
the felt-experience of God’s overwhelming forgiving Love in Christ Jesus.
558. Clearly it is not the very
sufferings and death of Christ that save us, for this would make his torturers
and executioners our saviors. Rather, we are saved by Jesus’ perfect
self-giving love for his Father and
for us, a love lived out to
the death. In John’s Gospel Jesus declares: “The Father loves me for this: that
I lay down my life to take it up again. No one takes it from me: I lay it down freely” (Jn 10:17-18).
Paul quotes an early liturgical hymn: “He humbled himself, obediently
accepting even death, death on a cross!” (Phil 2:8)
Today’s
liturgy expresses how Christ, in fulfillment of his Father’s will, “gave
himself up to death . . . a death he freely accepted . . . For our sake he
opened his arms on the Cross” (EP IV and II).
559. The Cross, then, does not
exalt passive suffering or weakness, as some have exploited it in order to
dominate others. It is, rather, the transformation
of suffering and weakness through active, total self-giving love.
“For God’s folly is wiser than men, and his weakness more powerful than
men” (1 Cor 1:25). Gregory the Great describes this wondrous exchange:
He was made flesh that we might possess the Spirit.
He was brought low that we might be raised up.
He endured blows that we might be healed.
He was mocked to free us from eternal damnation.
He died to give us life. (Homilies on Ezekiel,
II:4,20)
II.
CHRIST’S VIEW
OF
HIS SUFFERING AND DEATH
560. In
our present times, some have tried to explain Christ’s suffering and death
merely as the political execution of a non-conformist revolutionary by the
Roman colonial powers. Doubtless there was a political aspect to the Cross, but
it surely was not its essential meaning as interpreted in the inspired
writings of the New Testament.
The Apostolic Faith expressed in the New Testament sees in Jesus’
passion and death not just some incidental historical event of Jews and
Romans, but the saving act of God in Jesus’ free self-sacrifice. Thus
Peter preached on the first Pentecost: “This man [Jesus] . . . was delivered up by the set purpose and
plan of God; you even made use of pagans to crucify and kill him. . .” (Acts
2:23; cf. 4:27f; CCC 599). Jesus himself clearly understood his
Passion and Death as his mission from the Father, interpreted in the light of
the Old Testament prophets.
561. As
His Mission. The Synoptic Gospels ‘record Jesus’ triple pre-diction of his suffering and death (cf. Mk 8:31; 9:31; 10:33f). “He
began to teach them that the Son of
Man had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, be put to death, and rise three days later” (Mk 8:31). These
predictions correspond with other sayings of Jesus. “Can you drink the cup I
shall drink or be baptized in the same bath of pain as I?” (Mk 10:38) “I
have a baptism to receive. What anguish I feel till it is over” (Lk 12:50).
And in his parable of the tenants Jesus portrays the death of the Son at
the hands of the vineyard’s wicked tenants (cf. Mt 21:33-46).
562. Following
the OT Prophets. Jesus interpreted his
coming death in line with the Old Testament prophets. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you slay the
prophets and stone those who are sent to you!” (Lk 13:34; cf. 11:47, 49).
His death was “necessary” to fulfill the Scripture: “How slow you are to
believe all that the prophets have announced! Was it not necessary that the
Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:25b-26)
He saw his suffering and death as part of the coming of the Kingdom, the
“test” he taught his followers to pray about: “Subject us not to the
test” (Lk 11:4).
III.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
CHRIST’S
SUFFERING AND DEATH
A. Redemptive
563. Jesus saw his Passion and Death as
redemptive, his ultimate service in the Kingdom. “The Son of Man has not
come to be served but to serve — to give his life in ransom for
the many” (Mk 10:45). The center of the ‘Good News’ focused sharply on
“the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus. Through his blood, God made him the
means of expiation for all who believe” (Rom
3:24-25a). “It was he who sacrificed himself for us, to redeem us
from all unrighteousness and to cleanse for himself a people of his own, eager
to do what is right” (Ti 2:14).
564.
That his Passion and Death are “redemptive” is shown by Christ most
clearly in his Last Supper. John introduces his account with Jesus washing his
disciples’ feet. “Jesus realized that the hour had come for him to pass from
this world to the Father. He loved his own in this world, and would show his
love for them to the end” (Jn 13:1). And for John, “no one has greater
love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
Matthew’s account of Christ’s institution of the Eucharist explicitly asserts
its redemptive value: “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to
be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28).
Christ is the New Paschal Lamb, sacrificed to redeem the people (cf. Jn
19:36; 1:29,36).
565. Church tradition has stressed this redemptive and sacrifical character of
Christ’s Passion and Death. “Our Lord Jesus was once and for all to offer
himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish
an everlasting redemption” (Trent; ND 1546). And again, “At the Last
Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic
Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the
sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until he should come again” (SC
47).
566. Thus, in her liturgy the Church prays in
the 5th Easter Preface:
Father, we praise you with
greater joy than ever in this Easter Season
When Christ became our Paschal Sacrifice.
As he offered his body on the Cross,
His perfect sacrifice fulfilled all others.
As he gave himself into your hands for our salvation.
He showed himself to be the priest, the altar, and the
lamb of sacrifice.
B. From
Sin
567. Christ’s coming, then, was “to expiate the sins of the people” (Heb
2:17; cf. CCC 601, 606). Paul summarizes Jesus’ saving work in four steps. First,
Jesus offered a sacrifice as both priest and victim.
“Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). Second, he
“gave himself for our sins, to rescue us from the present evil
age” (Gal 1:4). Third, he thus created a new Covenant with God. “This
cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor 11:25). Fourth, all this for
us and our salvation. “When we were still powerless, Christ died for us
godless men” (Rom 5:6; cf. Eph 5:2; 1 Thes 5:10).
568. Jesus redeems sinners in two
ways. First, he removes their subjective guilt by
bringing them God’s pardon and forgiveness. Thus he restores their
relationship of friendship to God which sin had destroyed. Second, Jesus
repairs the objective moral harm and contamination caused
by sin, through his own act of reparation and expiation which makes
possible the sinners’ own acts of expiation.
Both these
dimensions are clearly indicated in Christ’s encounter with Zacchaeus, the
wealthy tax collector. In visiting the house of Zacchaeus, Jesus liberated him
from his guilt of sin: “Today salvation has come to this house. . . The Son of
Man has come to search out and save what was lost.” This inspired Zacchaeus to
make up for the objective harm he had caused: “I give half my belongings, Lord,
to the poor. If I have defrauded anyone in the least, I pay him back fourfold” (cf.
Lk 19:1-10).
569. Clarification.
Some have gravely misunderstood Christ’s expiation as
picturing the Father punishing him cruelly for our sins, even though he is
completely innocent. This is a monstrous view of God the Father, and badly
misinterprets the New Testament. The Father hates sin, not Jesus. Jesus
is the Father’s “beloved” (Mk 1:11 et passim). His whole life was a
perfect offering to the Father (cf. Jn 4:34; 6:38; CCC 606).
The truth
is that Jesus shares the Father’s love for us sinners, and freely
accepted the “cup” the Father has given him (cf. Jn 18:11; CCC 609).
Jesus suffered with sinners, as a victim for sin and sinners, and
as a victim of the Law and sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; Rom 8:3;
PCP II 84).
C. For
Us
570. But how can Christ’s Sufferings and Death
affect us sinners? The key to the answer lies in the biblical notion of corporate
solidarity. Isaiah’s four ‘Servant Songs’ (cf. Is 42:1-4; 49:1-6;
50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) present a mysterious figure chosen by God to “give his
life as an offering for sin, . . . through his suffering my servant shall
justify many, and their guilt he shall bear” (Is 53:10-11). Christ, one
of us, could take upon himself “the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) and
offer him-self as a “Lamb of expiation” (cf. Lv 14).
Today the
notion of “solidarity” has come into new prominence relative to social
transformation, and humanity’s relation to the Blessed Trinity (cf. SRS
38-40; PCP II 32, 139, 294-96, 306f, 313, 320, 353).
571. The Good Friday liturgy stresses Christ’s
corporate solidarity with us sinners and his suffering for us, quoting Isaiah:
It was our infirmities
that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured, . . .
He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our
sins;
Upon him was the chastisement that makes us
whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his
own way;
But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all (Is
53:4-6).
572. St. Paul used this principle
of solidarity to explain both our human sinfulness and our salvation in
Christ (cf. Chap. 8 on Original Sin).
Just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world,
and with sin death, death thus coming to all men inasmuch as all sinned . . .
much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man, Jesus
Christ, abound for all (Rom 5:12,15).
573. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor
15:3), then, means two things. First, Jesus died because of our human
sinfulness. Second, he died to show us, and empower us, to
overcome sin and its effects in our broken world. Christ is
the Way we are enabled to bear the sins of many, not returning evil for evil,
nor violence for violence in a vicious cycle of revenge (cf. Mt 5:38-42).
Christ’s love gives us a chance to love even our enemies (cf. Mt
5:44), for he has sent us his Spirit of love.
574. But Christ’s redemption in no way makes us
passive recipients. Scripture clearly affirms:
Christ suffered for you. . . and left you an example,
to have you follow in his footsteps. . . He himself bore our sins in his body
on the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live in accord with God’s will.
By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pt 2:21, 24).
And again: “You have been
purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body ” (1 Cor 6:20 ).
575. It is true that Jesus acted on our
behalf: “While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). But his great Sacrifice does not
make our own sacrifices unnecessary. Rather, it
makes them possible as saving realities. We are called by Christ to share in his sacrifice (cf.
CCC 618). PCP II explains how in the Paschal Mystery
Jesus brought us into his passover from suffering to
glory, from death to life, from our human sinfulness to his grace. In this
mystery we as his disciples need to share, finding in it the rhythm and pattern
of our own life. . . By losing our life this way, we save it and grow in our
discipleship of Jesus (PCP II 85-86).
576. To know Jesus as our Redeemer,
for St. Paul,
meant sharing in his sufferings. To the Philippians he wrote: “I wish to know
Christ and the power flowing from his resurrection; likewise to know how
to share in his sufferings by being formed into the pattern of his
death” (Phil 3:10). Thus Paul could boast: “Even now I find joy in the
suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the
sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church” (Col 1:24).
IV.
PROFOUND EFFECTS OF CHRIST’S DEATH
A. Universal,
Eschatological, Empowering Salvation
577. But what makes Christ’s saving love
unique? How is Christ different from all other martyrs through the ages?
The answer lies in three fundamental qualities of Christ’s saving love.
It is: 1) universal, 2) eschatological, and 3) empowering.
First, Jesus died “not for our sins alone, but for those of the whole world” (1
Jn 2:2; cf. CCC 604). St. Paul
explains: “He indeed died for all, so that those who live, might
no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was
raised up” (2 Cor 5:14-15). So it is Christ’s love that transforms us so
we can really lead a new way of life. “If God has loved us so, we must have the
same love for one another” (1 Jn 4:11).
578. Christ’s Cross on Calvary stands as a symbol of his universal redeeming
love. The horizontal bar stretches Christ’s arms to embrace the
whole world of human suffering, while the vertical column points him
toward his heavenly Father, beyond the bounds of time and space. The “two
others crucified with him, one on either side” (Jn 19:18) show Jesus’
solidarity with the whole history of human suffering. The crucified body of
Jesus Christ speaks a universal language to all men and women for all
time.
579. Second,
this saving love of Christ is “eschatological.” Jesus did not die
simply to raise our standard of living, or make life easier. He died that those
who follow him will receive “eternal life in the age to come” (Mk 10:30).
Moreover, third, this dimension is “already” present in us in grace,
empowering us so that all our actions can have “saving” power. “The
Father sent His Son as savior of the world. When anyone acknowledges that Jesus
is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. . . The way we know that
we remain in him and he in us is that he has given us of his Spirit” (1 Jn
4:14,13). Put briefly, “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life. Whoever does not possess the Son of
God, does not possess life” (1 Jn 5:11-12).
580. The essence of the New Testament theology
of salvation in Christ can be sketched in four truths. First, Jesus
Christ is the Savior of the world; there is no salvation apart from
Jesus. Second, through his sufferings and death he has won for us
sinners “objective redemption,” that is,
reconciled all with the Father. Third, he did this in loving
obedience to his Father’s will and love for us. Finally, he
calls us to personal interior repentance for our sins and a
life of loving service of others, that is, “subjective redemption.”
581. Vatican II provides a similar description
of Christ’s redemptive work and its effects:
As an innocent lamb he merited life for us by his
blood which he freely shed. In him God
reconciled us to himself and to one another, freeing us from the bondage of the
devil and of sin, so that each of us could say with the apostle: “the Son of
God loved . . . me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). By suffering for
us he not only gave us an example so that we might follow in his footsteps, but
he also opened up a way. If we follow this path, life and death are made
holy and acquire a new meaning.
Conformed to the
image of the Son, Christians receive the “first fruits of the Spirit” (Rom
8:23) by which they are able to follow the new law of love (GS
22).
582. Two ways of summarizing Christ as
Savior also help in relating to the
wider perspectives of our Faith. The first is focusing on “the
blood of Jesus.” Throughout Old Testament salvation history, blood was
highly symbolic. It could refer to deliverance from death (cf. Ex 12:7, 13,
22f) and life itself (cf. Lv 17:11-14). Or it could mean
sin-offering, cleansing from sin (cf. Lv. 16). Or blood could mean the
seal of the Covenant at Sinai (cf. Ex 24:6-8).
These three
meanings were supremely realized in Christ, the Paschal Lamb, whose blood a)
brings life (cf. Jn 6:53-56), b) cleansing us from all sin (cf. 1 Jn
1:7) and c) creating a new Covenant (cf. Mk 14:24).
The hymn
to Christ in the Letters to the Colossians summarizes these dimensions neatly:
It pleased God to make absolute
fullness reside in him [a], and by means of him, to reconcile everything in his
person, both on earth and in the heavens [b], making peace [c] through the
blood of his cross (Col 1:19f)
583. A second way of summarizing
Christ’s redemptive work is to relate our basic human yearnings for
life, for meaning, and for loving fellowship to the Triune God. For
our drive for life is fulfilled by God the Father, “the living
and true God” (1 Thes 1:9). By sending His Son, the wisdom of
God, He gives meaning and purpose to our lives (Jn 14:6). And
this inspires “fellowship” by pouring out His “love in our hearts
through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5; cf. 2 Cor 13:13).
B. Radical
Conversion
584. But what is the experience of
this salvation that Christ calls us to? The answer lies in a radical
conversion of heart. We can illustrate what this means in four
common Filipino types. First, some Filipinos don’t really
believe that God loves them, accepts them and cares for them. They cannot
“trust” God. To them Christ reveals that God really is their “loving Father”
who is truly compassionate (cf. Lk 6:36). His “love was revealed in
our midst in this way: He sent His only Son to the world that we might have life
through Him” (1 Jn 4:9).
585. Second,
others lack all self-confidence. Their poor self-image makes them hesitant to
reach out and share with others. They are always afraid of what others might
say. Christ “saves” them by revea-ling their inner goodness. His life
and death prove how much they mean to God. In bringing them God’s forgiveness
and acceptance, Christ radically grounds their new positive self-image.
586. Third,
some Filipinos find it hard to get along with others. They tend to hold grudges
against anyone who hurt them. Christ “liberates” them by calling them to
turn toward being a “man/woman-for-others” in self-giving service.
Through word and example, Christ taught that true happiness and
self-fulfillment come from forgiving others, and helping the poor and needy.
Moreover, he empowers them for this service by sending them his own
loving Spirit. It is Christ’s Spirit that brings deep “love, joy, peace,
patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity” (Gal
5:22-23).
587. Lastly,
to those who seek happiness in riches, reputation and power, Christ gave the
example of rejecting these temptations (cf. Mt 4:1-11) and urging
simplicity of life (cf. Mt 6). He called the poor “blessed” because they
could more easily recognize their dependence on God. He warned the rich against
being tied down by concern for their wealth. He asks: “what profit does a man
show who gains the whole world and destroys himself in the process?” (Mk
8:36) His answer was to picture the poor Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham,
while the rich man suffered the torments of the damned (cf. Lk
16:19-31).
588. In brief, then, we experience our
sinfulness in our inability to 1) trust God, 2) accept ourselves,
3) relate positively to others, and 4) control our basic drives toward riches,
reputation and power. Christ “saves” us by:
• re-imaging God as our loving Father,
• grounding our own inalienable self-worth in God, as well as
• the dignity of every other person; and
• clarifying the authentic hierarchy of values
in life.
Jesus
could do this because he lived totally for his heavenly Father, in complete
self-giving service for others. He was the “Sacrament” of God’s
loving presence and power. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” he told
Philip (Jn 14:9). Christ showed us what it means to be: 1) free
from servile fear of God, 2) free from self-doubt, 3) free from
negative relationships with others, and 4) free from our own greed for
riches, reputation and power.
589. But how does this saving power of the
“free” Jesus touch ordinary Filipino Catholics today? The answer is
multiplex. Christ comes to us: 1) in his inspired Word of the Bible, 2) in his
saving symbolic acts, the Sacraments, 3) in the community of his disciples, the
“People of God,” the Church; and most of all, 4) in his Holy Spirit, indwelling
within us in grace.
V.
CHRIST’S DESCENT TO THE DEAD
590. The last action of Christ’s Passion and
Death proclaimed in the Creed is: “He descended to the dead.” The first
meaning of this expression may simply be a confirmation of “died and was
buried.” Christ truly and fully underwent the final test of all humans, death (cf. CCC 632). But the scriptural basis implies a second meaning, namely, Christ’s
salvific work on behalf of the just who had died before
his coming (cf. CCC 633). In 1 Peter we read that Christ
“went to preach to the spirits in prison.” “The reason the Gospel was preached
even to the dead was that, although condemned in the flesh in the eyes of men,
they might live in the spirit in the eyes of God” (1 Pt 3:19; 4:6 ).
591. A reading from the liturgy of the Hours on
Holy Saturday beautifully expresses this second meaning of Christ’s salvific
work among the dead:
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