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Crucifixion, Resurrection

The Crucifixion

  • Redemption as Sacrifice
    • Sacrifice is a means of giving to God what is owed to him, giving worship to Him.
    • Jesus does this perfectly on the Cross → He is the sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sins of the world
      • Declared by John the Baptist → CCC 608: reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first Passover. Christ’s whole life expresses his mission: to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • At The Last Supper - Luke 22:7-23
    • CCC 610: Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed". On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
    • CCC 611: The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: "For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."
      • At the mass, we remember the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
  • On Calvary – John 19:17-37
    • CCC 613: Christ's death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world", and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the "blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins".
    • CCC 614: This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience.
      • It is a one-time sacrifice that is repeatedly remembered at each Mass.
      • Jesus ratifies the new covenant in his blood → giving his life for us, making the proper and perfect offering to the Father.
  • Our Participation in Christ’s Sacrifice
    • Luke 9:23-24
    • CCC 618: The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men". But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery" is offered to all men. He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow [him]", for "Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps." In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering.
    • Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.
      • Man himself ought to be made a sacrifice to God, to consecrate oneself to God
      • The whole church, the congregation of the faithful, the saints, are all meant to offer themselves as a sacrifice to God through the great high priest who offered himself for us. The Eucharist is the sign through which the sacrifice is made visible in the Church.
      • The essential form of Christian Worship is thanksgiving, eucharistia
      • The Nature of Christian Worship → Intro. To Christianity p.286-293

The Resurrection

  • Completes the paschal mystery, the Passover into the next stage of life.
  • A historical and transcendent event:
    • The Empty Tomb
      • CCC 640 In itself it is not a direct proof of Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained otherwise. Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women, and then with Peter. The disciple "whom Jesus loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed".
    • The Appearances
      • First appeared to Mary Magdalene and the holy women, then Peter, then the twelve.
      • The faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them.
        • Served as the foundation of their entire missionary work of spreading the gospel to the point of dying for the faith.
    • Christ’s Glorified Humanity
      • The wounds were still visible, and the apostles could see and touch them.
      • Jesus shared a meal, and was able to pass through walls/doors, being present to his disciples when he wills.
      • It participates/exists in the physical order but is not limited by space and time. He is risen and his body is glorified → not merely resuscitated or resurrected like Lazarus.
    • The Ascension
      • Completes the Incarnation → only the one who came from the Father can return to the Father. “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
      • Christ’s ascension gives us access to the “Father’s house”, to Heaven.
      • Anticipated when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross.
      • Jesus is the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, who entered heaven itself and now is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us as the one priest.
        • Our humanity is now in Heaven.

Historical Facts and Potential Hypotheses and Catholic Response

  • Empty Tomb
    • Stolen body hypothesis
  • Eye-witness accounts (1 Cor 3:15)
    • Evolved myth hypothesis
  • St. Paul’s Conversion
    • Psychogenic hypothesis
  • Pontius Pilate, Roman Executioners, and the Sanhedrin’s involvement
  • Christian Martyrs
  • Christianity becomes the most widespread religion in less than four centuries.