“Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died, and Was Buried”
Christ’s whole life is an offering to the Father
- God became Man so that Man may become like God.
- Jesus is our model for holiness
- He reconciles us to God
- He allows us to know the love of God
- All is done for our salvation → being in communion with God.
- The healing of our fallen human nature begins when the Son assumes human nature:
- CCC 606: The Son of God, who came down "from heaven, not to do [his] own will, but the will of him who sent [him]", said on coming into the world, "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The sacrifice of Jesus "for the sins of the whole world" expresses his loving communion with the Father. "The Father loves me, because I lay down my life", said the Lord, "[for] I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father."
- All Jesus’ words, deeds, miracles, etc. are done as an offering for the Father. He is carrying out the Father’s plan of redeeming love, for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation
- Advent/Christmas directly corresponds to Lent/Easter.
- Jesus’ life is comprehensively an offering to the Father.
- John 17 – Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer
The Crucifixion/Soteriology: Why be crucified?
- Numbers 21:5-9, John 3:14, John 12:12-34
- Our Mediator: Jesus, as the eternal Son, is the only one capable of making the perfect/adequate offering to the Father in order to reconcile us to God. (Hypostatic union is crucial for this reason)
- God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love
- CCC 604: By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins." God "shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
- Jesus’ Crucifixion was endured for our sins
- All sinners were authors of Christ’s Passion: “We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt.”
- He bore the suffering on our behalf. Jesus himself was not punished for sin, he never sinned.
- Satisfaction vs. Penal Substitution
- Admirabile comercium- “The Marvelous Exchange”
- This theme is found in St. Paul’s letter “He who was rich became poor for our sake so that we might become rich through his poverty” (2 Cor 8:9)
- He took my sadness so that he might bestow on me his joy.
- Fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of the Suffering Servant
- Did so on behalf of all, not just some → Just as we have solidarity in Adam’s sin, so we have solidarity in Christ’s redemption → made possible by the initiative of God.
- 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