Passion / Death of Jesus
Art by Luc Freymanc (freymanc.com)
Can we attribute his death to only 1 person/group of people?
Who is to blame for Jesus’ death? Matthew 26-27
Present your case. Provide your evidence.
JUDAS ISCARIOT
Judas was a greedy thief and more concerned with money. Judas chose the way of the devil. The Gospels always refers to him as influenced by the devil. Judas did not understand the mission of Jesus. Judas represents our greed for wealth and our self-centeredness. This prevents us from truly understanding the big picture and others in the process.
CAIAPHAS
Caiaphas was a supreme political figure and one of the most influential men in Jerusalem. He'd already survived 18 years as High Priest of the Temple and had built a strong alliance with the occupying Roman power.
Jesus threatened Caiaphas's authority. He might have believed that if Jesus wasn't restrained or even executed, the Romans might end their relative tolerance of Jewish institutions. Caiaphas represents our thirst for power and the unwillingness to relinquish it because of what it brings to our lives.
PONTIUS PILATE
The case against Pilate is that he found Jesus not guilty, but had him executed in order to keep the peace. Pilate was desperate to keep the peace. His career in the Roman Empire depended on his running the province smoothly and efficiently. He washed his hands as a sign that he takes no part in the killing of Jesus. Pilate represents our lack of willingness to be firm in doing what is right or to be courageous in fighting for justice.
ROMAN SOLDIERS
The soldiers were responsible for how Jesus was treated during his scourging, to his crowning of thorns, to the way and to the crucifixion. If Jesus was guilty, what they did to him was still an overkill - an abuse of their power.
The soldiers reveal our capacity to embrace darkness and evil. They were just asked to carry the task of punishing Jesus but they mocked him, adding more insult to his pain.
THE CROWD
The crowd who welcomed him suddenly turned to a crowd who condemned him. The crowd turned on Jesus because he did not live up to their expectations. He did not demand their notion of justice. He did not reveal their image of God. (Staron) The crowd represents our impatience towards our relationship with God. We focus too much on ourselves that we fail to see and understand who God truly is and how he matters in our lives.
The death of Jesus seemed to be a collective action. All these were result of:
SIN
"Sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured: 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.” Catechism of the Catholic Church 598
How am I responsible for the death of Jesus? How faithful am I to Jesus? What hinders me from remaining faithful to Him?
We find ourselves like the characters that added to the death of Jesus. Every time we commit sin, we add to the cross of Jesus. This exact sinfulness is what Jesus saved us from. By recognizing our faults at the foot of the cross marks the beginning of being saved in Jesus.
SIN
death suffering
Gethsemane Mark 14:32-42
Q’s What could be the meaning of Jesus’ words “my soul is sorrowful”? How did Jesus pray? What’s the cup for? Why take it away from Jesus? Why was Jesus upset with his apostles after seeing them asleep?
It is not uncommon, in fact, to carry out the mission entrusted means finding hostility, rejection, persecution. The words of Jesus before praying in Gethsemane, reveals how he feels fear and anxiety in that "Time", Jesus undergoes profound loneliness while God's plan is being carried out. And this fear and anguish of Jesus sums up the horror of man before his own death, the certainty of its inevitability and weight perception of evil that touches our lives.
Jesus falls face-to-earth, is a position of prayer that expresses obedience the will of God, surrender to God with confidence. There is only fear and anguish of man before death, but the disturbance of the Son of God who sees the terrible burden of the evil that shall take upon himself to overcome it, to deprive him of power.
Abba Father!
Abba is used by the child to go to dad and express that Jesus' relationship with God the Father, a loving relationship, affection, trust, abandonment.
Take this cup away from me
The consciousness of the omnipotence of the Father - "anything is possible for you" - which introduced a petition in which once again displays the drama of human will Jesus to death and evil "this cup away from me".
Yours be done.
The human will adhere fully to the divine. In the unity of the divine person of the Son, the human will finds its full realization in the complete abandonment of self to the father.
Dear friends, we too, in prayer we must be able to bring to God our hardships, the suffering of certain situations, certain days, the daily commitment to follow him, to be Christians, and also the weight of evil we see in and around us, because He gives us hope, makes us feel his closeness gives us some light on the road of life. Pope Benedict XVI
The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani, making himself "obedient unto death”. CCC 612
"The prayer of Jesus during his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and his last words on the cross reveal the depth of his filial prayer: Jesus brings to fulfillment the plan of love the Father and takes upon himself all the anguish of humanity, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history. He presents to the Father and accepted and are granted, beyond all hope, raising him from the dead." Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 519
TESTOFLOVE
Gethsemane became a test of love.
Lose the Resentment Can you give your life over in love without resentment and bitterness? Jesus had to give Himself over to die -- which is hard, which is suffering, which is sacrificial. He had to do it without resentment. His great gift was that He could give His life over without any bitterness, price tag or anger.
Sacrifice for the greater good Can you give your life over? Can you sacrifice for others? The Passion is about something that Jesus will have to go through in order for man to receive eternal life.
SUFFERING
The agony in the garden was Jesus' anticipation of bearing everyone's sin.
Conquering suffering with love During his life on earth, Jesus drew close to the world of human suffering. He healed and consoled those who suffer body and spirit. In his suffering, sins are cancelled out because He alone as the only-begotten Son could take them upon himself, accept them with that love for the Father which overcomes the evil of every sin.
Sharing in the Suffering of Christ Being redeemed, each human is also called to become a sharer in Christ's redemptive suffering. As Christ's suffering is a manifestation of messianic greatness, human suffering becomes an invitation of spiritual maturity and moral greatness.
PRAYINGAMIDST
Jesus was praying Not just to avoid terrible death, but to discover God's will and to find the strength to cope with what was coming. He shows the value of prayer. When he used "Abba" in his prayer, He showed the absolute trust in God. At this terrible moment, Jesus turned to God in prayer. He was focused on God and if this led to his death - so be it.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
The stations are a step-by-step devotion meditating on the final days of Jesus leading to his death on the cross. This devotion usually involves a pilgrimage - a movement from one station to another signifying a certain journey. Each station reveals truths about Jesus and about who we are as his followers.
We meditate on the Stations of the Cross… so that our faith may be strengthened. When we meditate on the Passion of Christ we become more deeply united with Christ in the suffering that Jesus accepted.
We meditate on the Stations of the Cross… in order to advance in the way of perfection. As we go from station to station, we see the Savior before us, giving us an example, drawing to "Follow Him." Thus, we become a reflection on how is it to follow Christ --- to be meek and humble of heart; to deny ourselves and gladly take up our crosses, to be patient and gentle in the midst of affliction; to be merciful, to do and dare all things for salvation of which the Savior suffered and died.
We meditate on the Stations of the Cross… to serve as a consolation to us in our sufferings. We all know what it means to suffer. Every state of life brings with it its own particular sufferings, trials, hardships, misunderstandings, and what not. But who has suffered as much as Jesus? When we contemplate Him in the Way of the Cross, our sufferings seem much easier to us.
We meditate on the Stations of the Cross… as an act of reparation ---- an opportunity for us to share God's grace with those who have rejected Jesus and live sinful lives.
How does the death of Jesus save us?
Jesus saves us from meaninglessness. Jesus assures us that human life has real meaning. That God should choose to be one of us should be evidence enough. By his presence and his teaching, he shows us how to make a success of our human life; he assures us of resurrection to eternal life. Because of him we can hope.
Jesus saves us from the evil of sin. On the cross Jesus took unto himself our entire sinfulness, that we might not be saved from the effects of sin. Jesus does not prevent us from committing sin but he does 3 things: he suffered and died on the cross to redeem us from sin; by his grace and goodness he forgives sin; and he gives us the example of how to live so as to free ourselves of the alienation that is sin. Jesus saves us from ourselves; he frees us.
Jesus saves us from the evil of suffering and death. Jesus suffered and died in the same way we do and he gives us a way of handling these experiences of evil. We can unite our suffering with Jesus making it meaningful. As for death, we are afraid of the process of dying but we need not be afraid of death if we arrive at it having honestly tried to live out the message of Jesus and having asked forgiveness for our failings. It is the burden of an uneasy conscience, a lack of meaning that will make death painful and scary.
