Chapter 18 – The Redeeming Sacrifice

Posted on 12/30/2018 by Dick Landkamer

Chapter 18: The Redeeming Sacrifice

  1. Introduction
    • Jesus Is the Way, the Truth and the Life
      • “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6).
      • These three words, way, truth, life, sum up what Jesus is, but they also sum up what He did, for there was no benefit to man to know the way, the truth and the life without having access to these things (255-2).
        • “Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living” (IOC, 3, 56, 1).
          • Way: “He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).
          • Truth: “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18:37).
          • Life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).
    • The Truth: Doctrine and Law
      • The truth consists of doctrine (the great realities of existence) and law (how to live in accord with those realities). It includes the realities of (255-3):
        • God and man
        • The breach between God and man and how it is to be healed for the race and how the healing is to be applied to individuals
        • The purpose of life
        • Heaven and hell
        • The kingdom He would establish and its laws
        • The food we must eat
    • The Life: Source of the Soul’s Principle of Supernatural Life
      • The life is the “Supernatural Life [without which we] could neither live in heaven hereafter, nor live here [so] as to attain heaven” (255-4). It provides “energies of action and resistance which the natural life cannot supply” (255-4).
      • The life consists of all the sacraments, but especially the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist:
        • Baptism: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3).
        • Eucharist: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).
    • The Way: The Closing of the Breach and the Imitation of Christ
      • The way can be understood in two senses:
        • First, it refers to a closing of the infinite breach, a reopening of the path to God that was closed by Adam’s sin. Heaven was made for the sons of God; the way to heaven was closed to those who had fallen from sonship into servitude (256-2).
          • “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).
          • “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me’” (Jn 14:6).
        • Second, it refers to living one’s life in imitation of Christ.
          • “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23).
          • “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1)
  2. The Passion and Death of Christ Foretold
    • Foretold by the Prophets
      • The prophets of Israel spoke many times of the Messiah’s Passion and Death, but the message seemed to have no impact on the people (256-3).
        • Especially noteworthy are Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.
    • Foretold by Jesus to His Followers
      • Jesus spoke repeatedly of His Passion and Death, but it had little impact on those who heard Him, as was the case with the prophets (256-3).
      • The first instance of this prophecy in Jesus’ public ministry occurred in His conversation with Nicodemus near the beginning of John’s Gospel (257-1):
        • “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up” (Jn 3:14).
      • What Jesus says to Nicodemus is an allusion to an event that occurred when the Israelites were wandering in the desert following their exodus from Egypt:
        • “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Num 21:8-9).
          • The bronze serpent is a symbol of the Devil, who is the personification of evil:
            • “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5). Also see Rev 20:2.
          • But the bronze serpent is also a symbol of Jesus:
            • “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
            • He would “be sin” in the sense that by external appearance, the crucified Jesus was accursed by God according to the Law, for “a hanged man is accursed by God” (Dt 21:23; also see Acts 5:20, Gal 3:13).
      • In the days following the first Palm Sunday, less than five days before His crucifixion, He returns to the image (257-1):
        • “‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show by what death he was to die” (Jn 12:32-33).
      • In between these two prophesies that form bookends around His public ministry, He made repeated references to followers regarding His passion, but the references were veiled (257-2).
        • To the scribes and Pharisees:
          • “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Mt 12:39).
        • To the “Jews”:
          • “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19).
          • These words were quoted against Him in His trial before the Sanhedrin and while He hung on the cross but his enemies misunderstood them (257-1):
            • “He spoke of the temple of his body” (Jn 2:21).
    • Foretold by Jesus to the Apostles
      • Jesus made repeated prophecies to His inner circle of Apostles. These were explicit but they understood Him no better than the others (257-3).
      • “On three occasions [all of which appear to be in the third year of His ministry] Our Lord told them in great detail just what must happen” (257-3).
        • After telling Peter that he was the rock on which the Church would be built: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mt 16:21).
        • “As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’ And they were greatly distressed” (Mt 17:22-23).
        • Just before the first Palm Sunday: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise” (Mk 10:33-34; Mt 20:18-19, Lk 18:31-33).
          • Note Luke’s three-fold emphasis on the Apostles failure to grasp this teaching: “They understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said” (Lk 18:34).
      • His final prophecy of the Passion was two days before the event (see Mt 26:2)
      • “Some of these things [the Apostles] should certainly have understood . . . that the leaders of the Jews would plan to kill Him was all but certain” (258-3).
        • They did understand the intensity of the Jewish authorities’ hatred for Jesus:
          • “He said to the disciples, ‘Let us go into Judea again.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?’ . . . Thomas . . . said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’” (Jn 11:7-8, 16).
  3. Reaction of the Jewish Leaders to the Passion Prophecy
    • Not the Kingdom They Expected
      • Jesus’ teaching embraced the whole of Old Testament prophecy; the Jewish leaders had “singled out certain elements [of the prophecy] to construct what we may call the orthodox hope of Israel” (258-3). Thus, His teaching was a “challenge and a denial of their hope” (258-3).
        • Recall from chapter 15 the three steams of prophecy regarding the Messiah: He would be a man triumphant; He would be more than a man; He would be someone who is less than triumphant (see 222-4).
      • The spiritual Kingdom He spoke of was not the earthly Kingdom they hoped for.
    • His “Blasphemous” Claims and Scorn for His Enemies
      • His personal claims were blasphemy if He were not God, and they did not believe Him to be God. Consequently, they believed Him to be a blasphemer (258-2).
        • He claimed to have authority over the Mosaic Law:
          • “‘You have heard that it was said to the men of old, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, “You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire’” (Mt 5:21-22).
        • He claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath:
          • “And he said to [the Pharisees], ‘The Son of man is lord of the Sabbath’” (Lk 6:5).
        • He claimed to be greater than the Temple:
          • “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here” (Mt 12:6).
        • He claimed God as His Father, which they understood to mean that He claimed to be God:
          • “But Jesus answered [the Jews], ‘My Father is working still, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God” (Jn 5:17-18).
        • He claimed to have authority to forgive sins:
          • “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’ . . . ‘Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” (Mk 2:7).
        • He claimed to have existed before Abraham:
          • “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’. So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple” (Jn 8:58).
      • “And then there was His scorn for them” (258-3; see 251-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and Mt 23).
        • “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Mt 23:15).
        • “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity” (Mt 23:25).
    • Differing Grasps of Reality
      • “The line of teaching and conduct upon which He had embarked meant that they would desire His death” (258-3):
        • Jesus’ actions were the logical result of His full grasp of reality (258-3).
        • Their reaction was the logical result of their partial grasp of reality (258-3).
      • “The only question was whether God would prevent their doing the thing they planned.” But, rather than prevent it, God used it to bring about the salvation of man (258-3).
    • Excursus: Additional Reasons for the Jews’ Objections to Jesus
      • Another way of understanding the rejection of Jesus by His contemporaries is that in significant ways He acted in a manner that was in contradiction to the religious culture of the Jews. Primary among these contradictions are the following, which are found in Benedict XVI’s “Jesus of Nazareth.”
      • The fourth commandment is the anchor for the social order of Israel, but Jesus claims that He is the basis of a new social order. Thus, Jesus claims precedence over the Torah (“Jesus of Nazareth,” 113-115, 105, 110).
        • “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:37-38).
      • The Sabbath rest of the third commandment, and its association with the Temple, is the anchor for the sacred order of Israel. But Jesus claims to be “Lord of the Sabbath” and a “greater than the Temple” (Ibid, 108).
        • “And he said to them, ‘The Son of man is lord of the Sabbath’” (Lk 6:5).
        • “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here” (Mt 12:6).
      • Commandment to be holy: The Torah’s “code of holiness,” Lev17-26 (see RSV-CE footnote for Lev 17:1), was a call to holiness based on the holiness of God, that came about by following the Mosaic Law (Ibid, 105). But Jesus claims to be the basis of holiness.
        • “Jesus said to [the rich young man], ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me’” (Mt 19:21).
        • “For I am the LORD your God; sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:44).
        • “Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev 19:2).
  4. The First Palm Sunday
    • Entry into Jerusalem
      • Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding on an ass. The crowds wildly acclaimed His entry – for the last time. In five days He would be crucified (259-2).
        • “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’” (Mt 21:9).
          • His entry is reminiscent of the procession of Solomon, son of David, into Jerusalem for his coronation as King of Israel (1 Kg 1:32-40).
        • “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, ‘Hosanna [i.e., save us we pray]! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” (Jn 12:13).
          • Word of this surely would have reached the ears of the Jewish authorities and Pontius Pilate:
            • “And Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ And he answered him, ‘You have said so’” (Lk 23:3).
    • Last Prophecy of the Passion
      • On the following Wednesday, He made His last prophecy of His impending death:
        • “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Mt 26:2).
      • On the same day, the chief priests and scribes were plotting to kill Him, but they expressly intended to carry out the evil deed in secret and at some time other than during the great feast of Passover, because they feared the reaction of the people:
        • “It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth, and kill him; for they said, ‘Not during the feast, lest there be a tumult of the people’” (Mk 14:1-2).
  5. Events of the Last Supper
    • Institution of the Holy Eucharist
      • On the Thursday following Palm Sunday, Jesus and the Apostles “ate the paschal supper prescribed by Jewish law . . . and then went on to make them priests of the Eucharistic meal” (259-3).
        • “All four accounts [of the institution of the Holy Eucharist] should be read closely” (259-4).
      • He changed bread into His body:
        • “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (Lk 22:19).
      • He changed wine into His blood:
        • “And likewise the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’” (Lk 22:20).
      • Matthew’s account of the first Eucharist states its purpose:
        • “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:27-28).
      • The other institution accounts (Matthew, Mark and Paul – there is no institution account in John’s Gospel).
        • “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Mt 26:26-28).
        • “And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’” (Mk 14:22-24).
        • “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me’” (1 Cor 11:23-25).
      • The roots of the Holy Eucharist can be seen in the Passover sacrifice and the renewal of God’s covenant with Abraham that took place with Moses on Mount Sinai shortly after the Passover.
        • “Tell all the congregation of Israel . . . they shall take every man a lamb . . . without blemish, a male a year old . . . from the sheep or from the goats . . . [and offer it to me for] it is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover” (Ex 12:3, 5, 27). “Observe [this feast] as an ordinance forever” (Ex 12:14).
        • “And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words’” (Ex 24:6-8).
      • Notice should be taken of how the words of institution are foreshadowed in the multiplication of loaves miracles (Mt 14:19, Mk 6:41, Lk 9:16), which helped prepare the Apostles to understand the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
        • “Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Mt 14:19; parallel passages are in Mk 6:41, Lk 9:16; Jn 6:11).
        • “And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (Mt 15:35-36; parallel passage is in 8:6).
    • The Last Supper Discourse
      • The institution of the Holy Eucharist “was the towering fact of that night, [but] it does not stand alone. . . . [for we also find there] the greatest mass of teaching that Our Lord ever gave at one time” (260-2). John gives the fullest statement of that body of teaching in chapters 13-17 of his Gospel.
        • “Troubled in spirit,” Jesus announced the presence of the betrayer:
          • “He was troubled in spirit, and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me’” (Jn 13:21).
        • He then sent Judas away:
          • “After the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do quickly’” (Jn 13:27).
        • Throughout all that follows (which includes the Institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Last Supper discourse) He presides with “serene mastery” (261-3).
      • Regarding the Apostles (contrast His complete detachment from these two items with His being troubled in spirit when He announced the betrayer) (260-3).
        • He calmly tells the disciples that they are about to desert Him:
          • “Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered”’” (Mt 26:31).
        • Similarly, He tells Peter that he will deny him three times that night:
          • “Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times’” (Jn 13:38).
      • Regarding their work when He is gone (260-3)
        • They are to be rulers in His kingdom:
          • “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Lk 22:29-30).
        • Their selection and mission (260-3):
          • “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide . . . and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn 15:16, 27).
      • The Holy Spirit would be the driving force behind the Church that He was establishing. Therefore, it is not surprising that He says much about the Holy Spirit at the Last Supper, and, consequently, gives His most extended teaching on the Blessed Trinity (260-3).
        • “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever” (Jn 14:16).
        • “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).
        • “But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me” (Jn 15:26)
        • “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7).
      • Being within hours of His death, “He states so clearly both elements of His mission (261-1):
        • Redemption (i.e., paying the infinite moral debt): “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:27-28).
        • Reconciliation (i.e., bringing about at-one-ment): “I pray . . . also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me” (Jn 17:20-23).
        • There are two key items to note in this “reconciliation” verse:
          • First, the unity among the disciples as a whole, not just the Apostles, was to be supernatural: “that they may be one, as we are one.”
          • Second, through this oneness the world will recognize that the Incarnation has taken place: “that the world may know that you sent me.”
            • “Jesus Himself declared that the unity he sought was so unusual, so miraculous that when the world was to look upon his community and see its oneness it would conclude that the Incarnation had taken place” (Fr. Dubay, “Caring: A Biblical Theology of Community,” 37).
        • The life-formula of the Atonement is this: men are to be united with Him as He is united with God:
          • “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (Jn 14:20; 261-2).
  6. Excursus: Was the Last Supper the Passover Meal?
    • An Apparent Contradiction
      • Most modern scholars claim that the Last Supper did not take place in the context of the Passover meal. Their thinking is driven by the apparent discrepancy between the Synoptic Gospels (Thursday) and the Gospel of John (Friday), the former indicating the Passover meal was celebrated on a Thursday and the latter indicating it was celebrated on a Friday.
      • The Synoptics state 15 times that the Last Supper was a Passover meal, and they refer to the day itself as being the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread (Mt 26:17, Mk 14:1, Lk 22:1), that is, the day the Passover meal was eaten.
      • Pope Benedict on the apparent contradiction:
        • “Jesus’ last meal with His Apostles prior to His Passion was His ‘farewell’ meal, and “this farewell meal was not the old Passover, but the new one” (Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week,” 114).
        • “Even though the meal that Jesus shared with the Twelve was not a Passover meal according to the ritual prescriptions of Judaism, [i.e., it was not on the right day and the paschal lamb would not have been slaughtered in the Temple, as was the tradition] nevertheless, in retrospect, the inner connection of the whole event with Jesus’ death and Resurrection stood out clearly. It was Jesus’ Passover (Ibid.)
        • In this sense he both did and did not celebrate the Passover: the old rituals could not be carried out – when their time came, Jesus had already died. But he had given himself, and thus he had truly celebrated the Passover with them. The old was not abolished; it was simply brought to its full meaning” (Ibid.)
    • The Day of Passover in the Synoptic Gospels
      • The paschal lamb had to be sacrificed on the Day of Unleavened Bread:
        • “Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed” (Lk 22:7).
        • “And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb . . .” (Mk 14:12).
      • On the Day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Him and asked where they should prepare the Passover:
        • “And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, ‘Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?’” (Mk 14:12).
      • They did as He has instructed and prepared the Passover that same day.
        • “And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover (Mk 14:16).
      • They ate the Passover meal that evening:
        • “And when it was evening he came with the twelve. And as they were at table eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me’” (Mk 14:17-18).
      • Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist at the same meal:
        • “And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body’” (Mk 14:22).
    • The Day of Passover in John’s Gospel:
      • The “trial” before Pilate took place on the same day as Jesus’ Crucifixion. John seems to be saying that Passover, the day the Pascal Meal would be eaten, would not begin until that evening, a Friday. In the Synoptic Gospels, the meal is eaten on Thursday.
        • “Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early [i.e., early Friday morning]. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover” (Jn 18:28).
        • “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’” (Jn 19:14).
    • Possible Resolutions to the Discrepancy
      • A number of solutions have been proposed to resolve the question. Most are obviously unsatisfactory for one reason or another. However, there are two main solutions that are consistent with modern scholarship as well as with the ancient traditions of the Church. The information that follows is taken from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 188)
      • The Calendar Proposal
        • The Jews in Jerusalem followed the lunar calendar while other groups of Jews, notably the Essenes, followed the solar calendar.
        • The day of the week on which feasts occurred varied from year to year on the lunar calendar, whereas these feasts always occurred on the same day of the week on the solar calendar.
        • Thus, the discrepancy is resolved if Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Last Supper according to the solar calendar, which would place their celebration of the feast of Passover prior to that of the Jews who were residents of Jerusalem.
        • An unusual feature of this proposal is that the day of Passover, on the solar calendar, was Tuesday, not Thursday. There are some ancient documents that support the idea of Passover being on Tuesday of that week.
      • The Paschal Proposal
        • This solution contends that the chronology of John’s Gospel is the same as that of the Synoptics, meaning that Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His Apostles on Thursday evening.
        • The word “Passover” is known to have a wide range of meanings that include Passover lamb, Passover meal, Passover week, as well as the Passover offerings made during the week of Passover.
        • John’s reference to “Passover” in 19:14 is validly translated as “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover,” but that is not the preferred translation. The Greek term rendered “day of Preparation” is simply the common word for Friday, the day the Jews prepared for the Sabbath. With this understanding, Jn 19:14 becomes “Now it was the Friday of Passover week.”
        • Among those who favored this reading of Jn 19:14 are St. John Chrysostom, a Father and Doctor from the East (d. 407) and St. Thomas Aquinas, a Doctor from the West (d. 1274).
  7. Gethsemane
    • From the Upper Room to Gethsemane
      • Following the completion of the Last Supper, Jesus and the Apostles go out to the Garden of Gethsemane. For Jesus, the atmosphere changes dramatically from His serene mastery in the upper room to the fear and agony of Gethsemane (261-3).
      • Note that a similarly dramatic change, from fear and agony back to the same serene mastery seen at the Last Supper, will occur when He goes out from the Garden of Gethsemane to endure the sufferings of His Passion (261-3).
      • What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane will cast a flood of light upon both our understanding of man’s redemption and our understanding of the Man Christ Jesus (261-3).
    • Key Elements in the Garden of Gethsemane
      • “And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled” (Mk 14:33).
        • The Douay Rheims translates “distressed” as “fear.”
      • “And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Mt 26:37-39).
      • “And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, encouraging Him. And now He was in an agony, and prayed still more earnestly; His sweat fell to the ground like thick drops of blood” (Lk 22:43-44).
      • A second and third time He prayed: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt 26:42, 44).
    • The Source of His Agony
      • What Jesus experienced in His agony is variously translated as fear, distress, agitation, grief, anguish and sorrow.
      • The source of His fear and distress “was not simply, nor even primarily, the bodily torments that He was to endure” (262-4).
        • Others had experienced the same bodily torments; there was nothing unique in what Jesus was to suffer bodily (262-4).
      • His anguish was due to the burden of sin that was being laid upon Him as prophesied by Isaiah (262-4):
        • “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity [blame, guilt, punishment] of us all” (Is 53:6)
      • St Peter confirms the application of Isaiah’s prophecy to Jesus’ Passion (262-4):
        • “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pt 2:24).
        • These two verses (Is 53:6, 1 Pt 2:24) are complementary in that Isaiah emphasizes the suffering experienced in the soul of Christ whereas Peter emphasizes the suffering experienced in the body of Christ that is an external expression of the suffering in His soul.
      • Consequently, “Christ’s soul bore the burden of all the sin of mankind. That was His agony” (262-4).
        • Ultimately, it is the conscious intellect, a faculty of the soul, that bears even the suffering of the body, for we do not experience pain when we are unconscious.
        • Regarding the interior suffering that can be experienced by one’s awareness of his sins, St. John Vianney, an extraordinarily holy man, prayed to see the state of his soul. After this had been granted to him, he prayed to have this gift taken away because he could not bear what he saw.
      • Jesus took on the burden of our sins, everything except the actual guilt of those sins, as though they were His own (262-4).
        • In this sense, “[God] made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21).
    • Jesus Suffered His Passion Willingly
      • Jesus’ prayer that “not my will but yours be done” (Mt 26:39) could be misunderstood to indicate that He took on His Passion under the Father’s compulsion and was not a free act of His human will (263-2)
        • Recall that the will is a faculty of one’s nature, and that there is only one divine nature. Thus, there can only be one divine will. Jesus had two natures, divine and human. His divine will could not differ from the Father’s will, because they are the same divine will.
      • On three occasions, Jesus explicitly indicated that He would suffer His passion of His own free will. The first occurred sometime in the third year of His public ministry:
        • “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn 10:18).
          • It is sometimes difficult to determine if Jesus is speaking from His human nature or His divine nature. In this case, He speaks of a human act, the laying down, for it is impossible for the divine nature to suffer death, and this death is the special source of the Father’s love for Him. Hence, He is speaking from His human nature.
          • The verse continues: “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” In this part of the verse He speaks from His divine nature, for the restoration of life is not a human power. Thus, in a single verse He speaks first from His human nature and then from His divine nature.
      • “The only compulsion upon Him was the moral compulsion to carry out an obligation He had already freely accepted” (263-2).
      • Just prior to Palm Sunday (i.e., in the week before His Passion), He made an implicit expression of freely willing to suffer His Passion:
        • “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28).
      • The second explicit expression of freely willing to suffer His Passion occurs a day or two after the first Palm Sunday (i.e., in the week of His Passion):
        • “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’” (Jn 12:27-28)
          • Sheed doesn’t explain why the glorification Jesus refers to here is connected to Jesus’ Passion, but the connection is explicitly stated in the Letter to the Hebrews:
            • “We see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).
          • In addition to John 12:27-28, the connection is implicitly made in two other passages found in John’s Gospel as well as a passage in Luke’s Gospel:
          • At the Last Supper:
            • “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee . . . glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made’” (Jn 17:1, 5).
          • After the Resurrection (Jesus speaking to Peter):
            • “‘When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.’ (This he [i.e., Jesus] said to show by what death he [i.e., Peter] was to glorify God)” (Jn 21:18-19).
          • On the road to Emmaus:
            • “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:26).
      • The third explicit expression of freely willing to suffer His Passion occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane:
        • “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt 26:42).
          • Here, it is Jesus’ human will that is freely choosing to do the will of His Father.
    • Fear and Weakness in the Garden
      • “[Jesus] foresaw [His sufferings] . . . in every detail and already felt their horror in His flesh” (262-4). His human nature reacted naturally and involuntarily to the coming events, and this was expressed in the fear He experienced.
        • Because fear is one of the eleven natural and involuntary passions (i.e., emotions) of human nature, the presence of fear does not necessarily indicate a moral weakness; it would only indicate weakness to the extent that He did not strive to overcome the fear.
        • Had He not experienced fear, we could assume that He either did not have a human nature or that His human nature had been swallowed up by His divine nature.
        • Hence, the weakness shown in the Garden was not a moral weakness, but a weakness of human nature. Failure to take on (i.e., overcome) these fears would have been an expression of moral weakness.
        • The virtue of fortitude cannot be operative unless fear is present:
          • “The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear [i.e., act appropriately despite the fear], even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions” (CCC 1808).
      • Jesus faced His natural human weakness, prayed for divine assistance, and help was given to Him. “From that moment there was no return of weakness” (264-2).
        • “He learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,” (Heb 5:8-9).
      • “It is the [serene (see 261-3)] Christ of the Last Supper who returns to the sleeping Apostles and tells them [His betrayer is at hand]” (264-2).
        • “Then he came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand” (Mt 26:45-46).
  8. The Arrest and Judgment
    • Jesus’ Command of His Destiny
      • Jesus demonstrates that He is in complete command of His destiny by working four miracles at the time of His arrest:
        • He announces His identity to the arresting party and they fall to the ground in “compulsory” adoration (Jn 18:4-6).
        • The arresting party is unable to recognize Him, though they had seen Him daily in the Temple during the past week (Jn 18:7-8).
        • He heals the ear of Malchus, which had been cut off by Peter (Lk 22:51, Jn 18:10).
        • He secures the release of the Apostles (Jn 18:8, Mt 26:56).
    • Judgment before Annas and Caiphas
      • The arresting party takes Him to Annas (Jn 18:12-14), who sends Him to Caiphas (Jn 18:24) for the first trial before the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:59-68), which probably took place at night.
      • Before the Sanhedrin He makes the first explicit acknowledgement of His divinity:
        • “And the high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’ But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to him, ‘I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so’” (Mt 26:62-64).
        • Note that It is only after the High Priest places Him under oath that He makes the acknowledgement. Subsequent to that acknowledgement, they accuse Him of blasphemy and declare Him to be “deserving of death” (Mt 26:65-66).
      • In the morning, there is a second trial before the Sanhedrin (Lk 22:66-71), which seems to have the purpose of formalizing the charge against Him and His sentence.
    • Cursed Is the Man Who Is Hanged on a Tree
      • As noted above, Jesus’ extraordinary claims were blasphemy to the Jewish authorities.
        • The Jewish authorities objected to Jesus’ teaching because He claimed to have authority over the Mosaic Law (Mt 5:21-22), He claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath (Lk 6:5), He claimed to be greater than the Temple (Mt 12:6), and He claimed God as His Father, which they understood to mean that He claimed to be God (Jn 5:18).
      • The authorities had a two-fold problem on their hands: (1) They needed to put an end to Jesus’ public ministry; (2) they needed to discredit His teaching so as to disband His followers.
        • His teaching needed to be discredited because His followers would not accept the charge of blasphemy that would be leveled against Him. Though they did not yet see how He could be God, they could not deny the validity of His teaching, for its sublimity and His numerous miracles gave witness to it:
          • “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (Jn 10:37-38).
      • If they could convict Him of blasphemy, they could kill Him in accordance with the Law:
        • “He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death” (Lev 24:16).
      • But they needed to have Him killed in a way that would also destroy His credibility among His followers, so as to cause them to disband. This, too, they could accomplish with the Mosaic Law, for it says in the Law:
        • “A hanged man is accursed by God” (Dt 21:23; also see Acts 5:20, Gal 3:13).
      • A crucified Jesus, would prove to His disciples that He clearly was not “God’s chosen one” (Lk 9:24), but was, in reality, “accursed by God.”
        • “[At the Last Supper] Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered”’” (Mt 26:31).
    • Trial before Pilate
      • A difficulty with their plan was that only the Romans had the authority to crucify, so they had to get Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, to condemn Jesus. He is then taken to Pilate and charged with sedition (264-4):
        • “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king” (Lk 23:2).
        • No doubt Pilate was aware of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem earlier in the week in which the crowd declared Him to be King of Israel.
          • “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” (Jn 12:13).
      • At first, Pilate refused to go along with their demand that Jesus be crucified, but he eventually gave in so as to avoid a riot.
        • “A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no crime deserving death; I will therefore chastise him and release him.’ But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed” (Lk 23:22-23).
        • “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves’” (Mt 27:24).
      • Finding no guilt in Jesus, Pilate sends Him to Herod (Lk 23:7), governor of Galilee, where He is questioned and mocked. Having remained silent before Herod, He is sent back to Pilate (Lk 23:11).
      • Unwilling to accede to the demands of the Jewish crowd, Pilate has Jesus scourged, in the hope of satisfying them. Jesus is also crowned with thorns (Jn 19:1-2).
        • “Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’” (Jn 19:5).
      • The crowd continues to demand the death of Jesus (Jn 19:6-7). Pilate declares Jesus to be a just man and washes his hands of the blood of Jesus (Mt 27:24), and, finally, “he handed Him over to them to be crucified” (Jn 19:16).
  9. Calvary
    • The Via Dolorosa
      • Jesus was made to carry His cross to Calvary (Jn 19:17), and was, at some point, assisted by Simon of Cyrene (Mk 15:21).
      • He was crucified on Calvary between two thieves (Mt 33, 38), both of which deserved their punishment by their own admission (Lk 23:41).
        • “[He] was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Is 53:12).
    • Jesus Seven Last Words
      • Among the four Gospel accounts of the Passion, we find seven “words” of Jesus that were spoken during the three hours He hung on the cross (265-2).
        • “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
        • “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).
        • “He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’” (Jn 19:26-27).
        • “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46).
          • This is the first line of Psalm 22, which is a prophecy of the Passion of Jesus.
        • “I thirst” (Jn 19:28).
          • A crucified person sweats profusely due to tetanic contraction of the muscles.
          • At the Last Supper, following the third cup: “I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Lk 22:18).
          • “A bowl full of vinegar [sour wine] stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth” (Jn 19:29).
          • Instructions for the first Passover: “Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning” (Ex 12:22).
        • “It is finished” (Jn 19:30).
          • Or, it is “consummated.”
          • The Passover meal has been completed and transformed into the Mass, and the Redemptive act has been completed.
        • “Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit” (Mt 27:50): “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk 23:46; Ps 31:5).
          • Note that due to the manner of death (asphyxiation and tetanic contraction of the muscles) it would seem to be impossible to cry out “with a loud voice.”
    • Excursus: The Fourth Cup
      • The Passover meal, at the time of Jesus, consisted of four courses (for the following, see Scott Hahn, “A Father Who Keeps His Promises,” 229).
        • First course: A solemn blessing was pronounced over the first cup of wine, which was drunk and followed by a dish of bitter herbs.
        • Second course: The Passover narrative was recited (Ex 12) and the “Little Hallel” (Ps 113) was sung, followed by the drinking of the second cup of wine.
        • Third course: The main meal, consisting of lamb and unleavened bread, was served and then the third cup of wine, the “cup of blessing” was drunk.
          • “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16).
        • Fourth course: The climax of the Passover meal was the singing of the “Great Hallel” (Ps 114-118), which was followed by the drinking of the fourth cup, the “cup of consummation.”
  10. The Time between the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
    • He Descended into Hell
      • Jesus’ second word from the cross might lead us to believe that His soul, and that of the repentant thief, went to heaven immediately after they died (265-2).
      • However, in the morning of the day of the Resurrection, He said to Mary Magdalene “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” (Jn 20:17; 265-3).
      • The English of the Apostle’s Creed says that “He descended into hell.” But the Latin that corresponds to “hell” is “inferos,” which could mean either the hell of the damned or the lower regions (265-3).
        • The latter is more consistent with the Hebrew “sheol” that is frequently used in the Old Testament to refer to the place of the dead.
      • “It would seem that Our Lord’s soul visited that place where those who had died in the grace of God before Christ’s coming were awaiting the redemptive act which should open heaven to them” (266-1):
        • “Christ . . . being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison” (1 Pt 3:18-19).
    • He Did Not Undergo Corruption
      • Note that “although His soul was separated from His body, His Divinity was never parted from either His soul or His body” (Catechism of the Council of Trent, p. 62). For this reason, His body could not undergo corruption.
        • “For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit” (Ps 16:10).
          • Quoted in Acts 2:27 as: “For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.”
      • Because of the hypostatic union (union of the two natures in the one Person), His divinity remained united to the body and to the soul, even though the soul and body were not united.
  11. The Resurrection
    • “Anticipated” Only by His Enemies
      • The chief priests and the Pharisees:
        • “Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” Therefore order the sepulcher to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has risen from the dead,” and the last fraud will be worse than the first’” (Mt 27:62-64).
      • The Disciples:
        • During His public ministry, Jesus had prophesied His resurrection no less than six times, three of which were addressed specifically to the Apostles.
        • Nevertheless, none of the disciples mentioned in the four resurrection accounts believed He had been raised from the dead when first told of the Resurrection.
        • It was only after they saw the resurrected Lord that they believed. In other words, they were all skeptics, initially, and Jesus took them to task for their skepticism:
          • “Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen” (Mk 16:14).
          • Hence, Paul writes to the Corinthians: If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:17).
          • “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31)
        • Note that the only prominent disciple not mentioned in the Resurrection accounts is the Virgin Mary, whom the Gospels portray, from the very beginning, as the Woman of Faith; hence, it is appropriate that she is not mentioned in the company of skeptics:
          • “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Lk 1:45).
    • The Dilemma of Jesus’ Followers
      • The preaching of “Christ crucified” was necessarily a stumbling block for Jews, for it is written in the Law: “A hanged man is accursed by God” (Dt 21:23).
        • “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23; also see Rom 9:32, Gal 5:11).
      • In His public ministry Jesus claimed that He is the one whom God has sent (Jn 3:34). He also claimed that He did not come to abolish the Law (Mt 5:17). This posed a dilemma for the disciples.
        • Jesus to Nicodemus: “He (i.e., Jesus) whom God has sent utters the words of God” (Jn 3:34).
        • “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17).
      • How could He whom the Jewish authorities “put . . . to death by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 10:39) be “He whom God has sent” (Jn 3:34)? Does this not contradict the Law?
      • The solution to the dilemma was prophesied as the sign of Jonah, the only sign that He would give the Pharisees:
        • “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’” (Mt 12:38-40; also see Mt 16:1-4, Jn 2:19).
      • Jesus was indeed “accursed by God,” but only in His role as the “New Adam,” in which He represented the human race, which had fallen under the curse of Adam’s sin.
        • “Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Rom 5:14).
        • “To Adam [God] said, ‘cursed is the ground because of you’” (Gen 3:17).
      • But God raised Him from the dead, thus showing His approval of the One whom He had sent.
        • “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:23-34).
        • As the New Adam, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal 3:13).
          • “A hanged man is accursed by God” (Dt 21:23; also see Acts 5:20, Gal 3:13).
    • Nature of the Resurrection
      • When Jesus rose from the dead, “it was the resurrection of the whole man, body and soul united and [henceforth un]separable. . . . This was the conquest of death” (266-2).
      • His resurrected body had become as immortal and incorruptible as His soul always was (266-2).
      • “His body was glorified, in the state of a body in heaven, worthy of union with a soul that is looking directly upon the unveiled face of God” (266-2).
        • “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” (1 Cor 15:54-55).
      • Provided we endure to the end (Mt 10:22), this is our destiny also, as St. Paul writes:
        • “While we are still in this tent [body], we sigh with anxiety . . . that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Cor 5:4; 266-2).
      • For the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension, He appeared repeatedly, but not continuously, to His disciples (there were about 120 of them – Acts 1:15).
        • He also appeared to some who were outside this circle of disciples at the time, but were later to come into the circle: “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:6).
      • His coming and going was independent of the restricting power of space and matter; He could do this not as miracle, but as a result of the natural powers of a glorified body (266-3).
      • Monsignor Charles Pope’s view of the Resurrection chronology:
    • Necessity of the Post-Resurrection Appearances
      • These post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus to His disciples were necessary for a multiple reasons. The principle reasons are these:
        • The Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord was necessary to provide an external sign of God’s acceptance of the priest, perfection of the victim, and acceptance of the victim. This will be explained in what follows below.
        • The instruction of His Apostles could not be completed until they came to recognize that He was God. Thus, following the Resurrection He was able to complete their instruction in the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension.
        • A system of beliefs necessarily has to have a solid foundation. St. Paul tells us that we find that foundation in the Resurrection:
          • “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:17-19).
    • Ascension into Heaven
      • Prior to His ascension into heaven, Jesus gives the Apostles their final instructions for the apostolic ministry assigned to them (266-3):
        • He gives the Apostles the power to forgive sins (Jn 20:23).
        • He opens their minds to an understanding of Scripture (Lk 24:45).
        • He gives them the “catholic” commission to carry out His work (Mt 28:19-20).
        • But all of this must wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit before it is actualized in them, and the Holy Spirit could not come until Jesus had gone (267-1).
          • “If I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7).
      • Forty days after His Resurrection from the dead, He ascended into heaven in the presence of the Apostles, and possibly other disciples:
        • “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.’ And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:8-9).
        • “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19).
    • Resurrection, Ascension, and Sacrifice
      • In the total concept of sacrifice, the offering of a victim is not sufficient to complete the sacrifice. The offering must be accepted by God to complete the sacrifice, as we learn in the beginning of salvation history (267-3):
        • Both Cain and Abel offered a sacrifice to God. Cain’s disposition was defective; consequently, His sacrifice was not acceptable to God:
          • “In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard” (Gen 4:3-5).
        • This same teaching is found throughout the Old Testament:
          • “Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings; your incense is loathsome to me. New moon and sabbath, calling of assemblies, octaves with wickedness: these I cannot bear” (Is 1:13).
      • In addition, to the offering of the victim and God’s acceptance of the offering, human nature requires that the sacrifice be externally visible and that God’s acceptance of the sacrifice be externally visible.
      • Consequently, the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension all belong organically to the sacrifice of Jesus (267-3).
        • In the Crucifixion the priest and victim, both of whom are Jesus, are externally visible, and the intention of the priest is audibly expressed.
          • “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
          • “‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last” (Lk 23:46; Ps 31:5).
          • “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Mt 26:42).
          • “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28).
        • In the Resurrection we see God’s acceptance of the priest in the perfection of the victim (267-3):
          • “He learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb 5:8-9).
          • “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable” (1 Cor 15:42).
        • In the Ascension we see God’s acceptance of the perfected victim, hence, the acceptance of the sacrifice (268-1).
          • “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).
            • This was spoken at the time of the Baptism of the Lord, but it is especially applicable to His sacrifice on Calvary. Being an eternal sacrifice, it is ever-present to the Father, even before the creation of the universe.
      • Through the sacrifice of Jesus, humanity, offered to God in Christ the Victim, is now forever at the right hand of the Father (268-1).
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About Dick Landkamer

In my day job, I'm an IT Analyst (BSEE, University of Nebraska) for Catholic Charities of Wichita. Outside of my regular job, I have a passion for theology (MA Theology, Newman University), sacred music, traditional church architecture, logic, philosophy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and a host of other related things.
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