The Lord Jesus is, as the Church affirms, the eternal
Son of God, one in being with the Father and therefore shares the one, unique,
and utterly transcendent divine nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit. At
the same time, this same God the Son took upon Himself a human nature as an
integral part of his mission as Divine Savior.[i] In becoming man and in
accomplishing His work of redemption and manifesting His true identity through
it, we shouldn’t just neglect the reality of His humanity and what followed
from his human life and history. It is to this reality which I aim to focus on
in this essay. Specifically, given its fittingness to be discussed at this time
(the Holy Week), I would like to give a reflection on the pains and agony that
our Blessed Lord experienced in His passion, the aches He suffered in His body
and mind.
The
fact that Jesus Himself is able to suffer in His body during his earthly life
is not a concept alien to the Sacred Pages, but is in fact taught explicitly in
them. Saint Matthew recounts a time when Jesus referred to Himself as being “sorrowful
to the point of death” while talking to His disciples at Gethsemane.[ii] The author of Hebrews
likewise wrote that the Lord, in His passion, “offered up prayers and petitions
with fervent cries and tears” to the Father[iii], a description that
won’t make sense unless He Himself was in pain.
Once
again, we see here a scriptural of the truth of Christ’s humanity, that he
really “dwelt among us” and “made one of us, like us in all things
except sin”[iv]. And given that He is
sinless, He had human defects in His earthly life not by inheriting it from the
fallen Adam, but because He voluntarily took it upon Himself. He assumed
them precisely to heal them. As Saint Thomas Aquinas himself has written in the
Summa Theologiae: “(S)ince Christ healed the passibility and
corruptibility of our body by assuming it, He consequently healed all other
defects.”[v] It is true that Aquinas
also taught that the earthly, pre-resurrection Christ possessed the beatific
vision, but he also believed that Christ possessed it according to a specific dispensatio
that would preserve the ordinariness of His physical body, sensation,
consciousness and experiential knowledge.[vi] This includes His
mortality and capacity to feel pain of all possible sorts, made manifest in His
own suffering and death. Again, all of this was done out of his soteriological
mission. It was all done out of love for you and I.
Dominican
priest and theologian Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP in his book, The Incarnate
Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology[vii],
distinguishes three dimensions of Christ’s agony. The first pertains to the
form of punishment he endured, which is public torture and execution by way of
crucifixion. The second (which is connected to our point above) is about His
assumption of human defects which are consequences of human sin without being
defective or sinful Himself, which includes “the fear of mortality, deep
sadness, and a loss of the sense of the consoling presence of God.”[viii] The third dimension
concerns his prophetic, extraordinary insight into the human condition, such
that He is radically aware of mankind’s separation from and neglection of God.
This form of awareness, coupled with the fullness of charity in his heart for
all men, will indeed produce a radical grief in Christ.
When we
speak about Jesus’ agony from his crucifixion, we just don’t mean the pains
coming from the crucifixion as such. We also have to take into account the
events that happened prior that lead to and simultaneously with the crucifixion
event. This includes the betrayal of Judas, one of His close friends and a
disciple[ix], the fleeing of the other
disciples[x],
the mocking and other forms of disrespect done to Him by the soldiers who were
in charge of punishing him[xi], the unjust judgment and
condemnation of Him by the Sanhedrin[xii], Simon Peter’s denial of
Him[xiii], seeing His mother
grieve for Him as He hangs in the cross[xiv], and many more. Just
imagine: the very people that you called friends and that you loved so much[xv], who walked with you and
became close to you, suddenly fled and weren’t there in your worst moments. If
that cannot be a source of great sorrow, what is? Also, consider the fact that
Christ experienced these in a most severe way given the perfection of his human
nature. Aquinas explains that, “(given that) His body was endowed with the most
perfect constitution… Christ’s sense of touch, the sensitiveness of which is
the reason for our feeling pain, was most acute. His soul, likewise, from its
interior powers, apprehended most vehemently all the causes of sadness.”[xvi]
Given
the perfection of His humanity (due to the fact that He was “full of grace and
truth”[xvii]), His body and soul is
able to absorb the pain, discomfort, and affliction in the most extreme way.
Every mockery and curse He heard, every laceration He received from the
flagellation[xviii],
every spit and slap they threw in His face[xix], every puncture and
penetration in His head that He felt from the crown of thorns[xx], every sting coming from
the nails in His hands and feet[xxi]: All of these He endured
with full absorption. The darkness and gore of the passion was assumed by him
in its fullness, given the magnificence of His humanity. And all of it was
experienced with an eye towards the salvation of us all. All was done for
you and I. How awesome is this divine benevolence, revealed in the physical
and mental pains of the God-man! Saint Paul said it best: “God demonstrates His
own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[xxii]
When it
comes to the second dimension of Christ’s agony, the theological discussion on
its origins is very complicated. We have to ask the question: What is the root
cause of Christ’s capacity to get hurt, whether physically or spiritually? We
have already given a brief answer above, suggesting that God the Son assumed
our defects out of love. So far, that’s uncontroversial. But what exactly are
the intricacies of the Son’s act of love that led to his assuming of a human
nature with its notable flaws, including the capacity to die? Many theologians
thought that this is due to an eternal act of obedience in the very life of the
Trinity, which would seem that the Son in His very deity is involved in
an eternal subordination to the Father.[xxiii] Connected to this is
the idea that, in revealing His subordination to the Father, Christ becomes
“disconnected” from the Father on the cross. The Father “forsakes” Jesus in His
crucifixion, taking our place, in order to suffer damnation. The idea is that
we are supposed to be the one that deserves hell, but now Christ took the pains
of hell to himself to save us from it.[xxiv]
Like I have mentioned, a
deep look on this kenotic Christology that is prominent in modern theology
today is complicated and cannot be settled here. I would just say, though, that
I do not adhere to modern kenoticism in describing the identity and mission of
the earthly Christ. When analyzed correctly, it not only poses problems for
God’s internal unity and the oneness of will in the Father and the Son[xxv], but the idea of
Christ’s alienation from God in His passion which allowed Him to experience
damnation is just unintelligible, at least for me. Fr. White writes, “If God
the Son were to forfeit his divine unity with the Father in the crucifixion,
his capacity to save us would not only be compromised, but in fact forfeited.”[xxvi]
Add to this the fact that
damnation is precisely the privation of love, whereas love is precisely the
reason why God the Son became incarnate[xxvii]
(“God is Love”, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten
Son…”).[xxviii] We cannot therefore
predicate damnation (or even despair) in Christ because it is the precise
opposite of the purpose of His identity and mission. We cannot even predicate
it analogously, then, even if the effects of Christ’s assumed defects
are somehow similar to that of a damned soul or a sinful man (we can therefore
compare them metaphorically, even if we cannot predicate things in them univocally
or analogously).
There’s more to say about
the topic, but we can settle for what has been said so far. Jesus cannot
experience damnation, which is punishment that follows from a deliberate
rejection of God, because Jesus did it all out of love. Love for the Father
(expressed in a human way) and, consequently, love for us.
It’s important that we
reiterate that Christ, though having the beatific vision, possessed it in a way
that did not overcome the reality of his sufferings. It is true that,
typically, the joy of the beatific vision not only exists in a spiritual way
but also permeates the body. In the case of the earthly Christ, however, there
is a miraculous suspension of this, wherein the extraordinary and immediate
vision of God only exists within His higher reason, in way that doesn’t dabble
with the reality of His human pain.[xxix] This is all for the
sake of his soteriological mission: “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for
our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with
his wounds we are healed.”[xxx]
The God-man, through the reality of His human nature, has assumed the defects
that would allow Him to be subject to suffering and death, made most manifest
as He is lifted up on the cross, the new tree of life, recreating the world
destroyed by the sin of the first Adam.
Lastly, there’s Christ’s pain stemming from his great insight to the
weight of human sin. How is this possible? Aquinas explains that this “flowed
from a greater wisdom and charity, by which the pang of contrition is
intensified, and because He grieved at the one time for all sins, according to
Is 53:4: ‘Surely He has borne our sorrows’”[xxxi].
The scriptures themselves testify that, even before the cross, Jesus at
times would experience sorrow on behalf of others. John 11:35, the shortest
verse in Scripture, only says “Jesus wept”. This was during the time Jesus
learned that his friend Lazarus is dead. A closer example of what Aquinas is
trying to point out though, is found in Luke 19:41-44, where Jesus wept over
Jerusalem and its fate.[xxxii]
At first, it may seem that Jesus is only weeping over the future
downfall of Jerusalem that will be caused by a foreign invasion or something
like so. But, reading it in the context of the proceeding verses that speak of
Jesus cleansing the temple, it
can be read in the sense that Jesus is weeping for Jerusalem’s spiritual
downfall, or their downfall due to sin, as exhibited by the people’s misuse
of the temple. Christ, then, had this amazing insight into our hearts that
allowed Him to truly see the wretchedness of our fallen nature. This has led
him to be moved in sorrow through contrition, not for Himself, but for us.
This is of course most
evident in His cry for forgiveness for His executioners: “Father, forgive them
for they don’t know what they do” (Luke 23:34). What you see here is a cry for
deliverance for others, even in the midst of one’s own suffering.
This is an interesting
part of Christ’s agony because this is not an agony that stems from His own
experience of Himself, but rather from the condition of others. And what more
could you ask for, if you want to see an example of Christ’s fullness of
charity? Add to this the fact that, given His prophetic insight, He mourned for
all sins of all people of all time and space. Saint Paul, in his letter to the
Galatians, wrote that “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself up for me”.[xxxiii] You cannot love what
you don’t know, which means that Christ loved Paul because Christ knew Paul
(even if they never met during the earthly life and public ministry of Christ).
Christ knew Paul and therefore knew the condition of Paul – his sinful
condition. There’s nothing different in this case when it comes to us. Long
before we were all born, the Incarnate God knew of the bondage that takes hold
of our souls. He knew you, long before you even knew yourself, long
before you realized the reality of your sinfulness. And in knowing you, He
loved you. And in loving you in your sinful state, His love has increased the
suffering in Him, the ache of wanting to liberate you from the dirt you’re in.
Even Saint Peter pointed this out: “Christ suffered for you”.[xxxiv] We should never forget
the ever great, ever beautiful transforming love of Christ on the personal
level. Let’s not just proclaim that Christ suffered, but that He suffered for
us, confronting sin and death in its face, the same sin and death that you
and I are subject to, but are now able to rise above it, because God Himself,
in solidarity with us in His humanity, has rose above it.
“Greater love has no one
than this: to lay down one’s life for His friends.”[xxxv] The Christian life is
an invitation of intimate friendship, built on radical love, with God: “I made your name known to them, and I
will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in
them, and I in them.”[xxxvi]
In suffering for our sins, the Lord Himself has taken the first step. God, in
becoming incarnate and taking upon Himself the consequences of sin, has already
stretched out His hand to us, in order to pull us out of the dark realm of sin.
We have rebelled against the Lord, or, as Peter Kreeft would put it, “we are
born divorced”. The sufferings of Christ in His flesh and spirit, sufferings
that He took for you and I, gives us a brand-new opportunity to enter into a
brand-new relationship with God and to be able to participate in His marriage
supper in the end of time.[xxxvii]
This also calls for a greater charity for our brothers and sisters.
Every time you encounter another person, always keep in mind that this person
is extremely loved by the Lord, to the point of being willing to die for him or
her. We have no right to hate others (this is a commandment after all),
precisely because the God of the universe, in His earthly life and beyond (and
even before it, since He is the eternal Son), didn’t hate others. God is Love.
You were made by Love and for Love. The agony of Jesus has provided you a
blueprint in fulfilling your destiny.
I also want to give a brief word on contrition. The fact that sin is the
very reason why God took upon Himself our human defects and thereby has
suffered and died because of it should be reason enough to move us to
repentance. Sin executed God. You are a sinner. All of us have been, in one way
or another, killers of the Lord. God, in His mysterious providence, has allowed
man to commit deicide, the greatest of all crimes. It is fitting that, from
time to time, we dwell into this great mystery and allow ourselves to “sink”
into the truth of God’s humanly agony. This is a great opportunity for us to be
sorry for our sins, to bend our knees before God and to look down and weep
before Him Who Loved, before Him Who hanged on the cross. We in the modern
world have lacked the quality of a contrite heart. Many Catholics (and
Christians in general) may think that the story of the Lord’s passion is too
familiar to them, too banal, that they have forgotten the great advantages in reflecting
on Christ’s sufferings. May this modern inclination be changed. Hopefully, by
God’s grace, our lives may once again radiate this great mystery, reflected in
our words and actions.
May we, not only this Good Friday but for the rest of our lives,
continue to meditate on the reality of Jesus’s sufferings. Let us never forget
the fact that God has already gave us a battle plan contra eternal damnation,
presented to us via the physical wounds and mental and emotional pain that
Christ experienced through the punishment inflicted in Him and His love and
knowledge of us.
[i]
John 1:14
[ii]
Matthew 26:38
[iii]
Hebrews 5:7
[iv]
Hebrews 4:15
[v] ST
III q. 14, a. 4 ad. 1
[vi]
ST III q. 14, a. 1 ad 2
[vii]
Thomas Joseph White, OP, The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in
Christology (Catholic University of America Press, 2015)
[viii]
Ibid., 331, White clarifies that this is in no way interpreted in terms commonly
associated with penal substitutionary atonement theory, in the sense that Jesus
experienced damnation or separation from God on the cross.
[ix]
Mark 14:44-46
[x]
Mark 14:50-52
[xi]
Matthew 27:27-31
[xii]
Matthew 26:57-67
[xiii]
Matthew 26:69-75
[xiv]
John 19:25-27
[xv]
John 13:34, 15:15
[xvi]
ST III, q. 46, a. 6
[xvii]
John 1:14
[xviii]
John 19:1
[xix]
Mathew 26:67
[xx]
Mark 15:17
[xxi]
Luke 23:26-43
[xxii]
Romans 5:8
[xxiii]
See Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (CD) IV, 1, 209: “In His mode of
being as the Son He fulfills the divine subordination, just as the Father in
His mode of being as the Father fulfills the divine superiority. In humility as
the Son who complies, He is the same as is the Father in majesty as the Father
who disposes.”
[xxiv]
CD IV, 1, 238. Also see Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Theo-Drama, 4:325,
wherein Balthasar articulates his view on the “dark and bitter” separation of
the Son from the Father.
[xxv]
See White, Intra-Trinitarianism and Nicene-Chalcedonian Christology,
Nova et Vetera, English Edition, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2008), 377-402
[xxvi]
The Incarnate Lord, p. 373
[xxvii]
Ibid., 311-320
[xxviii]
1 John 4:8, John 3:16
[xxix]
ST III, q. 14, a. 1, ad 2: “From the natural relationship which is between the
soul and the body, glory flows into the body from the soul’s glory. Yet this
natural relationship in Christ was subject to the will of His Godhead, and
thereby it came to pass that the beatitude remained in the soul, and did not
flow into the body; but the flesh suffered what belongs to a passible nature.”
The distinction Aquinas makes between Christ’s higher and reason isn’t a
distinction between two intellects in Christ’s humanity, but rather a
distinction between two distinct objects, namely, the immediate vision of God
and bodily/cognitive realities that are subject to suffering. See ST III, q.
46, aa. 7-8
[xxx]
Isaiah 53:5
[xxxi] ST III, q. 46, a. 6, ad 4
[xxxii]
And when he drew near and saw the
city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had
known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden
from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your
enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem
you in on every side and tear you down to the ground,
you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon
another in you, because you did not know the time of
your visitation.”
[xxxiii]
Galatians 2:20
[xxxiv]
1 Peter 2:21
[xxxv]
John 15:13
[xxxvi]
John 17:26
[xxxvii]
Revelation 19:9
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