What was Jesus Doing on the Cross? Yes. Doing.
Fr. John Riccardo
March 24, 2021
How are we to enter into the Great Week, Holy Week, the single most important week in the history not merely of the world but of the universe? Better, how can we enter into the Great Week with ever sharper spiritual eyesight? Today and next week, we will try to probe more deeply into these massively important questions, mindful that the first essential principle for transformation in the Church is re-acquiring a biblical worldview. At no time is this more important than the days about to begin. We will do that by calling our attention today to three biblical texts. Then, next week, we’ll call attention to four texts from some early Church preachers.
“Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? Surely, thus says the LORD, ‘Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant shall be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you...Then all flesh shall know that I am the LORD, your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:24-26).
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when someone stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides the spoil” (Luke 11:21-22).
“The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me” (John 14:30).
The Crucifixion by Matthias Grünewald.
These three texts, among many that could be chosen to be sure, help us better see what is going on as we prepare to focus our attention on the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the universe. Through the prophet Isaiah, God helps us mysteriously understand that the race He has created in His own image and likeness finds itself in a state of captivity, bound and unable to free itself. That captivity is to the powers of Sin and Death, which dominate the world as a result of our first parents being deceived by the devil, and thereby selling their descendants (i.e., us) into their hands. However, through the same prophet the Lord God promises that He Himself will fight for us and that we will be rescued. How? He doesn’t tell us, and neither we, nor the devil, would ever have guessed His strategy.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks the above words after He has rescued a man from demonic possession. His words help us understand that what has just happened before everyone’s eyes is part of what had been prophesied by Isaiah. God Himself has come to rescue His creature, not just this one man, but the entire human race, and not just from possession but from the powers of Sin and Death. We need to note well that Jesus describes Himself not only as stronger than the devil but as an assailant who will overcome our enemy so that his goods, that is to say us, can go free.
Finally, in the Gospel of John, just before He enters into His Passion, Jesus makes clear that the enemy, strong as he is—so much stronger than we can imagine!—has no power over Him. In other words, Jesus is not just kind. Or gentle. Or compassionate. Or merciful. He is all of these things, and so much more, to be sure! But He is more than these. He is LORD, which is to say nobody else is. He has no rival. And He is utterly unconquerable.
Given all of this, what is Jesus doing on the cross? Yes, doing. I know, it sounds like a crazy question. After all, it doesn’t look like He’s doing anything. It looks like He’s a helpless victim, humiliated, naked, beaten, crucified, defeated, His life slowly ebbing away. But remember: “The ruler of this world,” the devil, has “no power” over Him. You can’t nail God to a cross. Not even the devil can. This One on the cross is the One through whom a universe that is 46 billion light years across was called into being. There’s only one way this Jesus can get on a cross. He has to want to be there. Now, why in the world would He want to be there? What was He doing…?
We’ll look at how the early Church used to answer that question next week—and it’s not how we typically hear it preached today. In the meantime, let’s ask the Lord in these holiest of days to understand the mystery of faith like never before.