Bishop Glen John Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles
April 20, 2014
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
“For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” John 20:9
Why was Jesus crucified? As with everything that Jesus did, it was the Father’s will, but as the Gospels relate, there is more than one reason. There was God’s motive—let us call it the eternal motive—and there was the immediate motive of the crowd who wanted Jesus to be executed. Let us look first at the people’s motive.
When we read the Gospels closely, we are struck by this fact. Jesus was not put to death because of His concern for the poor or because He opened the eyes of the blind or cured lepers. No, He was not crucified because He taught the Beatitudes or did good deeds for the less fortunate. In a famous episode recounted in the Gospel of St. John, the crowd tried to stone Jesus. Jesus asked, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” (John 10:32). The crowd answered, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God” (John 10:33). In the end, Jesus is killed “… because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). That is what the crowd shouts back to Pilate, when Pilate declares Jesus not guilty. But there is another motive for the crucifixion of Jesus, which is God’s motive. The answer to our question is one simple word—“sacrifice.”
God willed the sacrifice of His Son for our salvation. The Letter to the Hebrews explains it to us in these simple words: “’Behold, I come to do your will.’ He takes away the first [sacrifice] to establish the second. By this ‘will,’ we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:9-10). St. Paul will reiterate this truth in a beautiful hymn found in his Letter to the Philippians: “[Jesus] humbled himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:8-9).
“We proclaim Christ crucified,” St. Paul tells us (I Corinthians 1:23). And why should the crucified Christ be so important to us? Nothing good comes without sacrifice, because good must compensate for what we lack. When good takes the place of the sins of all humanity, then that good must be the most perfect offering of all. Again St. Paul writes, “[W]here sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Romans 5:20). So Christ redeems by offering His body on the cross and then rising from the dead. We call this the Paschal Mystery.
When Jesus takes the bread and wine on that first Holy Thursday night He says, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” As we heard from St. Paul Holy Thursday night, Jesus adds, “Do this in remembrance of me” (I Corinthians 11:24). Jesus offers His Body and Blood as food for us because that same Body and Blood will be offered on the cross. This offering for sin is to overflow. Therefore, Jesus wants the offering remembered. He wants it relived. He wants us to “hit replay,” as it were, bringing this offering into the present. The sacrifice of Christ is once and for all, but the fruits of the sacrifice yield over and over again. The reason is because this offering is “for the forgiveness of sin.” Jesus still forgives, because human beings are after all human beings. We continue to sin, and Jesus continues to forgive.
Jesus empties himself out into the elements of bread and wine, transforming them into His Body and Blood. In this way Jesus on Holy Thursday sets the stage for the redemptive act of Good Friday. I remember the beautiful words of Isaiah that prophesy the sacrifice of Christ. Isaiah writes, “If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him” (Isaiah 53:10).
We are those descendants. Jesus is the offering for our sins. We have long life because His death on Calvary does not end in death. Life begins because the Resurrection defeats death. There would be no life without His offering on the cross. As the Scriptures tell us, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).
Pope Francis has reminded us that people have desperate need of hearing this message proclaimed. It is a message proclaimed by the “first pope,” St. Peter. We find in the Acts of the Apostles one of the earliest sermons ever preached. We [will] hear it read at Mass on Easter Sunday. The sermon was preached to Cornelius and his family in Caesarea, a coastal city built by Herod the Great not far from Mount Carmel. I am deeply moved by this because we visited Caesarea this Lent on pilgrimage. I stood on the very spot where it is believed St. Peter spoke these words. Here is what St. Peter said: “[Jesus] commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:42-43). And this is what St. Peter preached that through Jesus Christ forgiveness of sins is possible.
Forgiveness of sin is what Good Friday and Easter are all about. This is why Pope Francis speaks so frequently about “mercy.” This mercy would not be possible without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But mercy cannot enter a heart that will not receive it.
Mercy enters only when we open the door with our confession of sin. Mercy resides in the heart of God but cannot reach the heart of a person closed to God. This is why admitting guilt, sorrow for sin, and change of heart are so important. How can a parent forgive a child who refuses to be forgiven? The child needs to be reminded of the parent’s love. The cross helps us in this way. The cross sobers the sinner. The cross reminds the sinner of the price that was paid for salvation.
Just last week we had Penance Nights in the Diocese. What a heartwarming experience it was to see hundreds, if not thousands, of Catholics throughout the diocese going to confession. Great burdens were lifted from their shoulders. Life was made a little easier because the forgiveness of their sins gave them hope. They came and knelt at the foot of the cross, and when they rose up, they left behind their sins and shared in the Resurrection a little more. They came to the altar of the Eucharist and were given a share in eternal life. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6:54). That is what Jesus said. That was His promise to us.
I think about those people who saw Jesus on that first Easter Sunday. Remember Mary Magdalen was the first. Mary Magdalen reflected the love of one who had been forgiven much (Luke 7:47) (13). Jesus addressed her as “Woman” (John 20:15) (14). In Genesis that was the name given to Eve. The early Fathers of the Church said that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen first because a great absolution took place (e.g. St. Cyril of Alexandria quoted in Summa Theologiae 3a, 55, 2). Through Eve sin had entered the world. Now, the privilege of seeing the Resurrected Lord first was given to a “woman” because there was a great reconciliation. Something entirely new was happening. There was to be a new Eden coming into being, the kingdom of God. God’s creation was being recreated. The human race was reconciled to God, and Mary Magdalen was its first witness. God’s ways are indeed marvelous!
As we share in the cross of Christ, may we share in His Resurrection. The cross brought death, but the Resurrection brings life. Death was the offering, but Life was the reward.