Christis


	Contents page \| Christis archive \| Submissions \| Advertising \| Links page \| Meet the team \| Cartoons \| Subscribe \| Christis timetable \| Search Christis

The Passion

“For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion have Mercy on us and on the Whole World”

This Good Friday, Christians will mark and remember Jesus’ death in different ways. Catholics will be miserable. Evangelicals will be joyful.

From Issue 66

When I first read this, I initially took it as a personal attack, and in my personal nature whenever I am accused of something my initial response is to immediately deny it: evidence of my sinful pride. However, past the initial reaction, I thought about it. Yes, on Good Friday Catholics do consider very deeply the event on Calvary and sadness does come as a result of this to quite a few people. To quote the 13^th verse of the hymn At the cross her station keeping:

Let me mingle tears with thee [Mary],
mourning him who mourn’d for me,
all the days that I may live.

However, as with all religious topics, Good Friday goes far deeper than this, and indeed contains echoes of what happened at the time Jesus was presented in the temple: “You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected — and a sword will pierce your own soul [Mary’s] too — so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare” (Luke 2:34–35).

Good Friday is a time when we confront reality — what our sins have done. The whole attitude of Good Friday I think is brilliantly summed up in the following hymn:

1. When I survey the wondrous cross,
on which the Prince of Glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride …

3. See from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down:
did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4. Where the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

Every single act of sin, past, present and future, is tied back to that one moment in time when Jesus suffered on the cross and redeemed everyone: not just those who believe, but also those that have not yet come to know God. In other words everyone: no-one is left out. Both Protestants and Catholics are equally guilty in my view of using the words “saved” and “redeemed” interchangeably and it leads to confusion and argument — exactly what the devil wants. Everyone is already redeemed but not everyone is saved and to be saved requires a conscious co-operation on our own part with God’s grace.

At this point I think it is good to consider what crucifixion actually entailed.

In the early church crucifixion still happened in the world and it was such a horrid thing that churches did not have crucifixes in them until the practice of crucifixion had been abandoned. In many crucifixes you will see the nail going through Our Lord’s hands. This is merely an artistic portrayal and would not have happened in practice otherwise the weight of the body would have torn the hands apart, freeing the victim from the cross. Instead what happened was that the nails went in between the two bones in the wrist. Just imagine how much it would hurt to stick a drawing pin all the way into your wrist. Now think how much worse it would be to drive a big nail through your wrist. When under such horrid pain the behaviour people normally take is not to touch the wounded area. With crucifixion this is not possible as you will have to use your nailed wrists to support your body weight, which would lead to excruciating agony.

Crucifixion works by suffocation rather than by bleeding to death or any other means. When the body is stretched out on the cross, the only way of breathing is by moving your whole body, transferring your body weight alternately between the wounded hands and feet. Exhaustion leads to this becoming increasingly difficult and when this is no longer possible you suffocate, drowning in the fluid of your own lungs. Hence when Jesus was pierced in the side blood and water flowed out, indicating that he had died. Crucifixion was a slow, lingering and very agonising way of dying and it would have normally taken a few days to die. Hence why the soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals, so that they would die sooner and the dead bodies be removed.

In light of this, why did Jesus die so soon? Any crucifix we see shows a very “tidied-up” version of what Jesus was like on the cross. The scourging that he received would have covered him in his own blood from head to foot. Such a thing people have died from on its own. Through this loss of blood, and the rough treatment of the soldiers (see Mark 15:16–20) Jesus became so weak that the soldiers had to get Simon of Cyrene to help him carry his cross (Luke 23:26) as otherwise he could have died on the way. On top of this I am sure that the mental anguish was far worse than the physical torment.

I would like to finish with the final verse of another hymn, O Sacred Head ill-used, by reed and bramble scarred:

Since death must be my ending,
in that dread hour of need,
my friendless cause befriending,
Lord, to my rescue speed;
thyself, dear Jesus, trace me
that passage from the grave,
and from thy Cross embrace me
with arms outstretched to save.

Michael Puljic is a first year Chemistry student.

Last modified: 25th November 2005