Secuencia didáctica 2

A. Redemptive

563. Jesus saw his Passion and Death as redemptive, his ultimate service in

the Kingdom. “The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve — to give his

life in ransom for the many” (Mk 10:45). The center of the ‘Good News’ focused sharply on “the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus. Through his blood, God made him the means of expiation for all who believe” (Rom 3:24-

25a). “It was he who sacrificed himself for us, to redeem us from all

unrighteousness and to cleanse for himself a people of his own, eager to do what is right” (Ti 2:14).

564. That his Passion and Death are “redemptive” is shown by Christ most clearly in his Last Supper. John introduces his account with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. “Jesus realized that the hour had come for him to pass

from this world to the Father. He loved his own in this world, and would show his love for them to the end” (Jn 13:1). And for John, “no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). Matthew’s account of Christ’s institution of the Eucharist explicitly asserts its redemptive value: “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out in behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). Christ is the New Paschal Lamb, sacrificed to redeem the people (cf. Jn 19:36;

1:29,36).

565. Church tradition has stressed this redemptive and sacrifical character of Christ’s Passion and Death. “Our Lord Jesus was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish an everlasting redemption” (Trent; ND 1546). And again, “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the ages until he should come again” (SC 47).

566. Thus, in her liturgy the Church prays in the 5th Easter Preface:

Father, we praise you with greater joy than ever in this Easter Season When Christ became our Paschal Sacrifice.

As he offered his body on the Cross, His perfect sacrifice fulfilled all others.

As he gave himself into your hands for our salvation.

He showed himself to be the priest, the altar, and the lamb of sacrifice. B. From Sin

567. Christ’s coming, then, was “to expiate the sins of the people” (Heb

2:17; cf. CCC 601, 606). Paul summarizes Jesus’ saving work in four steps. First, Jesus offered a sacrifice as both priest and victim. “Christ our Paschal

Lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). Second, he “gave himself for our

sins, to rescue us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4). Third, he thus created a new Covenant with God. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor 11:25). Fourth, all this for us and our salvation. “When we were still

powerless, Christ died for us godless men” (Rom 5:6; cf. Eph 5:2; 1 Thes

5:10).

568. Jesus redeems sinners in two ways. First, he removes their subjective

guilt by bringing them God’s pardon and forgiveness. Thus he restores their

relationship of friendship to God which sin had destroyed. Second, Jesus

repairs the objective moral harm and contamination caused by sin, through

his own act of reparation and expiation which makes possible the sinners’ own acts of expiation.

Both these dimensions are clearly indicated in Christ’s encounter with Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector. In visiting the house of Zacchaeus, Jesus liberated him from his guilt of sin: “Today salvation has come to this house. . . The Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost.” This inspired Zacchaeus to make up for the objective harm he had caused: “I give half my belongings, Lord, to the poor. If I have defrauded anyone in the least, I pay him back fourfold” (cf. Lk 19:1-10).

569. Clarification. Some have gravely misunderstood Christ’s expiation as picturing the Father punishing him cruelly for our sins, even though he is completely innocent. This is a monstrous view of God the Father, and badly misinterprets the New Testament. The Father hates sin, not Jesus. Jesus is the Father’s “beloved” (Mk 1:11 et passim). His whole life was a perfect offering to the Father (cf. Jn 4:34; 6:38; CCC 606).

The truth is that Jesus shares the Father’s love for us sinners, and freely accepted the “cup” the Father has given him (cf. Jn 18:11; CCC 609). Jesus suffered with sinners, as a victim for sin and sinners, and as a victim of the Law and sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; Rom 8:3; PCP II 84).

C. For Us

570. But how can Christ’s Sufferings and Death affect us sinners? The key to the answer lies in the biblical notion of corporate solidarity. Isaiah’s four ‘Servant Songs’ (cf. Is 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) present a mysterious figure chosen by God to “give his life as an offering for sin, . . . through his suffering my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear” (Is 53:10-11). Christ, one of us, could take upon himself “the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) and offer him-self as a “Lamb of expiation” (cf. Lv 14).

Today the notion of “solidarity” has come into new prominence relative to social transformation, and humanity’s relation to the Blessed Trinity (cf.

SRS 38-40; PCP II 32, 139, 294-96, 306f, 313, 320, 353).

571. The Good Friday liturgy stresses Christ’s corporate solidarity with us sinners and his suffering for us, quoting Isaiah:

It was our infirmities that he bore,

our sufferings that he endured, . . .

He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.

We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all (Is 53:4-6).

572. St. Paul used this principle of solidarity to explain both our human sinfulness and our salvation in Christ (cf. Chap. 8 on Original Sin).

Just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and with sin death, death thus coming to all men inasmuch as all sinned . . . much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound for all (Rom 5:12,15).

573. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3), then, means two things. First, Jesus died because of our human sinfulness. Second, he died to show us, and empower us, to overcome sin and its effects in our broken world. Christ is the Way we are enabled to bear the sins of many, not returning evil for evil, nor violence for violence in a vicious cycle of revenge (cf. Mt 5:38-42). Christ’s love gives us a chance to love even our enemies (cf. Mt 5:44), for he has sent us his Spirit of love.

574. But Christ’s redemption in no way makes us passive recipients. Scripture clearly affirms:

Christ suffered for you. . . and left you an example, to have you follow in his footsteps. . . He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live in accord with God’s will. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pt 2:21, 24).

And again: “You have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body ” (1 Cor 6:20 ).

575. It is true that Jesus acted on our behalf: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). But his great Sacrifice does not make our own

sacrifices unnecessary. Rather, it makes them possible as saving realities. We are called by Christ to share in his sacrifice (cf. CCC 618). PCP II explains how in the Paschal Mystery

Jesus brought us into his passover from suffering to glory, from death to life, from our human sinfulness to his grace. In this mystery we as his disciples need to share, finding in it the rhythm and pattern of our own life. . . By losing our life this way, we save it and grow in our discipleship of Jesus (PCP II 85-86).

576. To know Jesus as our Redeemer, for St. Paul, meant sharing in his sufferings. To the Philippians he wrote: “I wish to know Christ and the power flowing from his resurrection; likewise to know how to share in his

sufferings by being formed into the pattern of his death” (Phil 3:10). Thus

Paul could boast: “Even now I find joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church” (Col 1:24).

IV. PROFOUND EFFECTS OF CHRIST’S DEATH