Reflection This Week
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE CRUCIFIXION MAKE…

…if our sins are forgiven in spite of it and not because of it, which is a truth I firmly believe? Now that we are well into the post-Holy Week, post-Easter season, that might be a good question to ask, if only to remind us that it is so easy for us to take for granted what we so recently remembered and celebrated.

   Thus, if, because of God’s total and unconditional love and thus total and unconditional forgiveness, Jesus did not have to die on the cross in order for us to “get to heaven” when we die, are we overplaying and overemphasizing what took place on Good Friday and why there was an Easter Sunday? Even more, do we so quickly and so easily forget them because life, you know, goes on and so must we?

   It might seem so, but we would be wrong if we thought and acted that way, perhaps even dead wrong, pun more or less intended. The irony of the crucifixion is that Jesus died both because of the sins of others and also because of his own goodness and love. He was put to death not because he committed any crime, not because he broke the law, but because his love of others was so all-consuming that his living example stood as a constant reminder of the failure of others to so love as he loved.

   We know this to be true in our own lives. There have been times, perhaps too few, when we have been mocked or ridiculed for loving too much, going what others thought to be above and beyond, and were taken to task for it. No, we were not nailed to a cross, but the criticism still stung and we were hurt deeply because the good we did was perceived to be wrong when, in fact, in was simply a threat to those criticizing us because our actions were a reminder to them of their failure to love as we loved.

   On the other hand, when the shoe has been on our foot, when we have been the ones who have done the criticizing, when we have been the ones who have done the crucifying, we have eventually paid for that sinfulness. Our sins eventually catch up with us, and in this life. We pay for our sinfulness and selfishness in the here-and-now, not in the hereafter. There is no escape.

   Good Friday, the cross, the crucifixion are a constant reminder both that our good deeds are often rewarded with some form of punishment from others and our bad deeds eventually bring pain and suffering to ourselves. Easter Sunday, resurrection to new life, remind us that no good deed, no loving action, goes unrewarded in this life because it brings new life, somehow in some way, both to the doer and to the receiver. There are no exceptions. None.

   We often miss or overlook the stark reality of both the crucifixion and the resurrection because they are just that: stark. Our sins pale in comparison to what those who hated Jesus did because of his unconditional love. Our good deeds also pale because there always seems to be a tinge of selfishness in them. They seem to be somewhat conditional no matter who the object of our love happens to be at the moment, not always, of course, but often enough to make us feel inferior to Jesus in this regard.

   While our sins are hardly ever of the first-degree, premeditated variety, neither are our loving actions perfectly pure. The crucifixion is a reminder that we are capable of being both horrifically sinful and unconditionally loving. When we chose the former, we will, sooner or later, pay the price in this life. When we choose the latter, we will be rewarded with resurrection and new life, sooner or later, in this life.   WJP