The Cross of Jesus

On By Krishanu BhattacharjeeLeave a comment

Jesus’ crucifixion is significant because it is the means by which God saves. The meaning of Jesus is “God Saves”, but Jesus – a Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua – was a common name in the 1st century, the key is the particular man who was crucified as there were many who were put to death by Roman occupation in that time.

Jesus is inseparable from the title “Christ”; Christ is another Greek translation (of the work Messiah). The Messiah was to be a future King of Israel, messiah is derived from the word to-anoint, as in to rub or rub-in the holy oil that Jewish Kings received on their heads to signify their kingship. The Christian claim is then that the prophesied Jewish King who was to lead the nation was put to death on a cross.

The question is why should the empire’s instrument of death, designed to make a public display of its victims by Roman power, should be the means by which the Jewish King was killed. How does this save?

Remember Jesus said whomsoever believes in him has eternal life (“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16). – St Paul spoke of the cross being a foolishness to those perishing and the power of God to those who are to inherit eternal life (1 Corinthians 1:18). The person who believes in Jesus believes not simply in a person, but the manner of his death. The reason for the saving power of the cross is that God himself was put to death.

If you connect up the dots from the above, The Jewish King was crucified/killed and he was God himself. It isn’t too far removed to see why John 3:16 is a touchstone for Christian belief, it is Christianity in a nutshell but you have to unpack what’s in the nutshell and that is the essence of a God who saves by sacrificial love.

God is love [1 John 4:8] but to what extent God loves is shown by the cross. He loves us to the limit – up to an unjust tortuous death. As St. Paul says – “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8 ]. The assumed fact is that God’s motive is always love, for that is who God is.

The clearer it is seen that God is love the clearer it is seen how far our own motives are from God’s own. Catholicism is a sin & salvation religion, if sin does not have a precise definition outside Catholicism, then loosely put, it is sin that puts self-interest above sacrificial love for others. Since the best a sinner can do is “enlightened self-interest” – the altruism which sees personal benefit without personal cost, then Jesus’ example is the opposite.

What Christians are called to do, to metaphorically take up their cross, can be argued that no-one can humanly imitate Jesus in this day and age, Christians are given the Holy Spirit at baptism and confirmation to help, nevertheless it is difficult, and it is easy to see it as an insurmountable task. This only highlights the necessity of a merciful God who does indeed save and the sign of this is his crucifixion [“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32]

By the sign by which God was put to death points to God The Father, by pleading with The Father to forgive us – “‘Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”’ Luke 23:34. From the very place of the cross is the mechanism of salvation. This is why the particular man Jesus because none other than a God would give forgiveness from such a place.

Jesus is the Son of God by nature but he is also completely human except in sin. He shares common humanity with every other human being, why he saves is out of love and this is why his cross is worthy of worship.

What is Faith?

On By Krishanu BhattacharjeeLeave a comment

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. Abel, Enoch, and Noah 5 By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. (Hebrews 11:1-7)

In the liturgy of The Mass at a Catholic Church – here liturgy means the form or running-order of how public worship is conducted – there is found the name of Abraham. Abraham is called “Our Father in faith” and just before that Abel of Genesis’ “Cain and Abel” is named. To refresh your memory, God accepted Abel’s offering of the work of his labour, which as a keeper of sheep was the firstlings of his flock (“the fat of the land”) while Cain’s was, by comparison, held less favourably. Cain a tiller of the land, in his envy spilt the blood of his brother upon it, and this is the Bible’s first murder. It is worth remembering that in Catholic worship Abel is held up for his faith. In the first human family on Earth, marred by a murder, Catholic worship tracks back to indicate the first man of faith. The sacrifice of Abel’s was at greater cost to him personally and this is the character of sacrifice that makes it pleasing to God.

St. Paul follows with two other Old Testament characters, characters who would be very alive to those who read his letters because for scripture “Old” did not apply then. Enoch, very much a figure of mystical speculation, since he was believed to enter heaven without dying, is considered a foreshadowing of Jesus, as receiving eternal life in this life (union with God) as the reward for faith that pleases. Finally Noah, who in building the Ark was not afraid to serve as a warning to his generation of impending judgement. What starts with Abel, is followed by Enoch and Noah, is brought to fruition in Abraham who starts salvation history by leaving his homeland for a land that was not yet his, and finally concludes with Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)


28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went.30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:28-32)

Jesus’ parable emphasises what is implicit in Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews. In this letter, written for first century Jewish Christians, Hebrews 11 functions as a re-cap for those Jews who were already had understanding that faith was dynamic, it came in the form of deeds rather than simply as beliefs. But this is not so obvious to today’s Christian audience. The section reinforces the point that Jesus’s himself makes in the parable of the two sons (above). Jesus repeats in a parable, to a greater effect, what his forerunner John The Baptist meant by “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Apostle James echoes the importance of doing: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). And finally the words of Jesus again,

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man…” (Matthew 7:24)