This is not a post meant to induce a sense of guilt in anyone.Though it deals with a very difficult subject (or Truth, according to the Faith) to understand, it is, in its essence, the ultimate source of our hope as individuals and all of humanity itself.
My observations here in this post regarding Christ's Passion and Death are nothing "new" or original to mature and faithful Christians. (I hope and pray that I may be considered and remain one in my walk with Our Lord and my brothers and sisters in faith.)
A lot of my early appreciation of God's love for me, as for most Christians, began in my family and the church we attended growing up.
We never were, nor are we, a perfect family, or was it a perfect church to which we belonged? Of course not.
What was very obvious to me, and hopefully to my siblings too, was the love and concern for the welfare of all that our parents had for us as well as that of our friends and relatives.
Admittedly, some very difficult problems existed for us to deal with as a family.
The love and concern that my parents had for their children as well as our extended family and friends was never in doubt to us, though.
As a child, the faith was a comforting mystery to me, which was present in the beauty of the Sunday school classes we attended and, for me, in the beauty of the Divine Liturgy (we were raised in a Serbian Orthodox Christian church).
There were some very good Christians whom I can still remember to this day who were a part of our childhood.
My parents met as young adults while singing in the choir there. (If you've never heard the music of any Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy being sung, I highly recommend listening to it once online.) Pretty sacred and awe-inspiring, in my opinion.)
My first impression of Christ's Passion and Death came as we watched the director Franco Zeffirelli's movie "Jesus of Nazareth" when it was on t.v. way back in the 70s.
I loved that movie.
My family was never "jewelry Christians," but my mom made sure later that there was always a Crucifix or two hanging on the wall (one in our kitchen and in our bedroom).
When I converted to Catholicism as a young adult, I can vividly remember an old Dominican friar at the parish I belonged to in Columbus, Ohio, gently reminding us during his homily at Mass that the crucifix has always been the definitive symbol of the Faith in the Catholic Church throughout the ages.
Later, I learned that the Church often referred to the Eternal Image Crucifixion as the "Tree of Life," from which all salvation and grace flowed.
I have my dad's old bedroom wall crucifix (he passed in 2025) hanging on the wall, which I look up at now and then, and which marks my little living space here in my apartment as that of a Christian.
Sacred images are not idols in any sense.
They are reminders of Sacred Christian Truths revealed to us by Christ, His Church and the Wholeness of Scripture.
My understanding of this symbol of Faith and the historically documented Passion and Death of Christ, as borne witness to by members of His Church throughout the ages, can be expressed in the following excerpt that I share below.
I hope that it is accurate and helps understand the depth of God's love for all of us.
The Physical Horror: Roman Crucifixion
From a historical perspective, crucifixion was designed by the Roman Empire to be the ultimate form of torture, humiliation, and public deterrence.
- Severe Scourging: Prior to crucifixion, Jesus was subjected to flagellation with a flagrum (a whip laced with bone and lead pieces), which tore skin and muscle down to the bone, causing severe blood loss and traumatic shock.
- Asphyxiation: The primary cause of death in crucifixion was not blood loss, but slow suffocation. To breathe, the victim had to painfully push themselves up using their nailed feet, placing immense stress on shattered nerves.
- Public Degradation: Victims were stripped completely naked, exposed to the elements, mocked by onlookers, and left for scavengers, entirely stripping away human dignity.
The Theological Horror: The Ultimate Substitution
For believers, the true horror of the Passion extends far beyond physical pain into the spiritual realm, centering on the concept of substitutionary atonement.
- The Weight of Total Sin: Theologians posit that Jesus did not just die for humanity; he bore the collective weight of all human evil, cruelty, depravity, and guilt throughout history.
- Spiritual Isolation: The most agonizing moment of the Passion is often identified as the Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). This represents the horror of absolute abandonment—where the Son, who had existed in perfect unity with the Father for eternity, experienced the crushing darkness of complete separation from God.
- The Paradox of the Creator's Death: In Christian tradition, the Passion presents the ultimate existential paradox: the immortal Creator of the universe voluntarily submitting to torment and death at the hands of His own creation.
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