The Mystery of Calvary

by Gerard Roony, C.P.

Lives of great men are written to tell us how they lived. The life of Christ is written to tell us how He died. Inspired by God, four men wrote about the life of Jesus. Essentially, they are joyous writings. In fact, we call them "The Gospel," that is, "The Glad Tidings" sent by God to mankind.

Yet, in recording these Glad Tidings, each of these human authors appears more intent to tell us about the death of Jesus than about His wondrous life. At the conclusion of his account of Jesus, St. John remarks: "There is much else besides that Jesus did: if all of it were put in writing, I do not think the world itself would contain the books which would have to be written."

Yet, strangely enough, out of all these wondrous things which Jesus did and said, the sacred authors, led by the Holy Spirit, are content to relate comparatively only a handful. Moreover, when relating the happenings of Our Lord's earthly life, they move rapidly from one incident to another, often without regard for connecting the scattered situations.

But when they come to relate Our Lord's sufferings, His trial and death, they slow their pace, they halt their pens and are keenly careful to set forth the painful details. Why this emphasis on the death of Our Savior?

It is an astonishing thing to see that in the Gospel according to Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke, nearly one-sixth of the text is devoted to relating the death of Jesus, with the events immediately preceding it. Still more astonishing is the Gospel of St. John, where we find nearly one-third of the text devoted to this all-important subject! Why?

From start to finish, everything they wrote converges on that mysterious death. At the outset, each evangelist sounds a note of imminent conflict, of coming tragedy. Matthew shows the political power bent on destroying Jesus. Mark describes the religious representatives of the people jealously watching Jesus. Luke relates His birth and immediately indicates how He will be a sign of contradiction for many in Israel, while a sword of sorrow will pierce His mother's heart. John's outlook is more cosmic as he sees in Christ's entrance into the world a definitive battle looming between light and darkness.

Why this tremendous emphasis on the death of Jesus? Are they simply trying to establish His innocence before the world? Certainly they make it crystal clear that Jesus was innocent. The entire structure of the four Gospels shows the intense sincerity of Jesus pitted against the elementary passions of jealousy, of pride and avarice, which eventually brought about His death. They quote Jesus as challenging the Jews to find any sin in His life. They show Judas rushing around bewailing that he has sinned in betraying innocent blood. They portray Pilate as publicly declaring his official examination of the case reveals no fault in Jesus. They report the thief crucified alongside Jesus as shouting to the mob that the Man beside him has done no wrong. Into the record they write that the army officer in charge of the execution remarked when he saw Jesus die that he had just witnessed the death of a just man, while his fellow guards, puzzled and fearful, are quoted as saying: "Truly He was the Son of God!" (Matt. 27:54).

The sacred writers appear to be at pains to make clear that Jesus died innocently, a victim of the grossest injustice. But, like every gross injustice, this only highlights the mystery of the suffering.

The mystery grows deeper when we read that this tremendous death was foreknown by God, foretold by God, and willed to take place by divine decree.

For ages it was written about by the prophets of God. When it was all over, the risen Christ appeared to His disciples and reminded them: "Did not the Christ have to suffer these things before entering into his glory?" (Luke 24.: 26). St. Luke adds: "Beginning then with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things referring to himself" (Luke 24:27).

But, though his death was caused by the wickedness of men and though it was divinely decreed, yet Jesus is shown as making it perfectly clear that He freely submits to it of His own accord: "No one takes it [my life] . . . I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again" (John 10: 18). When Peter sought to defend Him, He said: "Do you suppose that I cannot entreat my Father, and even now he will furnish me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then are the Scriptures to be fulfilled . . . ?" (Matt. 26:53).

Jesus then died innocently and He died with perfect freedom because He willed to die. But why? What good was this death? Of what advantage to God? What benefit to man? An impressive answer comes from the fact that Jesus declared He is "The Way." Every great religious leader is a teacher. And every great teacher knows well that his conduct must set the seal on his teaching. Nowhere more than on Calvary does Jesus teach so persuasively, so vividly, so clearly.

The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ does present us with an epitome of Christian conduct. But the mystery of Calvary lies far deeper than pedagogy. Jesus Himself indicated the basic reason when He declared: "The Son of Man has come not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28).

Even as He was establishing the everlasting memorial of His death, He stated: "This is my blood of the new covenant which is being shed for many unto the forgiveness of sins" (Matt 26:28).

The mystery of Calvary is nothing less than the redemption of mankind. On Calvary, God has established the great turning point of history. This tremendous reversal of the main current of human history is brought about in two ways by the death of Jesus Christ: by atonement and by a limitless outpouring of new life.

It was fitting that someone who was good enough and big enough should go to God and on the part of sin-laden mankind tell Him we were sorry for all the horrible crimes, all the iniquity that ceaselessly flows from our responsibility. This was the primary work of the God-Man, who, as God, was worthy to be heard and, as Man, was fittingly our representative. Christ is thus the Great Mediator between God and man.

The torment of Calvary, lovingly endured, was the mighty way in which Jesus Christ righted the moral balance of the universe, restored the delicate bond of mutual good will between God and man. "He died for our sins" is a basic teaching of Christianity. Our reconciliation with God was the primary effect of the great apology.

But this was only the beginning. The full reason for the mystery of Calvary is as boundless as "the wisdom of God and the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:24). In giving us the final answer, Jesus directs our attention to the way the creative power of God works in nature. Every autumn we behold the world about us dying; the flowers wither, the grass dies, and the leaves fall from the trees. The cold winter months settle in and all is bleak and dreary. Then comes God's miracle of springtime and we behold the whole earth reawakening, as the freshening verdure of the fields, the budding of trees and pushing forth of plants all announce a birth of new life.

The farmer is familiar with the wondrous power God has placed in every seed. He knows how the seed sinks into the dark, moist earth; how it decays and falls apart; but instead of completely dying, part of it survives, and by the power placed in it by God, the seed begins anew to organize the elements of the decaying world about it, and, behold, comes forth the miracle of life from death, a bursting forth of a new world of verdant trees, rich vegetation, and colorful, fragrant flowers!

No one can even remotely fathom the vast extent of this creative power of God. It is indeed impressively manifested in nature. The dying seed springing up into the new life is a vivid example. The newborn plant continually multiplying itself in ever more numerous plants overwhelms us with mystery. In his book The Theology of the Mystical Body, Father Mersch, S.J., remarks (p, 97) that a single plant of corn-poppy could absorb and transform into itself the entire terrestrial globe in some ten years-supposing, of course, that the whole were assimilable and that the plant's seeds were suitably distributed. After this, the whole solar system would be an affair of several years, and all sidereal matter of a few more: twenty at the most. The tremendous energies hidden away in the tiny atom and released with terrific force when the innocent atom is smashed make us gasp as we try to imagine the boundless uncreated energy of God. What wonder, then, if the God-Man, mocked and scourged, bruised and broken in bodily frame, should declare Himself the source of new life for all mankind!

But this is precisely the mystery of Calvary. For He declared this, His divinely designed death, should become the gateway to greater glory. He said: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Believe me when I tell you this: a grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die, or else it remains nothing more than a grain of wheat. But if it dies, then it yields up rich fruit" (John 12:23).

He was crucified, died, and was buried. The third day He arose again from the dead, as He foretold. And in His resurrection, mankind arose to a new life! He assured us, "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will" (John 5:21).

The God-Man dies for our sins, and in dying He asks each of us to die to our egoism in order to live unto Him. He asks us to die to our falsehoods and live according to His truth; to die to our wrong and live by His right; to die to our evil and live for His good. He does this not merely by teaching us "the way" of life. He wins for us and offers us and gives as many as will receive it—His own divine life. In this way a new race of mankind is created. The advancement of mankind on every conceivable plane of progress is assured. Calvary is the nucleus of a new world (2 Cor. 5:17), a new heaven and new earth (Apoc. 21:1 ),which God's omnipotence is even now creating out of this old world dying all around us. With Calvary the long night of human despair was ended and the glorious day of hope was ushered in. For the most thrilling thing about the death of Christ is that God became Man to make men gods. This divine rebirth comes to us through the life-giving death of Jesus. This is the wondrous mystery of Calvary.

© 1959 Gerard Roony, The Mystery of Calvary. The Macmillan Co., NY, publisher.