..suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
Why do you think we, as Catholics, return again and again to this moment? It is perhaps because, although we are an Easter people, we cannot turn away from the truth and the sacrifice Jesus endured for our salvation. There can be no Easter people with this moment. He suffered. He was crucified. He died. He was buried.
Pontius Pilate is mentioned personally. This is an historical moment. The suffering endured was unimaginable and a reality of the Roman brutality of the act of crucifying someone.
He was betrayed by someone close to Him, ripped away from His friends, abandoned by those He loved, mocked, brutally beaten and whipped with pieces of His skin torn away from the bone and all this unspeakable torture was before He had to endure the pain of the crucifixion.
Have you ever been pricked by a rose thorn? Have you ever experienced a paper cut? That instantaneous excruciating pain cannot compare to the ongoing, ever-present, unrelenting anguish Jesus experienced while they thrust the Crown of Thorns upon His head, while they hammered nails into His feet and hands, and while He hung for all to see as His very breath was taken from Him by the weight of His own body.
In His humanity, Jesus Christ suffered. In His humanity, Jesus Christ died. And to complete the circle of His humanity, He was buried. All this fulfils the promise. The promise of a Redeemer. The promise of salvation. The promise of our eternal reward.
Why did Jesus endure the mockery, the humiliation, the brutality, the beatings and whippings and torture of the crucifixion?
For me – for my salvation, so I could have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. So, with Him I can rejoice, I can suffer, I can feel and experience all that my humanity brings to me. And, through Him I can experience the joy of my heavenly home, where my journey ends.
We know of the Cross that Jesus carried. What are some of the crosses that I carry in my life? Do I ever think of asking Jesus to help me carry it? For me, my journey has presented me with many crosses to bear. Sometimes, I can put down the cross, sometimes I have to carry it for a long time. Injury, death, moments of incredible sadness and dismay, anguish, disbelief, disappointment – oh – some many experiences and stories that make up my life. I’m sure you have yours and perhaps more that you can add. It is because Jesus experienced them, that we can turn to Him and simply ask – ask for His help.
The next time we pray together these 10 words of the Creed…
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried
… perhaps we can challenge ourselves to accept the crosses in our lives, but to not carry them alone – to ask Jesus who experienced suffering as well, to help us. Perhaps too, we can really consider how our sins added to the weight of the Cross that our Redeemer carried and then look to how we can lighten the burden by living the life that we are truly called to – one in communion with Jesus, our Lord.