What did Jesus accomplish?

The holiest of weeks in the life of the church begins. Forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving leads the faithful to three final steppingstones, the shortest yet richest of liturgical seasons, the sacred triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. 

The sacred triduum is one liturgical season for three consecutive days as we recapitulate the final hours of Jesus’ life on earth that end with the beginning of new life in the resurrection of the Lord. The entire hope of our faith is woven in the magnificence of the celebration of “the paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and resurrection (which) stands at the center of the good news that the apostles, and the church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished “once for all” by the redemptive death of his son Jesus Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 571). What did Jesus accomplish?

Undo

Dr. Brant Pitre, notable Catholic biblical scholar, states, “And he (Jesus) has come to undo the effects of the fall, to undo the effects of the first Adam … what he’s going to accomplish on the cross when he undoes sin and its power and death and its dominion” (“The Jewish Roots of Holy Week: The 7 Last Days of Jesus”). Sin and death are effects of the fall, for original man was created immortal. Yet after the temptation, after the decision to doubt, after the shame, humankind immediately fell away from grace and death entered the world. 

St. Paul affirms: “By one man’s disobedience many (that is, all men) were made sinners”: “sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned”  (Catechism 402).

 We are born in the world under this condition of sin, original sin. It will take one without sin to restore what was broken in the Garden of Eden, since humankind turned a back to God, whose covenant was to never abandon but always open a path to return. Jesus is the ultimate path, a path paved with love, mercy and hope. 

Emptied himself 

Jesus’ entire life was directed to the will of the father. By the power of Holy Spirit Jesus came to save us from our sins and restore our relationship with the father. Jesus is our path of life eternal. His emptiness is our fullness. His sacrifice is our reward. His body and blood is our food for the journey, instituted on the night of the Last Supper when our Lord shared the Passover meal with his apostles. 

With his betrayer in motion, our Lord took, blessed and broke the bread declaring, “Take it; this is my body.” And same with the cup filled with wine, Jesus took, blessed and declared, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many” (Mk 14:22-24). Jesus, the word of God, transforms bread and wine that becomes his body and blood, the same body and blood we receive in the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith from which all sacraments flow. 

In order to fulfill the sacrifice necessary to reverse the effects of sin and death, one who is without sin gave his life, emptied himself to destroy death and restore life. Jesus is the one who willingly by love accepted his mission and died so that we may live.

The breech (Is 52:13 – 53:12)

The cross is the new tree of life, whereby the voice of the prophet Isaiah resounds, “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our suffering that he endured … he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins … by his stripes we were healed … he submitted and opened not his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter ... if he gives his life as an offering for sin he shall see his descendants in a long life … he shall take away the sins of many and win pardon for their offenses.” 

Christ crucified is the breech, the intercessor between humanity and God. Then and now. With arms outstretched (the horizontal), Jesus gathers the scattered into his one body, takes upon himself our sins and offers his body and blood as ransom for the liberation of the captives imprisoned by sin as the releasor, the intercessor of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness, opening the gates of heaven (the vertical).  

Risen

As St. Paul writes, “Christ became obedient 

to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father” (Phil 2:8-9, 11). We confess the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, as the reason for our hope.  We read in the Catechism, “by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, ‘so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.’ Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. By grace we become adopted sons and daughters, and thus share in the divine life of Jesus, the son of God” (Catechism 654).

This is a new reality for us as Christians, as the Catechism continues, “Finally, Christ’s resurrection – and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection. Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfillment. In Christ, Christians, their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may ‘live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (Catechism 655). As Christians we gratefully with joy live for Jesus, who died for us.

Regeneration

By Christ’s resurrection, we are saved from death and have new life, a life that begins in baptism. We read in the Catechism, “The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life” (Catechism 1255).  “Holy baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word” (Catechism 1213). 

The incredible gift we have in the sacraments abundantly overflows in grace of divine unity, the breech filled by Jesus’ Passion, death and resurrection. We pray, “Save us, savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free” (Roman Missal). Happy Easter!

The Year of St. Joseph

We ask for the intercession of St. Joseph, whom God entrusted his son, Jesus Christ, under his care and protection, to protect us from all evil and strengthen our joy to proclaim all that Jesus accomplished and continues to accomplish for us. Amen.

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.