You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. – Mark 8:33
What do you see when you look at Jesus on a crucifix? Pain, anguish, sorrow, death—all these come to mind. I used to look at the crucifix and wonder why Jesus would suffer for us in this way. I eventually learned that the answer to that question is love. When I started to see the cross as an expression of Christ’s love for us, it all started to make more sense. The cross is a paradox: it looks like defeat, but it’s really a victory. It looks like the curse of death, but it’s really the gift of life. It looks like hate and jealousy and fear and anger that nailed Jesus to the cross, but the truth is it is love that nailed Him there.
Jesus destroyed our death through His suffering: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). It was the greatest victory any king has or ever will win for his kingdom. This is how God sees suffering: it is a path to salvation and an expression of love. Jesus knew He would suffer and die; but He also knew that that was only the first part of the paschal mystery. He knew that He would rise again. He knew that in His victory over death He would secure our victory, as well. His suffering was the prologue to the story of our victory over death.
Like Peter, I often want to avoid suffering. I cover my eyes and say, “Lord, I cannot handle my sufferings. It’s too hard.” But then I realize that by seeing the cross differently, I can also see my own suffering in a positive way. It makes it easier to embrace the suffering that comes my way. I can face my trials and unite the burden and pain of my cross with Christ’s out of love for Him and my neighbor. I have the strength to take up my cross daily (Luke 9:23) and follow Him through suffering to victory.
Mass Readings for September 12, 2021: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 50:5-97
Psalm 116:1-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35-39
Christ on the Cross Between Two Thieves, Peter Paul Rubens, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons