Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate,

was Crucified, Died and was Buried

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

If we wish to know how important is this article of the Creed, all we have to do is read Saint Paul’s
statement to the Corinthians. He says, “I judge myself not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ,
and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

We cannot exaggerate the importance of understanding the passion, death and burial of Jesus Christ.
They are the highest proof of how much God loves us. They are also the deepest inspiration for our
loving God in return.

We profess to believe that Jesus experienced suffering, crucifixion, death and burial. These four
experiences of the Savior are the most extensively described narratives in the Gospels. No less than four
hundred verses in the evangelists narrating events that lasted less than one full day. Evidently the Holy
Spirit, who inspired the evangelists, considered these events extraordinarily important. Important? They
are the dividing points in human history.

Sufferings of Christ

After the Last Supper, Jesus took His eleven disciples to the garden of Gethsemani where He was
accustomed to pray. He left eight of the eleven at the entrance to the garden and took Peter, James and
John closer to Himself.

The Savior went off by Himself and prayed three times, repeating the same prayer, “Father, all things are
possible to you. Remove this chalice from me; yet not my will but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42).
Nowhere else in Sacred Scripture is Christ more clear about His true humanity. He instinctively shrank
from pain. The sufferings He dreaded were not only the scourging, crowning with thorns and crucifixion.
Nor were they only what He would endure during His mortal stay on earth. He foresaw how many people
in the centuries to come would reject His grace and pay the tragic consequences of their sin.

Saint Luke, the physician, is the only one who describes Christ’s bloody sweat in the garden. By now, in
the languages of all nations, the Savior’s agony has become synonymous for the most excruciating pain
that a human being can experience. He sweats blood to show us that to be human is to suffer. He also
taught us that the proof of genuine love is suffering. He finally taught us that, being human we naturally
dread pain, which is another word for whatever is contrary to our will. But our love for God is not only
not lessened but heightened by our patient endurance of pain.

The Crucifixion

The most humiliating and painful form of capital punishment in the Roman Empire was crucifixion. Two
facts of history should be emphasized in speaking of the crucifixion of Christ. His enemies wanted Him
to be crucified and He chose crucifixion. Those who rejected Jesus wanted Him to undergo the most
agonizing form of death ever devised by the genius of man. Yet He wanted to be crucified. Why? In
order to teach us how super-humanly Christ loves us. If there is no genuine love without suffering, the
highest degree of love is manifested by the most painful form of suffering.

What are we saying? We are affirming that the crucifixion is the acme of divine affection. God not only
became man out of love for us. But He chose the most extreme form of suffering to prove the extremity
of His love.

Death of Christ

Why should we profess to believe in Christ’s death if we have already said that He was crucified? The
reason is rooted deeply in our faith. God became man to redeem the world from sin and its consequences.
The most fundamental consequence of sin is death. God assumed a human nature so that He could
expiate our sins by dying for our redemption.