Why Jesus Christ had to die on the cross

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Jesus Christ suffering and death through crucifixion, the most agonizing and feared punishment, was no accident but is part of the divine plan.  St. Thomas Aquinas offers us six reasons why God chose the most painful and humiliating form of dying for His Son.

First, to give us an example to not fear death or any form of death especially if we are to die for His sake.  God foreknew that many will die as martyrs later on for love of Him, and so He had to set Himself as an example of being a martyr dying the most excruciating and shameful death so that no follower of Christ condemned to die for their faith would be afraid of doing the same thing.  Second, because this kind of death was suitable to atone for the sin of our first parents, which was disobedience through plucking of the fruit from a tree.  And so, it was fitting that Christ should suffer by being fastened to a tree through His obedience to make up for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  Third, to prepare us for an ascent into heaven and drawing people to Himself by an elevated position as He says in John 12:32, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to Myself.”  It ought to be an elevated position as an example for us to look up to.  Fourth, because it is befitting the universal salvation of the entire world.  The shape of the cross, extending out into four directions from the central point, denote the power and the providence diffused everywhere from Him Who hung upon it.  Likewise, the outstretched hands of Christ symbolize the welcoming and embracing gesture for all who wants to be saved through the cross.  And lastly, because this kind of death responds to very many figures in the Old Testament with the use of wood as a means of saving Israel.  It was an ark of wood that save Noah and his family from the flood.  Moses made use of his wooden rod to divide the sea and to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery.  And the wooden Ark of the Covenant that housed God’s law symbolizes salvation through the law and through the wood.

We should have a devotion to the Holy Cross for from it comes our salvation.  We were saved by the Cross and we can only apply the graces Christ gained by His dying in the Cross by accepting and dying through our own cross.  Our own small crosses can be in the form of misunderstandings with those we love, suffering from the defects of others, failure of our plans, discomforts from heat and daily traffic, tiredness from our daily occupation, sickness, inconveniences, etc., that if offered to God would unite us to the sufferings of Christ.  It’s the reason why God does not do miracles to save us from the sufferings of this world, for the same reason He did not save His own Son from dying on the Cross, so that we become co-redeemers with Christ.  God is telling us we are in this together, your pain and my pain will heal the world and win your souls as we say in the daily prayer of the Angelus, “may by His passion in Cross, (we) be brought to the glory of His Resurrection…”