Three nails still remain

Three nails still remain

     When I think of suffering, almost always what comes to mind is physical pain, especially “unbearable” pain. The three most important people in my life all experienced the excruciating torture brought about by cancer. Over and over again, I prayed to God and asked Him to please give me their pain so they would not suffer. The pain that I overlooked in each of them, however, may well have been worse.

     The mental anguish which we may experience, with or without physical pain, is something that may prove to be even more intolerable. With the notable exception of severe chronic pain, most of the physical pain that we suffer is relatively short-lived and mitigated through the use of painkillers. Not so, the lifelong memories that often accompany the loss of a child, the anguish from causing the death of another person, or seeing a loved one suffer.

     While the pain that Jesus suffered through his scouring, crowning, carrying his cross, and crucifixion is unimaginable, so too is what he endured in his heart and mind. Despite the grotesque horror of being hung on a cross with all the accompanying responses made by a slowly dying body, the only reference that any of the gospels made to Jesus’ physical distress is found in John (18:28) where it is reported that “Jesus said, I thirst.” There is, indeed, an extraordinary torment described by Luke but it takes place not on the cross but in a garden: “He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.” (22:44). The three nails that attached Jesus to the cross have long since been removed but those that cause the greatest agony to our Beloved Savior continue to do so unrelentingly.

     The first nail is “the FAITH he put in His children to carry on His one true church which has now splintered into a thousand pieces.” Instead of His followers being united in the church handed down by Peter, it is estimated that there are now more than 45,000 separate “Christian denominations” worldwide! And within the Catholic Church itself, its members are divided on such fundamentals as the True Presence, the definition of a “marriage,” and whether or not a mother should have the right to kill her baby!

     The second nail is Jesus’ “HOPE that the world would be filled with love and peace, instead it is being torn apart by war and strife.” The countless teachings and examples that He gave us regarding the harmony with which we are to live with one another, have given way to countless wars, deaths, and destruction throughout the centuries and remain with us today. The violence that we see in our country and throughout the world has truly reached epidemic proportions. To compound the pain, the hatred and violence has often been between “Christians.”

     Lastly, the third nail is “LOVE, that His children would from generation to generation pass on His love, which he came down and became flesh and blood to teach about…true and Godly love; and now, love is distorted, selfish, and ungodly.” That which so often today masquerades as love, is nothing more than Evil’s deceptions, designed to lure us back into the pain for which Jesus died to take away from us. Following in the footsteps of our original ancestors, we often sacrifice eternal joy for immediate gratification.

     It is easy to think of the crucifixion of Jesus as something that happened long ago, much like other historical events that have long since ended. To view Holy Week as an annual “Passion Play.”  When we do, however, we ascribe the limited human conception of time to the eternal timelessness of God. Jesus remains with His outstretched arms, no longer on His cross but on His throne, calling us each by name and longing for our return while there is still time, just as did the father of the prodigal son.

     As long as we turn our backs from His unifying embrace and choose to hold on, instead, to division, strife, and self-centeredness, those nails remain…but they will not remain forever.

James R. Sulliman, PhD