THE PASSION OF CHRIST
(AT THE CROSS)
What It Means and What It Does Not Mean

The following article is not a description of the passionate and intimate experiencing of Divine Love (a separate issue), which can be found by clicking this link.

Much has been debated about the Passion of Christ and much has been proffered from adherents of traditionalist and fundamentalist Christian thought concerning the reasons for Christ's Passion, and it is only fair to proffer another aspect. Indeed, Christ suffered for us physically but it should be plainly stated that the suffering caused by the repudiation of His love by those He had come to save was far, far greater than the physical pain. He was Love Incarnate, and therefore His love was pure, perfect and unconditional. Having that unconditional love not only denied but also thrown back at Him with hatred, was much more painful than the horrendous physical suffering He endured, and indeed the Christ of God endures pain for suffering humanity today.

Christ Jesus came to reveal Divine Love - the love that God has for all in an individual way as well as a universal way. When talking of the Cross, if by the word 'atonement' suffering is meant, then Jesus did indeed suffer for us more than we will ever be able to conceive. But who can 'atone' for the results of another? Or to put it another way, if God was able to 'atone' for the actions and consequences performed by another, then He could do it with just one thought.

If it was God's plan to allow humans to completely and instantly escape the consequences of their bad deeds (sins), then it would not be necessary for a human ritual where blood is spilled in order for such a thing to happen - God is God and He need only desire it for it to happen. God Almighty does not need to be "assuaged" by a hideous human sacrifice - that is not the God Who is Love. It is a human concept - indeed, a misconception - that one becomes a perfected soul fit for the Christ Sphere or instantly 'free from sin' simply by accepting a mental concept based on a material ritual (human sacrifice). The truths of Christ as Man are simple but man has complicated them.

The love demonstrated by God is unthinkable but His love is still attacked by those who claim to speak in His Name. Instead of taking certain metaphorical statements designed to spiritually enlighten ("God made him who had no sin to be sin for us" 2 Cor. 5:21), they take them in a literal sense, and in so doing they denigrate His love, the love He showed so plainly. By misinterpreting some contextual redemptive analogies, they say Christ Jesus "literally" became the sin of the world and then they say God Almighty actually turned His love from Jesus on the Cross ("My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Matt.27:46; Mark.15:34) because God Almighty could not look on sin (iniquity). And in so doing they turn unlimited and unconditional Divine Love into conditional love - but Divine Love is always forthcoming and never ceases, it is given eternally and is never - can never be - withdrawn. No, it cannot be withdrawn because it is real Love, unlike that taught by the Literalist theologies. God's Love is around the most fallen soul in so great a measure that it cannot be taken in.

It was necessary that Christ went through all that perfect life and atrocious death so that no man or woman could ever claim that God does not know what it is like to suffer as a human. God, because of His Divine love, could never have left Christ alone on the Cross but Divine love poured forth unceasingly. However, it was necessary that the man Jesus should go through in the fullest measure spiritual isolation, the loneliness of the soul, so that those who followed after should never be able to say that the Christ, because of His fuller contact with the Godhead, could not understand them in their hour of loneliness and seeming desertion by man and God alike.

Unconditional Love is the only true form of love; anything called love with conditions is a misnomer, and God is Love. Therefore God's love is for all - sinner or not - and it never ceases. When teachers say that God Almighty could not look on Jesus as He was dying on the Cross because He had taken on the sin of the world, they belittle the very Passion, the very Act, the very Love that they claim is so important; in so doing they diminish the greater Divine Love. But He knew as He let out His last earthly breath that His Example would speak louder than the clever words of men.

The Cross was necessary so that He would be remembered; He even had to ask us to remember Him when we eat and drink. Human memory is short indeed. The Cross was essential so that the influence of perfect Love would have the strongest and most powerful effect possible for all generations in all spheres of life in existence or yet to exist, in order that the individual soul can save itself untold suffering through conscience, expiation and determined adherence to principles demonstrated by Jesus the Christ; there the passion of Christ finds its meaning. The mind of man has complicated the most simple and beautiful Message possible.

There are some who claim that things have not changed over the last 2,000 years and are unable to see the huge shift in consciousness since the Crucifixion, but they are not looking at the whole picture. Today, there are virtually global laws such as the European Law of Human Rights and the Bill of Rights which afford legal rights for such things as speaking one's mind and protection from racism. Certainly the lumbering selfish nature of those with the desire to gain, maintain and wield material power for their own gratification does not adhere to the spirit of such laws, but it cannot be denied by a mind free from conditioning that today's developed societies are a far cry from a time when it was considered a wonderful entertainment to watch innocent men, women and children being savaged to death by lions. Before the Crucifixion it was not "evolution" but it was a downward trend towards that which can be called "evil" and was in fact spiritual involution. Many have failed to realise that we would not have a society as we know it today had it not been for the Passion of Christ and the profound effect it has had on this world.

Also to be considered are such things as the increasing legal protection against animal cruelty and global environmental abuse; there are workers benefits with more countries adopting minimum wage levels, widespread social security for the sick and old, and many charities functioning from altruistic motives. It is 2,000 years since the man Jesus walked the Earth and died, but this is a short time in Spirit. Given time and further development of spiritual consciousness, driven - mostly unseen and in silence - by the awesome and unthinkable influence created by the suffering and death of Jesus the Christ, that which violates universal Divine laws will not be able to gain a foothold for long enough to smother the good within humanity.

While this short piece is about the Passion of Christ Jesus, it needs to be said that the Resurrection could never have come about had it not been for the Cross. There, as a promise to all who follow His demonstration of Divine Love, a colossal and plain declaration of eternal life when the physical body has done its work. And just as profound, the promise that all that was dying and decaying is being made alive and pure by climbing the treacherous and thorny hillside. That is God's goal for each and everyone because He has given a part of Himself as their very own to nurture and to cherish.

Through the Cross we can get closer to understanding our God, we can get closer to knowing Who our God is and how He feels towards each one of us as an individual. Let us give out the real teachings of God's Love and lay to rest those superstitious theologies created by man which altered God's original Message of Divine Love brought by Jesus the Christ and which was exemplified in the Passion - for the sake of Christ.

Tony Bisson