Many non-Christians and non-believers remain perplexed in front of the statement that mankind has been saved by the Cross of Christ. How can such a cruel death save people?
A satisfactory answer can be found not along the lines of retribution / punishment for sins, but only along the line of LOVE, because we believe in a God of love and that we are saved by His Merciful Love. Our Catholic Faith, rooted in the teaching of the Bible, teaches us that God is love in person and that He created all things out of love.
Of all His creatures, God loves mankind best and He would do anything to prevent that they might have to suffer. This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
We believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to save mankind from the disastrous consequences of sin and to teach it how to live the way God wants. He did that by living a life that was characterized by a pure, constant, perfect, unconditional LOVE FOR GOD and FOR PEOPLE. This is what saves humankind. This is what makes up for all its crimes and sins. “The Way of Love” is the way to build a better humanity and a society that is according to God’s plan – His Kingdom on earth!
But how do we measure love? How do we gauge the depth and sincerity of the love of a person? By the sacrifice which he/she is prepared to make for the person(s) one loves. Love is measured also by the circumstances in which one continues to love. The harder the circumstances, the deeper the sincerity and transforming power of the love manifested by the person who endures them.
Jesus Christ proved the depth and sincerity of His love for his Eternal Father and all human beings by continuing to love them even in the hardest of all circumstances: his having been condemned to die on a cross, in spite of His being absolutely innocent, and His feeling abandoned not only by His Disciples, but even by the Father.
His love in those terrible circumstances was absolutely heroic, especially because it included even his enemies. In all truth, there can be no greater love than this – to lay down one’s life not only for one’s friends, but also for one’s enemies. This is beyond the unimaginable. Such was the great love of Jesus Christ.
Such a heroic love has an immense value – a value that far outweighs the burden of human sinfulness, and which makes up for all unfaithfulness and lack of love on the part of all human beings. This is how humankind has been saved from sin and its deadly, destructive consequences.
It is not the cross itself, therefore, nor just the sufferings that Christ endured before he was crucified and while he agonized on Calvary that saved mankind. Rather, it was the supreme love with which He endured those sufferings that He earned the Father’s forgiveness and abundance of life for all. It was that love which transformed the cross from being an instrument of human retribution, vengefulness, hatred, and death into an instrument of redemption and life.
This is why and how we can speak of "The Triumph of the Cross." It is the triumph of Christ’s love for God the Father and for all human beings. It is a love unto death, death on a cross. It is the triumph of love over hatred; of holiness over sinfulness; of life over death. This is the Supreme Divine Love that leads to and gives ETERNAL LIFE.
