The Passion and Death of Jesus

Michael Fierro
Jun 15
6 min read

Updated: Jun 21

A Crucified Messiah?

If you were trying to start a new religion in the ancient world, the last thing you would do is invent a crucified Savior. Crucifixion was a form of public execution reserved for slaves, rebels, and the worst criminals. It was meant to be degrading, humiliating, and terrifying.

For Jews, it was even worse. According to Deuteronomy 21:23, anyone “hung on a tree” was considered cursed. And yet this is exactly how Jesus died.

To the world, this looked like failure. A false messiah, executed in shame. But Christians proclaimed something unthinkable: that this crucified man was the Son of God, and that His death was the key to salvation.

Why?

Because the Cross was not an accident. It was the climax of Christ’s mission. The Passion was not a tragic mistake. It was a divine plan of love.

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

At the heart of the Gospel is the claim that Christ died for our sins. But what does that mean?

A Debt We Could Not Pay

In the early Church, St. Anselm offered a famous explanation: sin creates a kind of debt. It is not a financial debt, but a moral one. When we sin, we fail to give God what is rightly His—our obedience, trust, and love. Because God is infinite, the offense is infinite in seriousness.

Only a human being ought to repay this debt, because it was humanity that sinned. But only God could repay it, because only God has the power to make perfect satisfaction.

Jesus, being both God and man, is uniquely able to do what we could not.He offers His life as a free act of love—a gift of infinite value.

This is not a transaction. It is a personal, loving act. The Son gives Himself freely, and in doing so, restores what sin had broken.

Sacrifice, Atonement, Redemption

The Church uses several words to describe the saving power of the Cross. Each one reveals a different aspect of the mystery.

Sacrifice

A sacrifice is when we give up something of value for the sake of someone else.

In the Old Testament, sacrifice often involved offering animals or crops. These were not empty rituals. The external gift symbolized the internal offering of the heart. By giving something valuable to God, the worshipper was saying, “I give myself to You.” The destruction of the gift made it clear—it no longer belonged to the person. It was an act of worship, gratitude, and trust.

But sacrifice is not just a religious idea. It is part of real love.

A parent sacrifices sleep for a crying child.
A friend sacrifices time to help someone in need.
A spouse sacrifices comfort to care for the other in illness.

To love is to sacrifice. Love always involves giving, and giving costs something.

When Jesus offered Himself on the Cross, He gave the most valuable thing imaginable—His life. And He gave it for us.

He did not simply endure pain. He chose to offer Himself. This is why the Church says His death was a sacrifice. Not because God needs pain, but because we need love—and love is proven by sacrifice.

His offering is the most perfect act of human love, and the most perfect act of worship to the Father. It fulfills and surpasses every Old Testament offering. He gave Himself entirely, holding nothing back.

“Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”—Ephesians 5:2

Atonement

To atone means to make things right. It is not just about punishment or payment—it is about repairing a relationship. When someone is hurt, an apology may be needed, but healing also requires a change of heart, a restoration of trust, and a willingness to set things right again.

Atonement is about taking what has been broken and making it whole.

Sin wounds our relationship with God. It creates a gap—not because God stops loving us, but because we turn away from Him. Atonement bridges that gap. It brings us back into communion with God.

Jesus makes atonement for our sins through love. He steps into the brokenness and offers Himself completely, showing us the full depth of divine mercy. He does not just erase the guilt—He heals the relationship.

In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was the holiest day of the year, when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to intercede for the people and seek reconciliation between Israel and God.

Jesus fulfills this not by offering an animal, but by offering Himself. He is both the High Priest and the sacrifice. Through His Passion, He brings peace between God and humanity.

“By His wounds we are healed.” —Isaiah 53:5“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” —2 Corinthians 5:19

Redemption

To redeem means to buy back, to rescue someone or something that has been lost or enslaved. But in the Bible, redemption is not just an economic act. It is a personal, familial duty rooted in covenant love.

In ancient Israel, the goel—the kinsman-redeemer—had the obligation to restore what had been lost in his extended family. If a relative fell into slavery or lost their land, the goel was responsible for paying the cost to buy back their freedom or restore their inheritance (see Leviticus 25, Ruth 4). It was not optional. It was an act of justice, mercy, and love.

The cost could be great. To redeem someone meant to enter into their situation, to take on their burden, and to pay a price they could not pay themselves.

When the New Testament calls Jesus our Redeemer, it is using this exact image. He is our divine kinsman, our elder brother in the flesh, who sees us enslaved by sin and does not remain distant.

He comes to us.He identifies with us.And He pays the cost—His own life—to set us free.

This is not a metaphor. It is a real rescue. A real price. A real freedom.

“You were ransomed… not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” —1 Peter 1:18–19

A Unified Gift: Sacrifice, Atonement, Redemption

The debt of mankind was not something in our power to pay.But Christ became our goel—our kinsman-redeemer—to rescue us from our slavery to sin.

He paid the price not with silver or gold, but with His own life.He offered Himself in sacrifice to the Father—a gift of infinite value.

And in this sacrifice, He made atonement for us.He did not only remove guilt. He repaired the relationship, healing what sin had wounded.Through His obedience and love, He adopted us into the divine sonship for which we were created.

The Cross is not just where Jesus died.It is where we were bought, healed, and welcomed home.

Love, Not Punishment

Some versions of Christian theology suggest that God was angry and needed someone to be punished. But that is not the Catholic view.

God is not a vengeful judge.
The Father does not punish the Son.
Rather, the Son offers Himself in love.

This is a key difference. The Cross is not about divine wrath—it is about divine mercy.Jesus does not suffer instead of us so that we do not have to. He suffers with us and for us, to bring healing and reconciliation.

Because of this, our suffering is not wasted. When united to Christ, even our pain becomes part of His redeeming work. This is what the Church means by redemptive suffering. In the mystery of grace, Jesus invites us to carry our crosses with Him—not because He needs our help, but because He wants to give our suffering meaning. In Him, even sorrow can become an offering of love.

The Power of the Cross

St. Paul says the message of the Cross is “foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Why?

Because the Cross is where:

Justice and mercy meet
Sin is defeated by grace
Love proves stronger than death

It is not just something that happened to Jesus.It is something He chose, something He offered, and something that still works in the world today.

When you see a crucifix, you are not looking at defeat. You are looking at the victory of divine love.