0968 Jesus' suffering on the cross.... earthly body....

June 17, 1939: Book 18

The suffering of Jesus on the cross is for many people an inexplicable process and not infrequently a reason to doubt the divinity of Jesus. The Lord suffered unspeakably on the cross, for it was the earthly body that took upon itself all the agonies of the death of the cross and endured immeasurable agonies of death. How could this be otherwise.... The spirit of God had to leave the human shell at the hour of death in order to complete the extent of the son of man's suffering, and thus He did not feel the slightest relief at the hour of death, for the work of redemption for humanity could only be completed in such a way that a human being completely gave up His bodily shell in the most dreadful pain for humanity's guilt of sin. A human being, Whose heart was full of love, took the most bitter death upon Himself. God was in all fullness in this human being, so that His activity on earth was divine activity, and all power over heaven and earth was due to Him.... And yet, He gave His miserable body to His enemies who wanted to destroy Him.... He made no use of His extraordinary strength, although one thought from Him would have been enough to destroy.... And His soul wrestled with itself in its agony and He spoke the words: "My God, why have You forsaken Me!...." It was His soul that was still connected to the body and in deepest distress cried out for the father-spirit, which in turn had to escape from the human body if the work of redemption was to be accomplished. And He emptied the cup down to the last drop.... No human being can measure the magnitude of this sacrifice, for His soul was so blameless and pure.... It suffered unspeakably from the lovelessness of those who pinned Him to the cross, for His soul was pure love and therefore one with God, and yet this love was unable to hold back sinful mankind from ist projekt.... The divinity withdrew, and the human being in all anguish of soul, in all adversity and torment stayed behind and died the most painful death on the cross. What suffered on the cross was human shell, and it felt this shell such superhuman agony. And yet the work of redemption could not have been accomplished otherwise, for the love of a human being had to be so great that he sacrificed himself for the whole of humanity. And Jesus was the purest being of God.... Man was unsurpassable in His perfection, for He also concealed the deity fully and completely within Himself.... And this pure being gave Himself into the hands of sin, He handed His body over to the servants of darkness, and they did not shy away from touching the purest being and putting an end to His life. And in unspeakable pain Jesus spoke the words: "It is finished...." and gave up.... i.e. the soul separated from the body, which suffered unspeakably out of love for humanity....

Amen

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