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Religion

2008-07-01 15:11:00

Where was Jesus after he died?

Question: What did Jesus do (where did He go) after He died on the cross until he was resurrected?

Answer: All we know about the interval between Jesus’ death and resurrection is derived from the four Gospels and early Christian Tradition. This is summarized in the Apostles’ Creed. “He was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose from the dead.” Jesus’ body slept in death on the cross, from which he was taken down by a few of his disciples. Here is how the gospel writers describe the burial of Jesus’ body: “When it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea arrived; his name was Joseph, and he also was a disciple of Jesus” (Matt 27:57). “He was a respected member of the Sanhedrin, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), so Joseph went boldly into the presence of Pilate and asked him for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43). “Pilate gave orders for the body to be given to Joseph. So Joseph took it, wrapped it in a new linen sheet, and placed it in his own tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock” (Matt 27:58-59). “Nicodemus, who at first had gone to see Jesus at night, went with Joseph, taking with him about one hundred pounds of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes. The two men took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices according to the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial” (John 19:39-40). “The women, who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb, and how Jesus’ body was placed in it”(Luke 23:56). “Then he (Joseph) rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away” (Matt 27:60). “Then they (the women) went back home, and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body. On the Sabbath they rested, as the Law commanded” (Luke 23:55-56). On Holy Saturday the Church’s liturgy quietly observes “The Resting of our Lord in his tomb.” That phrase in the Creed, “He descended into hell,” is confusing for many persons. It means: Jesus’ soul descended into the lower parts of the earth, that the crucified One sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This is the first meaning of the apostolic preaching that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there. (cf 1 Peter 3:18-19). The Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, calls the abode of the dead: “Sheol” in the Hebrew language, “Hades” in Greek, and “hell” in English, because those souls who are there are deprived of the Vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer. This does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus, who was received into “Abraham’s bosom” (cf Lk 16:22-26). It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell. This descent of the soul of Jesus into hell is called by the poet Milton and other English writers: “the harrowing of hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the souls of the just persons who had died before him. In his magnificent epic “The Divine Comedy,” the supreme poet Dante beautifully describes the several circles or degrees of hell, from the lowest prisons of the damned to the upper natural paradise. Jesus’ descent into hell fulfills his messianic mission: it signifies the spread of Christ’s redemption to all human beings of all times and all places, to all who are saved through sharing in his redemption. The souls of the damned, of course, have chosen to not share in that redemption, and God respects their free will. The souls of all the just, who had been freed from the restraints of the upper parts of hell (deprived of the Beatific Vision of God) shared in Jesus’ resurrection and accompanied Him as he ascended into heaven. We can only imagine the joy in heaven on that day, when the Son of God, bearing the marks of the nails on his human body, took his place at the side of his eternal Father, and presented to the Father and to the angels the millions of souls of good and holy persons, who had been waiting for that glorious destiny. That joy will be even greater at the end of this world, when the general resurrection will happen, and our human bodies will rise in perfect youthful condition: to be reunited with our souls, and will share the happiness of heaven. The bodies of the damned in hell will also be resurrected and reunited to their souls in hell, thus adding to their eternal shame and suffering. At the judgment they will have caught a glimpse of the glory of heaven and fully realize what they have rejected and lost through their own foolishness in preferring their own wills to the Will of their Creator. Their suffering for all eternity testifies to God’s justice and truth. In hell each person is uglier than everyone else, and their sufferings correspond to the grave sins they committed on earth. Those, persons, who support and commit murder by abortion of innocent unborn children have reserved places in the lower regions of hell, and their sufferings will be more intense than the punishments of those who deliberately murdered adult persons, who at least had some opportunity to know and love God while on earth. At the same time the souls of aborted innocents are filled with joy in the presence of God, along with the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem who were killed by King Herod (cf Matt 2:16-18).