That sentence always confused me when I heard it in other churches and I never heard a good explanation as to why it was said. Why would Jesus descend into hell? Was he not sinless? Was he not the Son of God? Yes and yes.
The answer comes from tomorrow's Epistle reading from St Peter. Within that text is this sentence: "He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water."
It's the "made a proclamation to the spirits in prison" that is the key. Those three days between Good Friday and Easter Morning Jesus descended into hell and proclaimed his salvation to those souls in prison. Logically this makes sense. If the only way to the Father is through Jesus, then those before Jesus would still need his redemptive love.
Isn't that amazing? Even those who had died before him were loved by him. I think St Paul sums it up nicely (Romans 8) that neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
I leave you with an icon of the resurrection. See what Jesus is doing? He's pulling those souls out of prison, one of whom is Adam.
spoken like a true Catholic! ghc
ReplyDeletea compliment!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that ..."that neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Christ." Paul nails it there, but isn't it sad to think about the finality and missed life that comes in taking peace in God's love coming to us after death. Life's too short and death's too long. OK, for some folks, it may take that long, and tha may be the only way God gets to them. But what about the rest of us, who would take the choice if we paid enough attention to see it? Life itself has enough "living death," through the pain we experience and create in our own moments of feeling lost or weak. Life, way before the finality of death as we know it, is filled with a million tiny deaths. We die a little (or alot!) with every moment of pain or disappointment that, for a time, makes us feel hurt or unloved. In those moments, we are desperately removed from God. We may place thast collect call and ask him to float us away, but are we really paying attention? Finding our way through those deaths is where life builds toward the strength and beauty we find when God's love fills us as we release ourselves to it, NOT just ask for it. The greatest beauty of all is that God's love is there whether we ask for it or not -- constantly hovering around us, like little un-lit fireflies waiting to flutter silently into an opening in ur hearts so they can light us up. Neither life nor death? Both life AND death bring us closer to God. We just have to admit our availability to God's love -- notice the fireflies.
ReplyDelete