12. The Agony of Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion

World Scripture

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.”
Matthew 16.21-23

And he came out, and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”…
There came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” And when those who were about him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house… Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and asked him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” And they spoke many other words against him, reviling him.
When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” And they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.”
Then the whole company of them arose, and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”… And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Calvary], there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He has saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Luke 22.39-23.46

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Matthew 27.46

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

People say that Jesus came to die. Was his death indeed predestined by God, or was it an event brought on by circumstances? You should know that it was something that came to pass suddenly and unexpectedly. We can discern this from the New Testament’s account of the Transfiguration: “And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure [his crucifixion] which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:30-31)
When Jesus later informed Peter that he would suffer in Jerusalem and be crucified, Peter violently protested, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” (Matt. 16:22) Then Jesus lashed out at him, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God but of men.” (Matt. 16:23)
Conventional Christians understand this passage to mean that Jesus was supposed to die on the cross, and because Peter tried to stop him, Jesus called him “Satan.” What Jesus actually meant was this: Peter had witnessed the trance-like scene on the Mount of Transfiguration alongside Jesus; hence he should have heard sometime during that event, the instruction to Jesus that he should go to his death. However, Peter had dozed off and never heard it. Yet now that Jesus’ death was decided, Peter had no business telling Jesus what to do or not to do.
The decision [to alter Jesus’ course] been made on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus had originally come to fulfill God’s Will both spiritually and physically, but he was driven into a situation where unless he sacrificed himself, he would have to turn the nation and the people over to Satan. In that situation, by going the way of crucifixion God strove to lay at least a spiritual foundation. In other words, God had determined to lead him on a secondary dispensation, one that would give birth to Christianity.
(73:218, September 18, 1974)

Jesus walked a wretched path, the path of the cross. Evil men whipped and beat him. They ripped his clothing, drove him along the street, and forced him to the ground. In that situation, if Jesus had been like Elijah, he might have said to the people, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left.” (1 Kings 18:22) But when Jesus left his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and went to pray, he said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Luke 22:42) This was his greatness. He understood that his body was a sacrificial offering for the nation, a sacrificial offering for humanity and a sacrificial offering for God’s providence.
Therefore, although Jesus felt his own bitter sorrow, he was more concerned for God’s sorrow. God had sent Jesus for the sake of the nation; instead he felt God’s sorrow to see him betrayed by his own people. Jesus was the Messiah. He was the Crown Prince of Heaven and the central personage of the entire universe. If he chose, he could have given way to self-pity and lamented his miserable fate. He could have set the entire universe in lamentation with him. Yet, he understood that his position was not to sigh in despair. Instead, he even went so far as to feel apologetic toward Heaven for having been rejected.
Jesus bore the responsibility to rally the religious establishment, rally the nation, build the Kingdom of Heaven and return the world to the Father’s bosom. Yet when he was forced to abandon that mission and walk the way of the cross, he did not feel enmity toward anyone. He did not pray, “Let this cup pass from me,” for fear of death. Rather, he prayed this way because he knew his death would add to the grief of the nation and to God’s grief.
Jesus knew that if he died on the cross, there would be an even heavier cross remaining for the future generations. It would mean that humanity’s sorrowful history would not end. He knew that the path of Golgotha would not end with him; those who followed him would also have to go the same way. Jesus knew that an even more difficult course lay beyond the cross.
As he was made to wear a crown of thorns, and the nails were hammered into his hands and feet, and his side was stabbed with a spear, Jesus knew that these events would have impact far beyond his own death. When he turned to God and said, “It is finished,” he did not mean that the world’s path of the cross was finished. He meant that his heart’s tearful plea of concern over the cross had reached Heaven. We need to know that Jesus comforted God by offering himself as a living
sacrifice and taking upon himself all the mistakes committed by past prophets and patriots. More than that, as he neared death Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:34) God had a mind to pass judgment immediately, a judgment even more terrible than in Noah’s time. But Jesus died clinging to the nation, clinging to the religious establishment and clinging to the cross. For this reason, God could not abandon humanity, but held on to us. Because this bond of heart existed between Jesus, the future generations of humanity and the remaining people of Israel, God could not abandon the religious organizations that turned against him, nor the people of subsequent generations. Instead, God has clung to them.
(378:314, May 21, 2002)

When Jesus fell exhausted while carrying the cross to Golgotha, none among his disciples offered to shoulder the cross in his place. Neither did anyone from among the chosen people of Israel. Rather it was Simon of Cyrene, a Gentile, who shouldered the cross and participated in Jesus’ tribulation. For this reason, Christianity flourished among the Gentiles, not the Jews… How must Jesus have felt when he looked at Simon of Cyrene? His disciples, with whom he had shared all his joys and sorrows, had all disappeared, leaving this Gentile to suffer on his behalf. Jesus must have felt deeply embarrassed and sorrowful.
If any man among the twelve disciples had stood up to shoulder the cross in his place, then by looking at him, Jesus could have forgotten the hardships of death. He would have overcome his own agony by feeling compassion for his disciple. When this did not happen, Jesus felt even greater sorrow.
(2:275, June 16, 1957)

Although the Roman soldiers nailed him to a cross and pierced him with a spear, Jesus asked God’s forgiveness for them. He endured his pain with the attitude, “I am dying on their behalf. I am willing to be sacrificed on their behalf.” From that moment a new realm opened; a new world was born that had never before existed in history.
Before Jesus’ time the rule was to take revenge on your enemy, based on the law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” No one before Jesus had ever taught that we should love our enemies. Jesus demonstrated something totally new to the world when he loved his enemies on the cross. This was something amazingly great. From that single event sprouted a new era, a new world of God’s desire.
(130:232-33, January 29, 1984)

Can you fathom the agony in God’s heart when Jesus was dying on the cross? Here, the children of the enemy were killing His only begotten Son, and yet God could not treat them as enemies. Can you imagine how difficult it was for God to swallow His pain and maintain a loving heart towards them? Jesus understood God’s painful situation; he knew that God had to maintain unconditional love even for the enemy Satan; therefore he loved the enemy soldiers who were killing him and prayed that God would forgive their sin.
Because Jesus passed this test, Satan could be separated. Because Jesus kept God’s tradition of unconditional love even for Satan, Satan had no grounds to accuse either Jesus or God. This was the condition to make a division between good and evil, to lift up Christianity beyond Satan’s grasp.
God’s providence can progress only on the condition of loving Satan and the individuals and families under Satan’s dominion. Even in the place of death, we should love and pray for them, as God does. Otherwise there can be no restoration. For this reason, Christian martyrs throughout the world have followed Jesus’ example and prayed for their persecutors, “Heavenly Father, please save them.” This goes back to the principle that Satan was originally an archangel, who was to receive love from God, Adam and Eve. Although he fell to become Satan, we should not change our love for him. By following this principle, we can be fully restored and be qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
(244:154-55, February 1, 1993)

Why did Jesus appeal to Heaven, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27.46) The first human beings abandoned God, and Jesus had the mission to restore their betrayal through indemnity. That is why God forsook him.
Nevertheless, although abandoned, Jesus kept a grateful heart. He prayed, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt. 26.39) Because Jesus wanted to become one with God and digest death and whatever hardships confronted him, no enemy could dominate him. Because Jesus did not change even in death, even when God and humankind turned their backs on him, he opened the door to resurrection.
Likewise, even if God were to turn away from you, you must be determined to cling to the Father and attend Him to the end. That is the only way you enter the blessed realm of resurrection that Jesus Christ opened for us.
(4:144-45, March 30, 1958)