The Effecting Cause of the Passion

The persecutors of our Lord, intending to slay him,inflicted upon him what was sufficient to cause his death. Hence,these executioners actually caused his death. But our Lord could have prevented the executioners from harming him; by his divine power he could have rendered them unable to do what they did, or he could have prevented their action upon him from having any effect.He did neither. Therefore, he died by his own will. Our Lord says(John 10:18): “No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself.” That is, no man can take Christ’s life against Christ’s will. Thus, the effecting cause of Christ’s Passion is, directly and actively, the action of humanpersecutors and executioners; indirectly and essentially, theeffecting cause of the Passion is the will of our Lord himself to suffer and die for us.

Our Lord died as man; he died out of obedience to God.St. Paul says (Phil. 2:8): “He humbled himself, becomingobedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.” The obedience of Christ atones for the disobedience of sinful man. St.Paul (Rom. 5:19) says: “As by the disobedience of one man,many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just.” The obedience of Christ enters into the cause of the Passion.

Our Lord suffered voluntarily out of obedience to the Eternal Father who delivered him up to suffering. Now, our Lord as God is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and exercises theone and undivided will of the Trinity. But as man he obeysthis same will, which is appropriated to the Father. He obeyswillingly, making his human will conform perfectly to the divine Will. With all this in mind, it is accurate to say that Christ was delivered to his executioners by the Eternal Father, of whom St.Paul says (Rom. 8.32), he “spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” This delivering of Christ to suffering enters into the cause of the Passion.

The fruits of the Passion came first to the Jews, and passed on to the Gentiles, for Christ died for all. And, in the Passion itself, it was fitting that the Jews should hand Christ over to the Gentiles (the Roman soldiers) for the completing of the work.

The persecutors of Christ did not know who he was. Surely, the learned rulers and leaders of the people knew he must be the Messias, for they saw in him the signsforetold by the prophets. But they did not clearly know that he is God. They would not even acknowledge what they did see; they turned away from Christ and his claims in anger, hatred, and envy; hence,their ignorance was not innocent. The common people did not even know that our Lord was the Messias. While they saw signs and wonders, and many did believe, yet the bulk of the people allowed their teachers and leaders to argue them out of accepting our Lord. This ignorance of the persecutors enters into the cause of the Passion.

The sin of Christ’s executioners was the more grievous by reason of the malice that marked their terrible deed. Yet even their culpable ignorance was some mitigation of their crime, and our Lord made reference to it when he prayed:“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:34). The Gentiles who had part in the Passion did not knowthe Law, and were therefore much more excusable than the Jews.