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The accounts of the Passion, especially in the Synoptic Gospels, which are so spare in style and thoroughly lacking in any theological or edifying comment, take us back to the early days of the church. To use the modern language of "form criticism," these were the first sections of the Gospels to be "formed" in the oral tradition and circulate among Christians. In this phase, facts are the predominant factor, and everything can be summarized in two events: death and resurrection.
However, this stage quickly passed. Believers soon asked about the “why” of the Passion. Why did Jesus suffer? And the answer was, “for our sins!” Thus Easter faith began, expressed by St. Paul when he wrote that Jesus was “handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). We now had both the facts—death and resurrection—and their significance—for our sins, for our justification. The answer seemed complete.
But Why? But the root of the question had not yet been reached. And so the question arose again in another form: Why did he die for our sins? The answer was like a flash of sunlight illuminating the faith of the church: “Because he loved us!” He loved you, and gave himself up in your place. It is an indisputable, primordial truth pervading everything, and it…
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