The Weight of the World

© 2016, Sketch by Gabriele Davis, Pastel by Michelle Marraccini

If you watched “The Passion of the Christ” by Mel Gibson, you might remember the harsh portrayal of what Jesus may have suffered at the hands of the Romans in his final hours. I have read that Mel Gibson has a passion for historical accuracy. His movies go deep into the subject matter, embracing it even when the topic is not entirely pleasant. I can presume that his portrayal of Jesus’ passion was a somewhat reasonable reality, though difficult for us to absorb. It is difficult hard to imagine Jesus, fully human, fully divine, sinless, “led like a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7) suffering for us.

Some have challenged the gravity of Jesus’ suffering, citing other deaths that have been more gruesome, more torturous, longer ordeals. And yet, this suffering, Jesus’ passion was deemed the perfect suffering for our redemption. Countering those who might argue the immensity of his suffering, I offer these thoughts on how our suffering might compare to Jesus’ suffering.

We creatures are born with sin. Even the most pure of us have sinned. Because of this, when we suffer, we could say we suffer for our sins. If we feel our suffering is more than we deserve (perhaps presumptuously), we can offer our suffering for others. But never in our individual existence do we bear or accept the weight of the sin of the entire world. Think of the billions upon billions of people who have lived, loved, sinned, hated, hurt, helped, and blessed others as they walked this earth through the centuries. Think of the people alive JUST in this time… does the love, the blessing, the giving outweigh the pain, hardship, the pride that causes us to be at odds with one another? How much could our collective suffering even tip the scales of balance between the good and the evil we experience and take part in during our human existence? But Jesus, he didn’t balance our sin, he became sin:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor 5:21)

© 2016, Sketch by Gabriele Davis, Pastel by Michelle Marraccini

Jesus, the perfect victim, not only took on our sin, but absorbed our sin into himself. Imagine the weight, the burden. I imagine Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, falling to the ground under the weight of this sin, our sin, our neighbor’s sin, the sin of our country, of our world, of the generations, of the centuries. Who could stand under that strain. Yet, not only does he stand, he endures libel, unjust accusation; he is cruelly beaten, mocked, and then he carries his cross (or cross beam) to the place of his final breath. He, the sinless one, chose this.

The closest we can come in this world to something like his suffering are the martyrs, the persecuted, the child saints who suffer violation or sickness in their young innocence, the children sold into sexual or other slavery, the millions of abandoned and aborted children. There is another group who suffer, or may suffer, like Jesus. Our priests. We might do a double-take on that thought. Does the suffering of any of our priests look anything like Jesus’ passion?

We have some great priests – wonderful preachers, great builders of churches and schools, amazing spiritual leaders and personal spiritual mentors, fabulous retreat leaders. There are so many ways in which our priests excel. But what is their main function? That is to be Jesus to us. When they administer the sacraments to us, they are In Persona Christi (the hyperlink goes to an article on EWTN that expounds on this reality). We recognize this most frequently in the sacrifice of the Mass at the consecration of the bread and wine. But the priest is acting In Persona Christi at every sacramental event, (The priest and confession, vatican.va, Holy See), including the confessional.

© 2016, Sketch by Gabriele Davis, Pastel by Michelle Marraccini

Think of Jesus in the Garden, taking on the sins of the ages. Now consider the priest sitting in the confessional hours upon hours hearing our confessions. No comparison, true! But, when done right, this priest who is hearing our confessions, is taking on our sins. He is bound to pray for us and suffer for us from the time he hears our confession to the day he dies.

Pray for our priests daily. May God bless them!

Bernadette Harmon 2025-09