“He descended into hell…”
“He descended into hell…”
I’ve spent the last month reflecting on this haunting portrayal of Good Friday evening I saw at the Heavenly Bodies exhibit at the MET in Manhattan, this year.
The ancient words of the Creed always describe Jesus resurrection beginning first with His descent into Hell before we hear of His rising from the grave. For years, I pushed back against this theology; as if God needed to face the forces of evil in the depths of despair in some anthropomorphized place to be given permission to break open the empty tomb. But perhaps, God really does.
Perhaps, God needed to be counted among the transgressors. Perhaps, God needed to know the humiliation and degradation only the Cross could impose. Perhaps, God needed to watch the moment the body of the lifeless Incarnation took his last breath, the moment his tormented and broken body was stripped off the rugged tree.
We all get glimpses of Hell in our daily lives. Some more than others. But each of us does. Harshly, fairly, unjustly, out of nowhere, and then right when you expect it – it doesn’t seem to discriminate. But the Gospel tells us Jesus went first. After being beaten, tortured and left to die, Christian tradition tells us He then gave up his final breath, but would not be done on his journey; not before facing the Great Tempter who had invited him to take the easier path. He approached Easter Sunday via the Gates of Hell, just one more stop on the way to His Father's Glory.
Winston Churchill once said, “When you are going through Hell, Keep Going!” Because if you do, “…on the third day, He rose again.”
Neither death, nor life, not angels, not principalities, not things present, not things to come, nor anything else in all creation – not even Hell itself – can keep us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. A God who chooses to go ahead of us in every way, and will one day, I pray, redeem even the Hell he faced. Heck, She’s already begun.
Penned by David: November 16, 2018
Entitled: Descent from the Cross
South Netherlands, 1500-1525