Cardinal Arinze: The Necessity of Christ’s Suffering

Did Jesus have to suffer, die and rise again in order to pay our sin debts?

  • Yes. This was God the Father’s Will.
  • Jesus, who is God, took on the punishment of our sins, so that we didn’t have to pay those sin debts.

Did the Disciples and Peter want Jesus to suffer?

  • No! Peter tried to discourage Jesus from taking up the cross.

What lesson does Jesus' self-sacrifice teach us about the power of suffering?

  • Suffering has a unique power to pay spiritual debts.
  • When we unite our sufferings with Jesus’s suffering on the cross, we help pay other people’s bills, the spiritual debts they may not be able to pay.
  • The more innocent we are, just like Jesus, the more powerful our sufferings become to pay even bigger sin debts.
  • Just like the people in the videos above got joy for paying other people’s bills, we receive joy on earth and everlasting joy in heaven, if we join Jesus in paying people’s sin debts.