Questions about the crucifixion

Christ on the cross

Although most people know the basics of the story of Easter, the Biblical account of Jesus' crucifixion raises a multitude of questions

For instance, there is the moment when Jesus promises the thief crucified alongside him that "today, you will be with me in Paradise".

What does he mean, and why does he not say "Heaven"?

Even the most fervent believers find these questions difficult to answer.

For Rev Jonathan Kimber from Hunsbury, Paradise is very different from the popular concept of Heaven, which most people see as a place of harps, fluffly clouds and cherubs. "Paradise is more like the Seychelles."

He says: "It sounds great, but few people would want to stay there on their own. Jesus' promise to the thief is to be with him in Paradise, and there's no more live-giving person in whose presence we can face ourselves and who turns even ordinary reality into paradise."

Family

There is another episode in the story that gets the Bishop of Peterborough thinking. "There is the moment", says the Rt Revd Ian Cundy, "when Jesus shows his concern that his mother will be looked after and entrusts her into the hands of the disciple he loved.

"There is a sense in which that is reflected as concern for the church - so from the cross flows the church and its central purpose, to communicate God's passion to his world".

Thirst

The former Northampton minister Malcolm Deacon recalls the moment when Jesus on the cross shouts out that he is thirsty and is offered a stick with a sponge soaked in wine.

He refuses the drink. That episode makes Malcolm think about the crucifixion from Jesus' perspective, looking down at the people gathered around the foot of the cross.

"He looks at us with huge compassion", says Malcolm. "He offers more than a perfunctory sip of wine. He offers the water of life itself."