The Crucifixion is not an invitation from God to us to suffer. God is not a sadist. God is a philanthropist. The Crucifixion is an invitation from God to us to love.
Run from the gospel of irrationality - from the sadomashochists who glorify suffering. Run fast and run far those who preach the doctrine of S&M. There is no glory in suffering. There is glory, however, in loving.
The Crucifixion is less about suffering and more about love. He mounted the Cross to teach us the best way to pass through suffering. He coped with his Cross to teach us how to cope with ours. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He clung with the iron grip of a drowning man who clings to a life preserver in a stormy sea after his ship has sunk. Cling as Jesus clung. Join the resistance. Resist suffering with love. From the Cross, Jesus demonstrated to us that the technology of applying love to suffering works. It is possible to resist suffering and love is the tool of resistance. Love is the elixir that turns us into superman able to pick up and carry the crosses that try to crush us under their weight. When we apply love to suffering, we are applying grease to the wheels of our passage through the valley of tears. By loving our way through suffering, we maintain the resemblance that we bear to God. When we do not, suffering transmogrifies us into the most miserable and hideous of beasts. Love is the buffer between us and suffering. Suffering becomes redemptive when we love our way through it.
Nothing escapes from the black hole of death. Nothing. We dispatched him there. Yet, He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. Wow!
The Crucifixion cannot be understood without the Resurrection. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are connected and the connection between them is the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ. When we look at the bloody wounds, we see the Crucifixion. We see the evil baptism into which we immersed him. We see his ignominious defeat. However, when we look through the bloody wounds as though the bloody wounds were a telescope, we catch a glimpse of paradise from here on earth. We see his glorious victory. We see that he emerged from the black hole of death still alive and still in love with us. The evil baptism into which we immersed him did not extinguish his love for us or reduce it by even the slightest degree. We tried but failed to drain his heart of his love for us. Buckets of blood spilled through the wounds we opened in his body but not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us spilled. His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. Wow!