"Our redemption goes beyond a merely juridical imputation of pardon to us because of Christ's work."
This is how Fr. James O'Connor in his book, The Hidden Manna explains why we are more than just passive recipients of the pardon won for us by Christ on the cross.
Why didn't he just stay in heaven and pardon our sins from there?
Why did he come to earth, suffer rejection from his own creatures, and die a criminal's death on the cross?
Perhaps it 's because we might not have learned much about forgiveness if Christ had simply declared a pardon.
Perhaps by taking human form he offered us a living example.
Perhaps he wanted to teach us how to pardon each other "seventy times seven".
