Where did Jesus go for the 3 days after his death?

[thistle]

The Creed says Jesus descended to the dead and on the third day he rose again. What is the dead? Is it the flames of hell? Is it a state of real death/nothingness or what and why would he go there instead of heaven? Also this seems to be contradictory to Luke 23:42,43 when one of the criminals on the cross spoke to him “Then he said, Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. He replied to him, Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.
Hell or the dead does not sound like Paradise so immediately after his death where did Jesus and the criminal he forgave go? As Jesus had effectively forgiven the man’s sins and he could not sin thereafter I would have expected him to go striaght to heaven?

 

[E.E.N.S]

The Catechism states:

**632 **The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

**633 **Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - *Sheol *in Hebrew or *Hades *in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”: “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.” Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

catholic.com/radio/calive.asp

Jimmy Akin addressed this very well on Thursday, Aug 25.

 

[thistle]

Thanks for the explanation about Jesus.
Where then did the criminal on the cross go? Jesus said to him “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”. The realm of the dead/hell does not sound like Paradise.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

thistle:

Thanks for the explanation about Jesus.
Where then did the criminal on the cross go? Jesus said to him “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”. The realm of the dead/hell does not sound like Paradise.

I believe the traditional teaching is that Christ went to “Limbo,” that place where the righteous went while the gates of Heaven were closed to them. So when the thief on the cross died, that’s where he went too, and that’s how he was with Christ.

Here is a very touching old poem about Limbo and Christ’s visit there:

“Limbo”

The ancient greyness shifted
Suddenly and thinned
Like mist upon the moors
Before a wind.
An old, old prophet lifted
A shining face and said:
“He will be coming soon.
The Son of God is dead;
He died this afternoon.”

A murmurous excitement stirred all souls.
they wondered if they dreamed-
Save one old man who seemed
Not even to have heard.

And Moses standing,
Hushed them all to ask
If any had a welcome song prepared.
If not, would David take the task?
And if they cared
Could not the three young children sing
The Benedicite, the canticle of praise
They made when God kept them from perishing
In the fiery blaze?

A breath of spring surprised them,
Stilling Moses’ words.
No one could speak, remembering
The first fresh flowers,
The little singing birds.
Still others thought of fields new ploughed

Or apple trees
All blossom-boughed.
Or some, the way a dried bed fills
With water
Laughing down green hills.
The fisherfolk dreamed of the foam
On bright blue seas.
The one old man who had not stirred
Remembered home.

And there He was
Splendid as the morning sun and fair
As only God is fair.
And they, confused with joy,
Knelt to adore
Seeing that He wore
Five crimson stars
He never had before.

No canticle at all was sung.
None toned a psalm, or raising a greeting song,
A silent man alone
Of all that throng
Found tongue-
Not any other.
Close to His heart
When embrace was done,
Old Joseph said,
“How is your Mother,
How is your Mother, Son?”

-Sister Mary Ada