Why did Jesus visit Hell?

In the Old Testament, everyone who died, good or bad, ended up on Sheol. Sheol was portrayed as a shadowy place when the dead dwelt in a miserable sort of existence. In the New Testament, this place was referred as Hades or Gehenna. Hades is the Greek word for “the land of the dead”. Gehenna is a Hebrew word that referred to the Valley of Hinnom. This valley was a narrow gorge, south of Jerusalem that was used for a garbage dump. This image was used by Jesus for the place of punishment for the wicked after death (Mt 5: 22; 18:8).

When the creed states that Jesus “descended into hell”, it means that Jesus really suffered the effects of death- and did, indeed, die – and that every human being has to suffer. Jesus died, and went to Hades, where all the dead had to go. The church has traditionally taught that Jesus also had a mission to perform when he went to Hades. Because everyone, whether evil or righteous, ended up in Hades, Jesus came to free the just ones who had gone before him. This is the so-called “harrowing of hell,” which was a very popular devotion in medieval times. Jesus went to hell and released those holy souls who were stranded there. Some of the icon art of the Eastern Church portrays Jesus rising from the tomb and bringing all those people out of the underworld and up to heaven with him.

Excerpted from Dear Padre, copyright (c) 2003, pg 176.
Used with permission of Liguori Publications, Liguori, MO 63057. 1-800-325-9521. www.liguori.org