Crucifixion
was used against non – Romans, it was meant to be ghastly, and also to wipe the
person completely. Usually the body stayed on the cross, out in the open for
wild animals and the environment to take care of the remains of the body. This
was Rome
In some
countries today, people who are executed are buried in a communal plot – the
family does not get to bury them, it is part of the punishment. No funeral, no
place for family or friends to remember the person, it is as if they never existed,
and that is what some governments try and do – and that is what Rome was trying
to do in crucifying people. This was a way of reinforcing authority and rule,
it was also a way of denying the existence of the person crucified.
This morning
we will look at responses to Jesus and the cross. To the leaders, both
religious and political, Jesus was a troublemaker. To the Romans he was a law
breaker – yes, he broke the laws of Rome Rome
Looking at
the disciples responses to Jesus and the cross – one betrayed him, another
denied knowing Jesus, some ran away and kept a low profile, and then there were
those who stood at the foot of the cross.
The way we
respond to Jesus, and to the story of trial and crucifixion, will be heavily
influenced by what we think of Jesus, and how we think about God.
There is
more than one way to think about what happened in the life and death of Jesus,
and we need to try and hold these multiple ideas together. A bit like we can
talk about Jesus being light, peace, God incarnate, son of God, - multiple images, which all go to build up a
picture. No matter how detailed we get, it will always be an inadequate image.
There are
three classical theories of what is achieved by the death of Jesus:
§ The first is
called the satisfaction theory. God needed a sacrifice to atone for the sins of
humanity, and Jesus is it. Also called substitutionary atonement. When we talk
of Jesus dying in our place, this is what we are talking about.
§ The second
of the classical theories is Christ the victor. Here we think about the world
in terms of good and evil, and the story of the crucifixion is a battle of evil
and good, and Jesus wins out, thus freeing us all from the captivity of evil.
§ The third of
the classical theories is called moral influence. In this theory humanity is
reconciled to God not through the specific action of Jesus on the cross, but
because he showed God’s love in such a dramatic way we respond in wonder and
gratitude.
Each of
these theories has some basis in the biblical literature, and each helps us
think about God’s action in Jesus. But each is also deficient on its own –
these need to be held together.
Migliore:
Page 154 “through the ministry and cross of Christ, God does something decisive
on behalf of oppressed humanity, liberating us from evil forces that enslave
us, freeing is from our burden of guilt, and restoring moral order in a
disordered world, setting us free from the illusions and self-deceptions that
bring destruction on our neighbours as well as ourselves. “
In the
cross, God accomplishes all this, and again I suggest that even with these
three images to work with, our understanding is quiet inadequate for the wonder
and glory of God’s action in Jesus.
There are
some more contemporary theories as well, one is liberation theology, which
comes mainly from South America , and focuses
on God’s solidarity with the poor and oppressed.
There is
another contemporary view I would like to include. This view suggests that part
of our discomfort with the Good Friday story is because we are bound up in a
violent world.
The world
Jesus came into was a world, like ours, founded on violence. Violence is used
to maintain the status quo in societies, children are abused, women beaten, the
earth plundered and even God’s prophets are killed.
Jesus came
and disturbed that world order,
P 159: “When
Jesus came to disturb that order – announces God’s forgiveness of sinners,
promises the future to the poor, welcomes outcasts and strangers, calls all to
repentance and a new way of life characterized by love of God and others – when
Jesus does this in a world built from its very foundation stone upon violence,
then …. Jesus must suffer, the boundless love of God must clash with the world
built on hostility and violence. “
It is not
easy to make sense of the cross, as in many areas of the life of our faith,
words and language is limited. The biblical record includes a number of ways of
thinking about the meaning of the cross and the death of Jesus.
That is how
we can talk about Jesus dying for us,
liberating us, showing us a new way to live, standing with us in our pain,
standing with the poor and oppressed – all this and more is what was happening
in this story.
In all this
we are called to love as God loved us in Christ, to love as Jesus loved the
poor, the outcast, the sinners, the demonised – and that love is no sweet
romantic, sentimental love – it is a robust, love that challenges the violence
of the world, that stands up to oppressors, that lives in slums, that dares to
believe in a new way, a new world, a new life where justice and peace, rather
than power and might, are the foundations of society.
The work of
Jesus in his life and death is reconciliation, that is, bringing all things
into harmony with God and with each other. The work of Jesus is not only about
personal salvation, it is not only about my sin, it is also about the
structural inequalities of the world in which we live, it is about people
living with violence in their hearts and their lives, it is about a creation
that is being degraded and abused.
This story
of Christ’s passion is not one we can hide from, not one we can deny, it is one
we must sit with, as the women did at the foot of the cross. It is a story that
is life changing, but it asks for our life.
Are we
prepared to not only hear the story, but to live the story?
Silence
quotes are from Migliore, D. Faith seeking Understanding
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