Good Friday 2020

Good Friday - the day Jesus died on the cross.

How are we to understand his death?

The most common way of understanding Jesus' death is to say he died "for our sins." The understanding behind the phrase is stated in many ways. Jesus took our place. Jesus paid a debt we owed. Jesus bore the judgment that was rightfully ours and died the death we deserved. At the heart of this understanding is the belief Jesus died so God would forgive us.

The theological term for this understanding is substitutionary atonement. It is grounded in a court of law image. A wrong has been committed. Punishment is demanded to make things right again. Jesus took our place on trial, accepting the guilty verdict that we deserved along with the death penalty that went with the guilty verdict. In his death, justice has been served and righteousness upheld. God is free to forgive us.

Popular though this way of thinking is, I cannot embrace it as the way to understand Jesus' death.

This explanation of Jesus' death reflects the merit-based thinking inherent to our human nature. It portrays God as being like us. It says God relates to us based on what we deserve. The so-called good news in this thinking is what we deserved was poured out on Jesus rather than us. This explanation projects our ways of thinking and relating onto God as though they were God's ways.

And what does this explanation say about God? This understanding portrays God as one who has been offended and must be appeased, as one who is angry over a wrong done to him and is demanding justice, as one who harbors anger and resentment until restitution is made. This portrayal recreates God in our image; it fashions God in our human likeness.

Bottom line, this explanation is at odds with who God. It fails to recognize the character of God revealed to Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 34:5-7). In that self-revelation, two adjectives and three phrases are used to describe God's character. God is a merciful and gracious God (the two adjectives). That merciful and gracious nature is expressed in the three phrases: (1) being slow to anger, (2) abounding in faithful love that does not give up on or abandon the one who is loved, and (3) forgives every expression of sin (iniquity, transgression, sin). Forgiveness of sin is a dimension of God's nature, an expression of God's merciful and gracious nature. It does not have to be gained by some act on our part. It CANNOT be gained by some act on our part. It is a gift freely given out of who God is.

The character of God is the clue to understanding Jesus' death on the cross. Father Richard Rohr has said it best: "Jesus did not die to change God's mind about us. Jesus died to change our mind about God." In short, Jesus did not die to get God to forgive us. God already forgives us. That is who God is. That is how God deals with our sin.

Jesus death on the cross says as much or more about us than God, about our human nature than about God's nature. If you want to see what we humans are like, look at what those in positions of political and religious power did to Jesus. Look how far they would go and the means they would use to protect themselves and the positions of power they enjoyed. In that sense, Jesus' death was not an isolated event. It is repeated anywhere and everywhere people in power use their position to protect their own self-interests.

And if you want to see how God deals with people like us, look at the cross. God refuses to give up on us or abandon us. God forgives us. Thanks be to God!

At least, that's how I understand Jesus' death on the cross.