Good Friday, 2024 - Reflecting on Jesus's Death on the Cross

 It’s not always about us.

Good Friday—the day Jesus was crucified. The day he died on a Roman cross.

Each year, a common theme is repeated about Good Friday. This theme is repeated in a variety of ways. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Because of our sins, we deserved death, but he died in our place. He paid our debt. Through his death on the cross, we have forgiveness of our sins.

This theme lies at the heart of evangelical theology. It is accepted as the only way to understand Jesus’s death on the cross. It is seldom questioned. I guess that’s where I come in. You know me, always looking at things from a different angle. (In case you haven’t figured it out, that different angle is the character of God revealed to Moses and in Jesus of Nazareth.)

I am uneasy with this Jesus-died-for-me thinking for a number of reasons.

I am uncomfortable with what this thinking implies about God. It speaks of God’s wrath that had to be appeased before God could/would love and forgive us. In this thinking, God provided a means of appeasing that wrath in sending the Son to die on the cross. This understanding of God does not align with the biblical witness about God.

In the description of God’s character given to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7), there is no mention of wrath. The central feature of God’s character—according to that revelation—is God’s steadfast, faithful love. God’s love is steadfast—i.e., it never waivers. It is faithful—i.e., it never gives up on or abandons us. This covenant love is expressed in forgiveness. Forgiveness is an expression of God’s character. It is a part of what makes God to be God. God’s steadfast, faithful love moves God to embrace us just as we are, in our sinful nature. BTW—this revelation came in the wake of the golden calf incident in which Israel violated the covenant, breaking it. God refused to give up on or abandon them in spite of their failure. God replaced the broken covenant with an unconditional covenant (Exodus 34:10). This truth is what Moses learned as he interceded for the people (Exodus 32:7-34:10).

The prophet Hosea understood the depths of God’s love. Having proclaimed judgment against the nation, the prophet spoke of how the prospect of judgment tore at God’s heart. In the end, God’s love overcame God’s anger “for I am God and no mortal” (Hosea 11:9). “I’m not like you,” God said.

            How can I give you up, Ephraim?

            How can I hand you over, O Israel?

            My heart recoils within me;

            my compassion grows warm and tender (Hebrew: blazing hot).

            I will not execute my fierce anger,

            I will not again destroy Ephraim;

            for I am God and no mortal,

            The Holy One in your midst,

            and I will not come in wrath (Hosea 11:8-9).

Hosea’s words point to another reason I am uncomfortable with Jesus-died-for-our-sins thinking. This understanding of Jesus’s death reflects merit-based, deserving-oriented thinking. Death is what we deserve because of our sins. Merit-based, deserving-oriented thinking is our default thinking as humans. It is how we relate to one another. It is not, however, how God relates. God does not relate to us out of what we have done or not done—that is, according to what we deserve. God relates to us out of who God is—out of God’s character of love. The psalmist expressed it this way:

            He does not deal with us according to our sins

            Nor repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10).

The reason the psalmist gives for this reality is the greatness of God’s steadfast, faithful love.

            For as the heavens are high above the earth,

            So great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him (Psalm 103:11).

That steadfast, faithful love is expressed in forgiveness.

            As far as the east is from the west,

            so far he removes our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).

God relates to us out of who God is, not out of who we are. God loves us because it is God’s nature to love, not because we deserve it. Nothing we can do can change that love. God relates to us out of grace. That grace is expressed in forgiveness. That forgiveness is given freely, lavishly, unconditionally—not because Jesus died on the cross.

The list goes on. This Jesus-died-for-our-sins thinking keeps the focus on us. We are subtly center stage in this story even though we focus on Jesus and his death. Behind his death—according to this version of the story—is us. This version of the story—like so many of our religious practices—is at its core egocentric. It is about us.

This version of the story is about us and our sins. This version of the story keeps us focused on sin—how we fail to measure up. It does nothing to move us beyond our sins even though it proclaims the forgiveness of our sins. The apostle Paul spoke of salvation as a transformation of our hearts and minds. He spoke of living in the Spirit and in the power of the Spirit “so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). That’s moving beyond sin. Paul spoke of being conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). That’s spiritual maturity.

This Jesus-died-for-our-sins presents a one-and-done transaction. Believe, accept, be forgiven, go to heaven. It ignores the relational dimension—God’s relationship with us, our relationship with God, living in relationship with God through the indwelling Spirit. It ignores the concept of growth that is the essence of life—growing in the likeness of Christ. It has no hint of being God’s partners in doing God’s work of bringing the kingdom into reality on earth.

In my opinion, this Jesus-died-for-our-sins thinking is an impoverished concept of salvation that misses the point. It reflects egocentric thinking, keeping the focus on us.

So what is the alternative to this Jesus-died-for-our-sins thinking?

Jesus’s death on the cross is about God, not us. It is about God’s love. It is an expression of the steadfast, faithful love of God that never gives up on or abandons us. It proclaims how God responds to us and our sins—with forgiveness. “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). As Richard Rohr has said: Jesus did not die on the cross to convince God to forgive us; Jesus died on the cross to convince us that God has already forgiven us. Jesus’s death on the cross shows how far God will go in loving us—not just the cross, but the incarnation; not just forgiving us, but embracing us as beloved children.

In shifting the focus from us to God, we open the door to the possibility of our falling in love with God in response to God’s love for us. We just might love God in return. We might be captivated by the beauty of God’s nature and character. Focusing on God and God’s unconditional love just might cultivate within us a desire to love God with a love that is greater than our love for our own egocentric selves. Then, everything will no longer always be about us.