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The Death and Resurrection of Jesus: Five Lenses by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy Recently, I had a delightful lunch with one of our parishioners to talk about prayer. This person admitted their struggle with the person of God the Father over against their embrace of the other two persons of the Trinity: God the Son and God Holy Spirit. It was a fascinating conversation. Part of the struggle was the classical "problem of pain." In the wake of the tsunami, we wonder how God allows such tragedies to occur. We dismiss out of hand any notion that God "caused" this calamity but are left with the proposition that either God is too callous to intervene, in which case God loses God's loving-kindness, or God is too powerless to intervene, in which case God loses God's all-powerfulness. In any case, such large scale human pain and suffering - what insurers call an "act of God" to avoid paying out large claims - forces us to struggle with God's identity and nature. I must admit that I'm drawn to the understanding that this world is a living creation and as such, is a world in process of becoming, of being born and dying and being re-born yet again. The world could be created in such a way that earthquakes and other "natural disasters" did not happen, but it would be quite a different world indeed. The cause of earthquakes and their aftermath lies in the very nature of the created order, and God's portion in this human tragedy is to be found in our response to it, in which we honor God and our fellow human beings by our prayers, our compassion and our generosity. Seek for God, then, not in the cause but in the response. The larger issue, however, is in understanding the death of Jesus. John 3:16 is often quoted by some Christians as the cornerstone and bedrock of the gospel message: "Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life." (Italics mine). For untold millions of Christians, this is a powerful story of the depth of God's love, but for many it is a baffling story of divine infanticide on one hand, in which a distant and stern judge demands a human blood sacrifice of his own child, and on the other hand, those who fail to "believe" that story are punished. Rather than an act of love, it is seen as an act of cruelty, abandonment ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!") and Christian arrogance (those who believe otherwise are doomed). These are heady waters indeed. It's clear that this "sacrificial/substitutional" understanding of the crucifixion is heavily influenced by Hebrew Temple traditions. For the ancient Hebrews, sin was, in a narrow sense, a violation of God's commandments, the Torah. Such violations, in a broader sense, reflected an estrangement or alienation from God-sin with a capital "S," if you will. Such violation (sin) and alienation (Sin) was not without consequences and so "sin" was understood to incur a debt to God. For example, in the Lord's Prayer we are admonished to pray" "forgive us (God) our debts (sin), as we forgive our debtors" (those who sin against us). In the nomadic period of Israel's' history, the sin debt was placed physically onto sacrificial animals (the "scapegoat") who were driven into the wilderness to be devoured. As the Hebrews became settled in a New Land and built a Temple, such sacrifices were transferred to that Temple. The Law provided designated offerings for specific violations (sin offerings) as well as thank offerings fro God's blessings. By custom, as well as by decree, offerings had to be of the best quality - of produce, the first fruits; of livestock, unblemished. We offer to God our best. Jesus' confrontation with the moneychangers at the Temple reflects the commercialization of this tradition in which Jews from the Diaspora no longer selected out their best lamb to be slaughtered but simply paid for one at the doorway to the Temple. For Galilean worshippers in the time of Jesus, the inability of pilgrims, in the crush of the high holy days, to even touch the animal of their sacrifice, fed resentment of the Temple priests who had a monopoly on who and how people gained access to the Holy. Jesus' movement subverted Temple prerogatives. It was to boldly proclaim that the debt had been paid and penitents had full access to God apart from the Temple and its sacrificial system. It is a message of a radical grace. Subsequent generations of Christians, divorced from a deep understanding of Temple worship, relate to the story of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as a debt paid and a ransom made for my sins and my alienation. Theologically, this is the doctrine of atonement ("at-one-ment") which enables me and you and countless others through the generations after Christ, to be reconciled to God. The ransom of my soul has been paid and all that is required of me is "faith" (here understood as "belief") in this theological interpretative narrative. The subversive metaphor, when taken literally, ironically gives the Church an "institutional monopoly on grace." (M. Borg, see below) Many Christians today would be surprised to know that this theological construct (deemed as "traditional") is not the only construct to understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. In saying, however, that there are additional ways to speak of the Passion and Resurrection does not say that the "propitiation/expiation" doctrine is "wrong" or "in error" - but only that if it doesn't speak to you, you are still "welcome on the bus." And, critically important, these alternative interpretations are not novel or new but go back to the time of the gospels as well. In his book The Heart of Christianity, contemporary scholar Marcus Borg identifies four additional ways of understanding the Passion of the Christ. First, the cross is political. The purpose of Jesus' life was not simply to die but was found in his ministry and preaching and healing, as a prophet and proclaimer. For this, the authorities rejected him and executed him but God vindicated him and raised him up. The second, closely related to the first, Borg calls the "defeat of the powers." Jesus is destroyed not simply by the political and social and religious elite but by the "powers" they represent and incarnate. The domination system of the aristocracy killed Jesus and was, by the resurrection, revealed to be powerless, morally bankrupt and ultimately defeated. Paul eloquently talks about these "powers and principalities" which resist goodness and serve the cause of evil and decay. The third sees the cross as revealing "the Way." The spiritual journey is always the story of dying to the old self; of crucifying the old self, so that the "new creation" might be revealed. It is the story of spiritual transformation. And fourth, the cross reveals the depth of God's love. "Lord, Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace…" (BCP pg. 101) Borg writes: "….historically, no, I don't think that Jesus literally died for our sins. I don't think he thought of his life and purpose that way; I don't think he thought of that as his divinely given vocation…But I do have faith in the cross as a trustworthy disclosure of the evil of domination systems, as the exposure of the defeat of the powers, as the revelation of the depth of God's love for us, and as the proclamation of radical grace." Five interpretative narratives for the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. In this unfolding Lenten Season, we would be well served to reflect deeply on each, realizing that they each separately - and perhaps even more persuasively together - reveal different facets of the story of Jesus much like observing sunlight through a prism reveals the great depth and beauty of the complexity which is light itself. Perhaps one or more of these narrative images will even bring restoration to those who may find the predominate "traditional" sacrificial paradigm alienating or unintelligible. During this season of Lent, we go in spirit with Jesus and his friends, up to Jerusalem. During Holy Week, we re-enter the story of Jesus' betrayal, condemnation and execution. We, with Mary, weep by the Cross and with the Magdalene, stand broken hearted by the Garden Tomb. And we stop and we ponder the meanings of these things. And finally, on Easter, we, with Christ, will be raised to New Life in God's great act of saying "yes." Again, this year, our Holy Week Schedule provides for shared worship with St. Paul's Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Lincoln and Washington. We encourage our members to join with our Lutheran brothers and sisters at St. Paul's at the services indicated.
Copyright © 2005 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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