The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about, when he said that he was going to be betrayed, and killed, and that, three days after being killed, he would rise again.
And it is something, I think, that many of us think about, and wonder about. Why was Jesus crucified? Why did the son of God—God incarnate—die on a cross?
Many of us were taught that the reason Jesus had to die on the cross was because of our sin, that Jesus took the punishment we deserve. We were taught that our God demands that the penalty for our sin—death—be paid. Someone has to die for our sin—someone must pay the price—and, lucky for us, Jesus stepped in and took that punishment in our place.
But this idea, that Jesus died in our place, so that we don’t have to, in order to appease God’s anger and God’s demand for justice, doesn’t really appear in scripture.
And this idea wasn’t a part of Christian teaching for the first one thousand years of Christianity.
And, to me, this idea does not seem compatible with the idea that our God is a loving God, a God capable of forgiving sins, a God who is merciful and gracious and slow to anger.
So where did this idea come from? This idea that Jesus had to die, to take our place on the cross, to appease God’s anger, so that God could forgive us? Where did that idea come from?
Most scholars believe the idea came from Anselm.
Anselm of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk and eventual archbishop, and he formulated the idea that sin demands punishment, and that therefore someone must die for our sin, and that Jesus took our place by dying on the cross.
And Anselm’s idea took hold in the imagination of other church leaders. The idea spread.
I’m not sure why, but I suspect it’s because it gave those church leaders a useful way to control the lives of the believers under their watch and care.
Anselm’s idea, that Christ died because someone had to die to appease God’s wrath, doesn’t make sense. If God is so good and loving, and if God is god, then why couldn’t God figure out a way to show love and mercy and forgiveness without demanding that someone die? What kind of a cruel God would make such a demand? Who would want to worship a god like that?
To know Jesus is to know God. Jesus’s behavior is a reflection of God’s behavior.
I can’t imagine Jesus withholding love and forgiveness unless someone “pays the price” by dying. Jesus never demanded death as payment that must be received in order for forgiveness to be extended.
It all makes me realize that Anselm’s ideas about why the crucifixion happened are wrong.
It’s time we find a new way to understand why the crucifixion had to happen. Or, to say it in a better way: it’s time we rediscover how early Christians understood the crucifixion, before Anselm introduced his ideas about Jesus “paying the price” and “taking our place.”
Sometimes, when I think of the crucifixion, and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, I find it helpful to think of other examples of people in history who risked their lives or who were willing to die for something they believed in.
I think of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who knew that people wanted to kill him, and that continuing with his work meant risking his life. Yet that did not stop him from proclaiming his message.
And I think of all the people who risked their lives in the Civil Rights Movement, knowing that they, too, might be killed because they weren’t willing to back down from what they believed.
I think of those who marched in 1965, setting out from Selma, Alabama; 600 of them, intent on making their way to Montgomery; but when they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were assaulted by white state troopers who knocked them to the ground and beat them with nightsticks and fired tear gas, while mounted troopers charged the marchers. 17 of the marchers were hospitalized with severe injuries, including future Congressman John Lewis.
One could say that these marchers were attacked and beaten because of the sins of our nation, because of the sin of racism in particular. One could say that they took the punishment on our behalf, for our sake. That kind of language works here.
But I don’t think you can go so far as to say that they were beaten “in our place,” or that people like Martin Luther King, Jr., died “in our place,” as a substitute for us.
Two weeks after they were attacked, the marchers returned. There were 3,200 of them this time, and as they marched, others joined, so that by the time they reached Montgomery, there were 25,000 of them. All willing to risk their lives, or risk being attacked, for what they believed in.
Do you see what those marchers did? They marched, to make visible to the nation the truth, that all people deserve love and dignity. They risked their lives in order for truth and love to prevail.
And that is a powerful thing. Their willingness to risk their lives for the sake of truth and love helped convince Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act later that year. Their willingness to risk their lives for the sake of truth and love helped change the hearts and minds of a nation. Their willingness to risk their lives for the sake of truth and love brought life to many.
There is a power in letting the world see you stand firm in your beliefs, stand firm in what you believe is right, not backing down, not giving in; and doing so without hate in your heart and without resorting to violence.
There is a power in maintaining kindness and love even towards those who have it in for you… even towards those who want to kill you. Standing tall, without running away, without reacting in violence, accepting whatever suffering they might inflict on you. There’s a power in that.
And when the nation saw their determination, their willingness to risk their lives for what was right, and their refusal to react violently to those who used violence on them… it touched the nation’s soul. People’s hearts began to change.
There’s power in that.
And that helps me better understand Jesus’ death.
Jesus didn’t have to die to take our place, to appease God’s anger and wrath, because God would never demand death in order to forgive sins.
But Jesus was committed to following the call, to standing for truth and love, and to challenging the institutions that stood in the way of truth and love. He was committed to that call, and was willing to follow that commitment to the end.
He knew that the powers of the world would kill him because they stood in the way of truth and love, and because they dealt in the ways of lies and hate, and because they were willing to use violence to maintain their way.
What the institutions of the world didn’t realize is that there is a power in standing for God’s way of truth and love, and doing so nonviolently, that not even the greatest armies in the world could destroy.
This, the world saw on the third day, when Jesus rose from the dead. Because not even death could conquer the power of love.
All this is why I and many other Christian pastors don’t like to talk about Jesus dying “in our place,” paying the price, taking the punishment we deserve.
Also: if Jesus’ death on the cross was to appease God’s wrath, then the work was finished at the moment he breathed his last breath. If that’s why the crucifixion took place, then there is nothing else to do from that moment on.
Yet scripture calls on us to share in Christ’s crucifixion, to pick up our own cross, to be crucified with Christ, and continue Christ’s work.
Scripture’s call to be crucified with Christ wouldn’t make any sense if Jesus’ death was only to appease God’s anger. If Jesus died and God’s anger is appeased because of it, then why should we seek to be crucified with Christ? The work is already done.
But we are called to be crucified with Christ, to carry our cross, because we are called to let the same love that flowed through Jesus flow through us. We are to be vessels of God’s love, just as Jesus was.
That’s exactly what those marchers in Selma did. They were willing to put their lives on the line for the sake of love, for the sake of justice, for the sake of dignity.
Scripture says that because we are united with Christ in his crucifixion, that we will also receive the new life of resurrection.
That’s the power of God’s love, made known through the crucifixion.
It’s important to be clear about why the crucifixion happened, because it says a lot about the nature of God. If we believe that God is incapable of forgiving sins without the sacrifice of a human life, it makes God out to be a ruthless, cruel, violent God. And when people believe in a ruthless, cruel, and violent God, they are more likely to condone ruthless, cruel, and violent behavior among people.
Belief in a cruel God leads to cruel behavior among people, but belief in a God of love and kindness leads to kind and loving behavior among people.
We see that, don’t we? Christians who believe it is right for churches and for governments to behave in cruel, violent, and authoritarian ways. It stems from their belief that God is cruel and violent.
We see people, right now—Christians, many of them—acting in ways that are unloving and unkind toward their neighbors. And they remake God in that image, the image of violence, the image of cruelty, because they want justification for their own behavior. They want a God who smites the wicked, which they define as anyone who believes differently than they do.
And if they portray God as a vengeful, wrathful God, it justifies their own vengeful, wrathful behavior.
But Jesus was never vengeful or wrathful. Jesus forgave people, without requiring death as payment. Surely God can do the same!
This is why Christians who want a vengeful, wrathful God talk so much about Jesus’ second coming, when Jesus will judge and destroy the wicked. Disciples preacher Fred Craddock once said that the reason so many Christians are so obsessed with the second coming is that, deep down, they are really disappointed with the first coming.
Jesus came, and he proclaimed peace, and forgiveness. He taught people about the God of peace and forgiveness. But many are unhappy with that, so they focus on a new, second coming of Jesus, which they believe will include violence and punishment and death.
But that is not God’s nature.
The cross is not about God’s wrath. The cross is not about a penalty that had to be paid in order for God to show forgiveness.
The cross is about a love that is strong enough to prevail even in the face of death.
Jesus loved the world so much, that he was willing to do whatever it took to show the world just how great his love is, and just how great God’s love is.
Jesus allowed persecution and crucifixion to come to him, because he refused to back down on his mission of love.
And when Jesus died, God was devastated, because it is never God’s will that any person should suffer. Yet God was also pleased, because Jesus didn’t let anything stop him from expressing love. Not even death.
And God raised Jesus from death as a way of showing God’s approval. The resurrection was God’s “yes” to Jesus’ commitment to the way of love.
So anytime we commit ourselves firmly to the way of love, God will restore us to life. If the way of love leads us to sacrifice, and even if it leads us to death, there is still resurrection.
Because all who have been crucified with Christ will find new life in Christ. Because love is stronger than death. And because love will always prevail.
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