Reflections on the Passion – St. Luke 22:1-23:56
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Footnotes:
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Marc Chegal
WHY? - FOR YOU!
If you have ever watched one of the film versions of the life of Jesus
you know that no matter how hard they may try to soften the violence done to
Jesus it is impossible to be faithful to the account of the Passion without
representing the violence. The old
Franco Zeffirelli film, “Jesus of Nazareth” (for example) tried to tone down
the violence, while maintaining the intensity of the story. Other films, most
notably Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and the new made for TV series
“The Bible,” almost seem to glory in the violence that is then depicted in
excruciating detail. The fact is, that
Jesus died a very violent death.
Crucifixion was a method of execution that the Romans had devised to
drag out the violence and misery as long as possible in order to send a
message; and that message was “Don’t mess with us!”
We Christians believe that this man, who died in such a terribly violence
way, is none other than God incarnate (John 1:14). Through Jesus, God enters fully into human
life. And through his life, his
ministry, his death and his resurrection God reaches out in love and grace and
acceptance and forgiveness to all of humanity – you and me included – through
Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is a
ministry of God’s love incarnate. So
then why all of the violence? Why did Jesus have
to die? Why did Jesus’ ministry have to
end in this manner? Why did this death
have to be so incredibly horrific and painful and violent? Why was Jesus’ death
so shameful and humiliating? Why?
Most of us are not strangers to this question. We have all had moments in our lives of great
loss and sorrow and pain and it is natural for us to ask the question –
why? It is for us an effort to make
sense of what is otherwise senseless.
“Why did __________ (you fill in
the blank) have to happen?” Even if we can’t come up with a definitive
answer there is something comforting in the posing of the question. And the
struggle can help us move towards healing and acceptance of the reality of
whatever it is.
The New Testament however never really poses the question “why?” in reference
to Jesus’ passion, consequently the New Testament never really answers the question.
Jesus is constantly telling his disciples what is going to happen, but he never
explains it. This is one of those issues
where the writers of the Gospels and Paul (in particular) just tell or refer to
the story of what happened to Jesus, and then assume that everyone understands
that Jesus’ Passion was somehow a part of God’s plan and that somehow Jesus’
suffering and death and subsequent resurrection are redemptive; in other words,
that we are brought into a loving relationship with God through the sufferings,
death and resurrection of Jesus. But
this leads us back to the initial question – Why!???
Many Christians are surprised to learn that this question is never
answered in the New Testament. But later
theologians and church leaders, especially in the early church were quite
disturbed by this question and came up with a number of theories that are all
lumped together under the heading “The Theology of Atonement.” The word “Atonement” itself can be defined
literally as “at-one-ment” – the theology of how God makes us one with
Him in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. There are 5 popular theories - all of them
from post-biblical theologians and all of them providing (I believe) a glimpse
of the truth, but none of them can be considered the definitive final answer. Here is a list of these theories:
1.
Perhaps the most popular (that you find
is used as the theological basis for Mel Gibson’s movie) is what is called
“Substitutionary Atonement” or “Satisfaction Theory.” This theory was developed by St. Anselm in
the 11th century and sees Christ’s death as a substitution for our
own.
2.
Another popular theory that is related
to “Satisfaction theory” is by an evangelical theologian named J.I. Packer and
his theory is called “Penal Substitution.” In a nutshell this theory is as
follows: “Jesus is sent to earth, lives a sinless life, and then dies
upon a Roman cross where God pours out the fullness of wrath upon the Son.
Wrath satisfied, God is now able to love sinners, and Christ is raised from the
dead. Humanity is reunited with God, and all one has to do is accept the
sacrifice that Christ has made on his or her behalf.”1. One can find this theory
is a lot of popular Christian music in particular.
3.
The early 2nd century Bishop
of Alexandria, Origin developed what is known as “Ransom theory:” which holds
that Christ satisfies God’s requirement for holiness and thus Christ pays the
penalty for sin making it possible for us to draw near to and be accepted by a
perfect and holy God.
4.
Peter Abeland (12th century)
sees the Passion of Christ as a moral example in what is sometimes called the
“Moral Influence Theory.” “In this theory, Jesus is not a sacrificial
lamb or a ransom payment. He is the primary example of a Godly life and death.”1.
5.
Finally, from Gustav Aulén in 1931 we
have the theory called “Christus Victor” which holds that the meaning of the
Passion is found in Christ’s victory over death and the devil. Central to “Christus Victor” is “the
image of the diminished and naked Christ, who, far from representing the
judgmental God of fear, experiences the depth of human alienation and
condemnation himself. In this we see not the necessity of God to change
something within God’s self, but bear witness to the depth of the divine love
that will do anything within its power to break the powers that hold humanity
enthralled. God wins by losing, lives in dying, and creates a new justice by
suffering the worst of the unjust system of dominance.”1.
None of these theories can claim to provide the final word on the
atonement. Each contains some truth,
each raise a number of difficult questions and all of them cannot stand up
completely to biblical scrutiny. In
other words, while some may be helpful and instructive, none of these theories
can finally answer the question “why.” And
we are left where we started: without an explanation from Jesus, but a lot of
later theories. However, Jesus does
answer another question, perhaps an even more important question. We read in Paul that on the “night in which
he was betrayed, our Lord…” took bread and wine blessed it and gave it to his
disciples saying take and eat, take and drink … given “for you!”
“Did you
hear that? Those last two words? “For
you.” For those disciples, including, as the Evangelist records, Judas who
betrays him, Peter who denies him, and the rest who desert him. And if for
these, then also for us! And knowing this, I believe, makes all the difference.
So while Jesus doesn’t answer the question “why?”
he does answer – and answer definitively – the deeper question of “for whom?”
That is, though Jesus may not explain the full meaning of his death, he leaves
no doubt as to its significance for you and for me, as above and beyond all our
confusion and questions, we hear in these two words the shocking, unimaginable,
and utterly unexpected promise that everything Christ suffers – all the
humiliation and shame, all the defeat and agony – he suffers for us, that
we might have life and light and hope in his name!”2.
An audio recording of the sermon - delivered 3/24/13 - is available here: Wartburg Parish Media Page
Footnotes:
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1. Aaron Carr from the blog “Church of the
Malcontent.” - http://churchofthemalcontent.wordpress.com/
2. Dr. David Lose, “A More Important Question.” - http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=677
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