WHY?
The Rev. Mark D. Wilkinson, Rector
St. Aidan's Episcopal Church
Virginia Beach VA 23452
www.aidanvbva.net
We come into a church stripped bare. An empty cross, draped in black and some of us
wonder why. Why did Jesus have to die? How does this ultimate act of cruelty turn into
the ultimate act of love. I started thinking about the direction of this sermon after reading
a blog of a sermon by the Rev. James Medley from last Sunday at Eastern Shore
Chapel. He spent some time wondering about the cross and how does Jesus’ death on
that cross reconcile us to God. Then on Wednesday I had an offer from The Thoughtful
Christian website offering one session Bible studies on the cross and how Jesus’ death
saves us. So this seems to be a hot topic this Holy Week. We know that Jesus has
saved us but many wonder how and there is no better time to consider this than on
Good Friday as we sit at the foot of the cross.
James Medley began by asking why is Jesus killed? The answer to that is simple, Jesus
threatened the way of life of the entire priestly class and the power of Rome.
Threatening power structures especially in that world was a pretty good recipe for
execution by the cruelest means possible. Crucifixion was a common act of terror by the
Romans used on any who threatened their hold on power. They relied on terror to stay
in power so the answer to why is Jesus killed was to both set an example and end the
threat that he posed.
The bigger question, the huge one staring down on us from the cross behind me is how
does the crucifixion reconcile us, restore us to God? People have wondered about this
for centuries. Theologians from each major age have come up with their answer. We
state a theology of the cross frequently in the service and many just toss it out. Jesus
died for me.
As a seminary student I remember vividly sitting in my theology class that was focused
on Christ and Christology. The professor entered the front of the large lecture hall full of
first and second year students and said, “I know that you are all eagerly awaiting the
golden words of wisdom through which I will explain how Jesus’ death on the cross
saves us. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but we really do not know. There is no one
answer, but we will spend this semester examining the issue.” There was an audible
groan from the 50 or so students in the room. We really wanted the answer.
The problem with the various atonement theories is that when most people really think
about them they do not work. Why? Maybe it is because we are trying to wrap human
brains around the most intimate workings of God. Maybe it is because each of the main
theories arose in a specific time in a specific world with a specific understanding of how
a society worked and imposed that understanding on God. This is what my theology
professor was talking about when he said we really do not know. It was in that theology
class that I began to really examine what I mean when I say those words when I invite
1 you all up to the table to receive the body and blood of Christ by “take them in
remembrance that Christ died for you”.
These theories of an angry vengeful God who can only be satisfied by an old-fashioned
blood sacrifice just do not make sense to most people today especially those outside
the church. They were written at different times and reflect the society of their time. So
they worked for that society at that time because blood sacrifice was what all the gods
demanded in the first and second century. Anselm’s theory was written in a feudal
society when the honor of the lord of the manor was all powerful and could not be
offended so the atonement theory was cast in terms of the injured honor of God left over
from the fall depicted in the garden of Eden. This was a debt that had to be paid and
only Jesus as God incarnate, the perfect man, the second Adam, could pay the debt so
Anselm’s theory worked for them, but it doesn’t work so well 1000 years later.
These theories of atonement that many accept, and that is fine if it works for you, are in
reality a stumbling block for many unchurched people especially the 20 and 30
somethings. Rob Bell in his book Love Wins searches for a different type of
understanding of Jesus’ death that focus on restoration of relationship between man
and God. So does Richard Rohr and the brothers at the Society of St. John the
Evangelist. All of them as well as myself believe that the God wants our love, not our
fear. This causes one to rethink theology a little, well no we have to rethink a lot. And
that is ok. These explanations that we have about the cross are constructs by people
trying their best to explain the mystery of the cross in a society at a specific time and
place. The fact is that all are attempts to explain the paschal mystery of the
reconciliation that Jesus brings between God and humanity.
Theologians for the last 50 years in particular are beginning to move from a view of
retributive justice (punishment) in atonement theories to a view of the cross as
restorative justice. This is what is meant in the Exultet that is sung at the Easter Vigil
when the prayer reads “How blessed is the night when earth and heaven are joined and
man is reconciled to God” This is what Jesus does when he cleanses the temple, he
says, no you do not need sacrifices to be at one with God. You do not need the temple
ritual, blood sacrifice, and hierarchy to be reconciled to God but you need your heart to
be healed and your relationship with God healed. Jesus is the way for us to be fully
human and in full communion with God if we will just walk the way of the cross and sit
with the mystery of the cross.
Atonement ( a term coined by Tyndale the author of the first English Bible) when you
break it down can be said to be at one with God. Jesus teaches how to be fully human
and also fully in touch with God. The original meaning of the word is to be in harmony
with another. Jesus teaches us to be fully human by his birth, his life, his death and his
resurrection. Tonight is just one, although one very important, piece of the puzzle.
This evolution in theology is why I make a small alteration to the words of invitation to
come to the rail. I say that Christ lived and died for you. Because I believe that the
saving act is both his life and his death. This represents a theology that has moved the
2 total focus on the cross to a focus on Jesus’ entire life from Annunciation to
Resurrection as the saving act of God. It is not either or, but both and.
As Br. Mark Brown wrote this morning “In Christ, God has submitted to the worst form of
human violence. This does not lend itself to quick and easy explanations. We can only
appropriate this mystery over time. And through the lens of our own suffering, our own
dying and rising again. Meditation on the passion, death and resurrection of Christ is a
life’s work.” So unlike the offers to explain the atonement theories in one session it
really is the work of a lifetime.
The bottom line is that what you believe about the mechanics of Jesus’ death on the
cross is not as important as your acceptance that somehow, someway what we
celebrate this evening does in fact reconcile us to God. That we, through Christ, his life,
his death on the cross and his resurrection have the way opened up to be at one with
God. How it works, I really do not know. I do believe that in the mystery of the cross is
the restorative justice that reconciles us to God. I do not have to solve the mystery of
the cross tonight. I just need to thank God for the mystery and allow my relationship with
the loving God, that Jesus has restored, is opened up to grow and flourish so that I can
be fully human in every sense of the word, including being in a deep a growing
relationship with God. God loves us more than we can understand, so much so that
God was willing to let us do the worst we could and turn into the greatest act of love the
world has ever seen. Remember that without a Good Friday there is no Easter.
Our challenge is to see the cross as the symbol not of execution that it was and instead
see it as an act of redemption for us and for a troubled world. The cross of redemption
and reconciliation is the cross we need to lift high and carry into the world. That is the
lesson for Good Friday.
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