Why did Christ die on the cross?
A friend sent me this quote from Middlemarch
"Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
What a good quote to meditate on. I especially like the comparison to a river, channels, and diffusive. It reminds me of my favorite Psalm (46) again, "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God." I look up that Psalm so much that when I google "Ps," Google shows "Psalm 46." :)
I am starting to re-read (I only read part of it before) The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr. Have you read it? I listened to a podcast, The Liturgists, where they interviewed Richard Rohr about the book. I have been thinking a lot about the atonement theory in regard to Christ's crucifixion. I never really thought about it before, but several years ago I started to think that it seemed strange that we were saying that God was the kind of god who demanded someone's death in order to forgive them, in order for justice to be done. It seemed like something a pagan god would do, the kind of god that ancient people would make child sacrifices to, or like the Salem witch trials or burning people at the stake. It felt incongruous to say God is love and he loves everyone, even sinners while they are sinning, but the only reason this loving God gives us eternal life is because he sent his son to be killed, to be sort of like the representation of us and all our sins put to death and then he would forgive us. I felt (and still feel) like a heretic even thinking about it this way. I don't talk much about it. But I think Rohr talks about that in this book, along with much more. I think he talks about Jesus dying because he loves us so much, not in order to be our substitute sacrifice in order to satisfy God's justice. I'm curious to read more and reflect on it. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan monk, a strong man of faith.
The other day I was thinking about this as I was doing my devotions and wondered, what did the disciples actually say to the people on Pentecost? When they received the Holy Spirit and went out to talk to the people, when the people were able to understand them even if they spoke a different language, did they tell the people how sinful they were and how Jesus had to die for them to satisfy God's justice? So I read Acts 2. Peter (my favorite disciple!) told them about the prophecies about Jesus, and that Jesus was the Messiah and placed on the throne of David, and that they had, "with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." The big thing was that Jesus didn't stay dead, he rose from the dead, and Peter and the others were witnesses of this. Peter did say they needed to be baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins," but not that Jesus had to be crucified to pay for those sins. He said, "And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off..." And, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Then the Bible goes on to tell about the community the Christians became, with everything in common and giving property and possessions to give to anyone in need, and eating together with "glad and sincere hearts." It seems to me Peter (and the Bible) was saying not "You will be saved from your sins," but "You will be saved from the sad broken way you have to live now into a beautiful community of people who love and take care of each other." So then our job is to be that beautiful community and encourage and welcome others into it.
I think in these times it's not possible -- at least for most of us -- to physically live in a kind of commune where we share everything equally the way it seems to be described in Acts. But I think it's possible to be a loving, sharing family that loves and takes care of each other and reaches out to others to bring them into the family, too. I have a hard time with the concept of the church as a social institution, becoming an actual charity that cares for sick or poor people. That's hard to do when all the family members have full-time jobs. There are parts of the church, though, that are that. A church like ours can support charities that do that with our finances and with our time and prayers. I think the CRC tries to do that with denominational shares supporting people and institutions that physically do that part of the work. We also can be a people like the quote you sent, who with our unnamed channels of love and faithful hidden lives can perform unhistoric acts of love that contribute to the growing good of the world. With God's help.
The phrase in the Middlemarch quote of "unhistoric acts of love that contribute to the growing good of the world" reminds me of what my dad said once. I told him that sometimes I wonder what I'll feel when I'm in my deathbed thinking I spent decades of my life working for an office furniture company. How could that be a life of doing God's work? Dad said something like that quote, that living a life doing that work is part of contributing to the good of the world. I saw it, too, when my brother Dan died of ALS. He did not go to college and had a blue-collar job all his career, at an aluminum factory. But his co-workers were such faithful friends. They visited him every week, and they paid for a ramp to be built on the house, they talked to his wife Kathy to make sure she was taken care of. I am certain that God said, "Well done, good & faithful servant" to Dan.
So there's my sermon for the day! I am often afraid to share my doubts about the whole "Jesus-took-on-your-sins-and-died-for-you-so-you-wouldn't-have-to-die" thing. But here are a few thoughts anyway.