Good Friday
I hate Good Friday. I hate the suffering. I don't understand the Christians who love it, who love the suffering, love the idea that all that suffering was for them. If you care about someone, you don't want them to be tortured to death, not even for you, not even for the world.
I think the atonement theory is a construct. I think Jesus didn't have to die, probably didn't want to die. But once he did get murdered, I think the disciples had to come up with a reason for why everything went so terribly wrong. Because otherwise, they'd have to face the possibility that they had wasted their previous few years.
I know, it sounds sacrilegious. It's not, though, it's just a minority opinion. For instance, Duns Scotus didn't believe in atonement theory either (Incarnation instead of Atonement ).
Here's a bit from an article by Richard Leonard SJ ...
God did not need the blood of Jesus. Jesus did not just come ‘to die’ but God used his death to announce the end to death. This is the domain of ‘offer it up’ theology: it was good enough for Jesus to suffer; it is good enough for you. While I am aware of St Paul in Romans, St Clement of Alexandria, St Anselm of Canterbury and later John Calvin’s work on atonement theory and satisfaction theology, I cannot baldly accept that the perfect God of love set [us] up for a fall in the Fall, then got so angry with us that only the grisly death of his perfect son was going to repair the breach between us. This is not the only way into the mystery of Holy Week. For most of Christian history the question that has vexed many believers seems to be, ‘Why did Jesus die?’ I think it is the wrong question. The right one is ‘Why was Jesus killed?’ And that puts the last days of Jesus’ suffering and death in an entirely new perspective. Jesus did not simply and only come to die. Rather, Jesus came to live. As a result of the courageous and radical way he lived his life, and the saving love he embodied for all humanity, he threatened the political, social and religious authorities of his day so much that they executed him. But God had the last word on Good Friday: Easter Sunday.
And a great article on this not-atonement theory is from Ken Overberg SJ - The Incarnation: Why God Wanted to Become Human
posted by crystal | 11:34 PM
3 Comments:
I don't like Good Friday either, because of the suffering of Jesus. But I think it's something that is necessary to remember, and if we didn't have a day for it we would shove it to one side and not consider the lessons to be learned. God didn't invent crucifixion. People did. If people had made different choices, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. The crowd could have asked for him to be released, instead of Barabas. Pilate could have refused to give in to the high priests and not had him executed. Judas could have chosen not to betray him. Just a whole bunch of different choices could have been made. But they weren't. I think Jesus knew people would make their bad choices, and he would suffer the consequences. But he went through it anyway, not excepting himself from the human condition.
I like the articles you linked. I believe that the Incarnation was always "plan A" and not "plan B".
I never really thought about the crucifixion much before I took a retreat. We were supposed to dwell for a week on the crucifixion, imagine it in detail. And they emphasized it happened because of us - that Jesus had to die because of our sins. It was awful. I don't think his death was inevitable or meant to be. He chose to do some dangerous things and many of the people around him made selfish and bad choices. I wish he could have lived a happy long life and taught and preached for all that time.
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