To Set the Oppressed Free

Lent: Day 13

Reflections through “The Wood Between the Worlds” (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 13: The Lynching of the Son of Man

Zahnd quotes Black Christian theologian and author James Cone from his book, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree”…

“In the mystery of God’s revelation, black Christians believed that just know that Jesus went through an experience of suffering in a manner similar to theirs gave them faith that God was with them, even suffering on lynching trees, just as God was present with Jesus in the suffering of the cross.”

In this chapter Zahnd points to the similarities between what happened at a typical crucifixion scene and lynching off Black people in the United States. They were spectacles that drew large crowds of blood thirsty people. 

Zahnd writes…

“Between 1880 and 1940 there were nearly five thousand public lynchings of African Americans by white mobs in the United States…These were not clandestine executions but public events, often attended by as many as ten or twenty thousand men, women, and children. Newspapers announced the time and location of the lynching. These gruesome spectacles had a carnival-like atmosphere. They were a repugnant, unabashed celebration of white supremacy. Onlookers would pose for pictures, smiling and pointing at the hanged victim.” (P. 126)

Zahnd draws upon what he wrote about in chapter 12 about the scapegoat mechanism, whereby one victim is punished or killed as a way to appease the anger, angst, and fear of a group of people. 

Anytime someone reads the Bible, they read it through the lens of what they have experienced in their life. The Gospel is good news to the oppressed and enslaved, and it’s more than just spiritual slavery. The Gospel is good news for the body and spirit. 

The Exodus wasn’t just a spiritual event. Real people were freed from their human oppressors. The cries of the Hebrews slaves were heard by God, and the cries of the African slaves brought over to the United States were heard by God.

The Bible tells us that God hears the cries of the oppressed (Ps. 10:18). Again, this isn’t just a spiritual application. The Hebrew prophets constantly warned that God was going to judge his people for the way that the rich mistreated the poor and foreigners amongst them. 

When Jesus read the scriptures in the Synagogue in his hometown he read from the scroll of Isaiah that says…

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk. 4:18-19, Isa. 61:1-2)

Those of us who have lived fairly comfortable lives are quick to spiritualize everything that we read in the scriptures, but to a slave living in subpar conditions whether in America, or anywhere else in the world, the words of Isaiah are good news for the whole person. God cares for our earthly well-being as well as our spiritual well-being. 

To those who have suffered in any way in this life, the cross means that God knows what we are going through. God can identify. God isn’t standing far off, but he shared in our agony, pain, rejection, loneliness, and unfair, unjust treatment in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Zahnd writes…

“The only way for the Southern white mob at a lynching - the vast majority of whom thought themselves fine Christians - to be delivered from the demonic possession of white supremacist hate and murder was to see Jesus in the lynched Black man, or better yet, to see Jesus as a lynched Black man…They need to remember what Jesus said in his parable of the sheep and the goats: ‘As you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’” (Mt. 25:40) (p. 127)

On the cross Jesus stands in solidarity with all who have been betrayed, falsely accused, taken advantage of, pushed aside, ignored, forgotten, and humiliated. 

Amen.

…But I know…It’s My Own Dang Fault.

Lent: Day 12

Reflections on: The Wood Between the Worlds (by Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 12: The Sacrifice to End Sacrificing

Just a note: I think I marked up this chapter more than any previous ones. There was so much good historical context behind the phenomenon of the scapegoat mechanism. There’s no way that I can adequately do justice to chapter 12 with this short post. I sure hope you are reading the book!

“Jesus is the innocent scapegoat who comes back from his fatal banishment. And the Lamb comes back, not seeking revenge, but offering forgiveness and showing us the way out of the satanic system that demands more victims. Jesus took all the blame, carried it down to Hades, and left it there. In his resurrection Jesus comes to us, not blaming, but speaking the first word of a new world: ‘Peace be with you’ (Jn. 20:21). Jesus has opened the door to a new world where peace can be achieved without projecting blame onto scapegoats.” (P. 121-122)

The sacrificial system that we read about in the Old Testament didn’t begin with the Hebrews, and it wasn’t God’s idea in the first place.

Before God called Abraham, when he was still known as Abram he was a part of a culture that already practiced the sacrifice of animals and humans. This was a pagan practice that ancient tribes and peoples all over the world participated in, which is amazing when you think about the fact that it was happening at the same time by people living on different continents, divided by oceans, who weren’t connected by the internet.

What could possibly account for this notion in the human mind that we needed to kill things in order to appease the gods?

Zahnd introduces us to Rene Girard (1923-2015) who he calls, “One of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. His discoveries in the field of philosophical anthropology were as groundbreaking as Einstein’s discoveries in the field of astrophysics.” (p. 114)

Girard is known for his explanation of the scapegoating phenomenon across cultures and continents, which he calls mimetic rivalry. The word mimetic comes from the word mimicry. In his studies of humans he explains that it is through mimicking others that we learn to speak, act, and understand what is of utmost importance.

Advertisers cash in the mimetic desire within the human psyche as they “Use celebrities to endorse their products” (P. 116). 

What happens when humans desire things that are scarce, or there isn’t an abundance of? This is when mimetic rivalry comes into play.

Zahnd writes…

“This was the problem that plagued all early human societies - the threat of mimetic rivalry leading to all-against-all violence. Humans can only survive as a part of society. But how can the society cohere when its constantly plagued by mimetic rivalry and the threat of violence. What Girard’s theory reveals is the mechanism by which ancient societies expelled the contagion of mimetic rivalry.” (P. 116)

Instead of constantly warring with one another, and risking our own extinction, it made more sense to blame one person for the problems of the tribe. We call this person the scapegoat. 

Girard called this instinct in the human psyche the scapegoat mechanism. 

Zahnd writes…

“This is what happens when the community focuses their individual anxiety, insecurity, hate, rivalry, and rage upon a single victim, thus temporarily exorcizing the contagion of violence and bringing peace to the community… we might say the victim has borne the sins of the community.” (P. 116)

A couple of years ago during a Kansas City Chiefs football playoff game there was a moment when the referee called a penalty on the Chiefs that very clearly was not the right call. Leading up to that play, the Chiefs had made plenty of mistakes. The crowd was frustrated. They knew the Chiefs were only hurting themselves. When the Chiefs were called for the penalty, the angst of the crowd was directed solely at the referee. The crowd booed the referee for what seemed like forever. Before the commercial break you could hear the boos, and when the game resumed a couple of minutes later the crowd was still booing and continued to do so for a while longer. The referee was not responsible for how the Chiefs had played up until that point, and even though they made plenty of correct calls before this one, when the opportunity came for everyone direct their anger towards this one individual it was relentless! I can only imagine the words that were being spoken in that stadium and in many homes!

There’s something satisfying about being angry together and having a target to direct our anger at.

There’s a scene in a movie called “Office Space” when three guys who had worked in a corporate office quit their job and walk out of the building with the copy machine that never worked properly. As a sort of celebration, they threw the copy machine on the ground and began to kick it and hit it with a baseball bat. It’s a funny scene, but I think it illustrates how good it feels to band together against a scapegoat. 

Politicians are really good at this. They know that their success depends on getting people angry and pointing them in the direction of the scapegoat. Usually this is the individual running for the other party, but sometimes it is another people group (whether ethnicity, social class, etc.) This should make us uneasy. Hitler used the scapegoat mechanism to convince people that Jews were responsible for Germany’s problems. 

In chapter 12, Zahnd suggests that Jesus’ death on the cross is the sacrifice to end all other sacrifices. Jesus is the final scapegoat. He allowed humanity to do their worst to him, so that we would no longer scapegoat one another. 

On the cross, when the church and state worked together to condemn him to death, he prayed a prayer of forgiveness for all who had a part to play in his death.

Zahnd writes…

“If the sacrifice of a single victim is the foundation of societal unity, Jesus is ‘The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Rev. 13:8). If turning innocent victims into sacrificial scapegoats is the organizational sin of the world, Jesus is ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). If sacrificial religion has its dark origins in the scapegoat mechanism of human sacrifice, then Jesus is the sacrifice to end sacrificing.” (P. 117)

Jesus willingly offered himself as our scapegoat. He didn’t plead his innocence, or fight for his life. He endured the worst that humanity has to offer so that he could show us the better way - the way of forgiveness.

The innocent Lamb of God absorbed all of the blame so that we would stop blaming others. 

The kingdoms of this world still depend on the scapegoat mechanism. 

But for those who are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we have been taught to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

No more finger pointing. 

More foot washing. 

This is the Jesus Way.

Amen.

War!!!!! What is it Good for?!

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 11: The War is Over (If You Want It)

“The baptistry is a Time Machine that transports the baptized into the fully inaugurated kingdom of Christ. They become those ‘on whom the ends of the ages have come’ (1 Cor. 10:11). The baptized do not cling to the disappearing past but embrace the emerging future, which is framed in peace. The church is to be a present witness to the eschatological future of peace that Jesus Christ initiated through his cross.” (P. 107)

Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we ask for God’s kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

We don’t pray for his kingdom to come and will to be done some day in the future even though we know that there will come a day at the end of this age when Jesus will return to make all things right and new. Justice will be served, and evil and death will be vanquished. 

The Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer that removes all responsibility from us as we await God to fix everything that is broken. 

God’s will is not done magically, but when we submit to it and embody his kingdom’s ethics right here, right now.

Zahnd writes…

“We live in a world war has made. Behind every border is the story of a battle. The lines on a map were first drawn in blood. World history is mostly the record of our wars. We’ve named our species Homo sapiens “wise man,” but we could more aptly  name our species homo bellator, ‘warrior man.’ War has been our most defining legacy. Many see this as just the way the world is, resign themselves to it, and hope they’re not on the losing side of the next war.” (P. 104)

The Kingdom of Heaven is the polar opposite of every earthly kingdom that ever was, is, and will be. 

Greatness is measured in military might, territory conquered, resources gained, and amassing the largest stockpile of weapons and war machines.

Humanity has been involved in one long, never ending arms race. We arm ourselves because our neighbors are armed.

We never imagine ourselves having to use our arms, nevertheless WHEN war breaks out, there is more than enough for every slain body. 

Paul the Apostles writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18). 

What is the message of the cross? God would rather die for his enemies than kill them and indeed that is what he did, for while were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing because everything within tells us we don’t have to perish…we can do something about it. We can defend ourselves. We can fight.

Jesus could have called down ten thousand angels. When Peter took out his sword and cut off the ear of the Roman soldier, Jesus could have rallied his disciples and used that moment as a catalyst to save his life. 

Look at what Jesus says to Peter…

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt. 26:52-53)

Jesus doesn’t just make this about his refusal to fight for his life but he warns every single human being - all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

And this is where Biblical literalists check out for a little bit! :) 

Peter thought that he was doing the noble thing, but years later he would write these words, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)

Did you catch that?

To THIS you have been called. 

To what?

I’ll let you go back and read that again. 

The Apostle John writes about a war that broke out in heaven, and this is how the ancient serpent (Satan) is defeated…

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)

John is speaking about the martyrs past, present, and future who knew that victory was already secured on the cross, by the blood of the Lamb. 

Let’s be honest, most of us who are Christians in America will never have to make the decision whether to fight for our lives or be killed for our faith in Jesus…

But let’s be clear…real clear…what Jesus said to Peter in the garden of Gethsemane is what he says to all of us, “Put your sword back in its place.”

Zahnd writes…

 “The world waits for a people who will dare to embody the promise of peace - and the church is called to be that peculiar people. The apostle Peter says, ‘Since therefore Christ suffered in flesh, arm yourselves with the same intention’ (1 Pet. 4:1) How are Christians to be armed? Not with the weapons of this world, but with a willingness to suffer in imitation of Christ…If we say we believe in Christ, confess Christ, worship Christ, but are unwilling to suffer in Christlikeness, we have rejected the way of the cross and our professed faith is a fallacy.” (P. 110)

Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and he lived out the implications of the sermon all the way to the cross. He talked the talk and walked the walk.

I guess the only question that needs to be asked of us is, how much do we want to be like Jesus?

Please don’t kill the messenger.

Amen. 

POWER!!!!!!! (You Can Trust Me With It)

The Wood Between the Worlds (by Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 10: One Ring to Rule Them All

Note: You’ll notice I didn’t write a post for Chapter 9: “How Jesus Understood His Death.” Zahnd points to what Jesus says in John 12:31-33 as the clearest in scripture about what he believed his death would accomplish.

Zahnd writes… 

“Jesus says his crucifixion will accomplish three things: 

1. It will judge the world

2. It will drive out the ruler of this world

3. It will draw all people to himself” (p. 86)

My post on day 3 (Chapter 3) dealt with what Jesus says in John 12, and I felt it would be a little redundant to write another post on it. 

Now onto Chapter 10 - “One Ring to Rule Them All”

”Jesus Christ crucified is the everlasting indictment on those who forsake the way of the cross to reach for the ring of political power. The power we are promised by our Lord is the power of the Holy Spirit - the power to love, forgive, and heal. If we try to wield the Ring of Power (or Caesar’s sword), it will only corrupt us. This has been a recurring temptation ever since Constantine offered the church a seat at the table of political power.” (P. 97-98)

I suspect this chapter more than the previous ones will cause the most angst.

Zahnd wants us to understand that the cross of Christ stands in direct opposition to the love and lust for power. 

We can point the finger at Christians in centuries past who wielded literal swords and fought holy wars in order to make new converts and say, “Shame on them!”

We can act as if power is something that only corrupts other people, in other places, and at other times, but we would just be lying to ourselves. 

It is easy to convince ourselves that power is best used by us because we would use it wisely, but therein lies the problem, and the caution of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale that Zahnd draws upon in this chapter - “The Lord of the Rings”.

In the quest to destroy the Ring of Power before the Dark Lord, Sauron, could get ahold of it again, it is curious that it is entrusted to a Hobbit to safeguard it. 

Nobody would have confused a Hobbit for a fierce warrior, able to protect something so sought after by powerful dark forces.

If you’ve read the books or seen the movies, you naturally wonder why Gandalf, who is a wizard doesn’t destroy the ring? Or why the battle hardened Dwarves or Elves aren’t tasked to make the journey?

There are times when Frodo wants others to take the ring and finish the journey so he can go back home to his Hobbit hole in the shire, but as Zahnd points out, Gandalf and the elven queen Galadriel refuse to take the ring because they know how corrupting power can be. 

It is true that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Anonymous quote shared by Zahnd, p. 94)

There are very few times in the history of the world when power is used wisely and with humility. 

It usually begins with pure motives, but the problem is that we can so easily convince ourselves that it is in the best interest of everyone that WE take up power so that it doesn’t get taken up by other, more nefarious people. 

And it’s in the holding onto power that we can so easily go from hero to villain - without the self-awareness to ask, “Am I still using this power for good?”

Even Frodo, a humble hobbit who resisted taking the Ring of Power succumbs towards the end of the journey to the temptation to hold onto it when it was time to let it go.

Zahnd points out that the only one who was able to let go of the Ring of Power was Frodo’s right hand man and best friend, Samwise Gamgee. 

Zahnd quotes from the book the reason why Samwise was able to resist the temptation to keep the Ring… 

“In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped him most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” (P. 96)

Samwise was content with his little garden in the shire. He valued his friendship with Frodo and didn’t want anything to come between them.

Samwise is the anti-Saruman, the once good wizard who was corrupted by his quest for the Ring. In trying to convince Gandalf to ally with him, Saruman says.. 

“But we must have power to order all things as we will, for that good that only the Wise can see.” (P. 96)

Saruman believed that having power was the only way to do good. Samwise proved that doing good is the best kind of power, and the only power that will win in the end.

Zahnd doesn’t hold back in his critique of Evangelical Christians who have gone off the deep end politically, who have bought the lie that in order for Christianity to succeed in America we need to have a strong-man, a bully in the White House who will fight for the church. 

The Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, Robert Jeffress, is quoted as saying, “I want the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-you-know-what I can find in that role, and I think that’s where many Evangelicals are.” (P. 99)

In response Zahnd writes, “When church leaders are longing for the meanest, toughest, S.O.B. To champion their cause, you know they have already been corrupted by the Ring of Power. The Ring of Power has an owner, and it can never be wielded freely.” (P. 99)

The church is growing the fastest in countries who don’t have a pro-Christian leader in office - in fact the church is most vibrant in places where Christianity is illegal, or at minimum, discouraged. 

Meanwhile here in America where we still have unprecedented freedom to worship and live as a Christian - the church is stale and in decline, and it’s not because a Democrat is in office. 

Jesus did say we would receive power - power to be his witnesses. The Greek word for witness is martyr. How does that sound? That’s not the kind of power that we want though!

Through the Holy Spirit we’ve been given the power to love, forgive, heal, and to endure all things.

We would do well to be like Samwise Gamgee, who, for love of our master hold firm and reject the lure of power. 

There’s only One who deserves and can be trusted with power - only One.

The One who gave up all power and became obedient to death on a cross. 

This One is our Lord, and example. 

“All those who exalt themselves will be humble, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Mt. 23:12)

That’s a promise. 

Amen!

You Can’t Handle the Truth! And neither can I.

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 8: What is Truth?

There are only three historical figures mentioned in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds. Two of them make sense - Jesus and Mary. The third is Pontius Pilate.

We declare that Jesus “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” (Apostle’s Creed)

It may seem odd, but Zanhnd reminds us that the mention of Pontius Pilate gives us a pin to point on the timeline of history for when Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead. The inclusion of Pilate in the creed grounds our faith in real history. When we talk about Jesus of Nazareth, we are not talking “once upon a time.” It’s not a fable. Jesus really lived on the earth, and he was sentenced to death by a Roman governor who is known by historical sources outside of the Bible. 

When the religious authorities hand Jesus over to Pilate, they do so hoping that Pilate will use his power to condemn Jesus to death, and certainly Pilate had that authority to make such judgments. 

It is crazy to think that the One who Pilot owes his existence to, would be condemned to die by Pilate. The Creator condemned to die by the created ones. That is a heavy thought.

Pilate wants to know if Jesus really is a king. If Jesus is a king, that’s no good for Pilate. Only the Roman authorities can grant that kind of power. King Herod was “king of the Jews” because Rome said he was. It was a messy political arrangement. 

Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (Jn. 18:36)

That’s all Pilate needed to hear - certainly enough to condemn him to death. 

“‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.”(Jn 18:37a)

“Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” (Jn. 18:37b)

Pilate then asks the question of all questions…

“What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38)

That question happens to be the title of Chapter 8.

Zahnd writes…

“Pilate’s truth is the lie that the world can only be arranged as a winner-take-all blood sport. Pilate’s truth is the lie that ruling the world through lethal power is noble and just. For Pilate the Roman cross is truth. Caesar sits atop the world because he commands the Roman legions and their capacity to inflict lethal violence. This is the only truth Pilate knows: the world is ruled by those who have the greatest capacity to kill - be it by Roman legions or by nuclear arsenals.” (Zahnd, p. 79)

Pilate had his truth, but Jesus came to testify to that which is really true.

In the post-modern age that we live in where truth is said to be relative, based upon individual preferences and feelings, the cross sheds light on the truth. 

Zahnd continues…

“Jesus came into the world to bear witness to the truth because the truth had been buried under a mountain of lies…and bodies. In his crucifixion Jesus became the mirror by which the world could see the truth about itself. When we look at the cross, we see the truth that we are not a world of righteousness and justice; we are a world that kills the innocent for the sake of power.” (Zahnd, p. 79)

Jesus’ death on the cross came to expose the lie that has been propagated over and over again by individuals, families, tribes, nations, empires and governments all through the history of the world - it’s the lie that says power is everything. 

It’s the lie that says “king of the hill” is the most important game to win. 

It’s the lie that says we must be suspicious of our neighbors and those who don’t look like us or speak like us. 

It’s the lie that says resources are scarce, and there’s only enough for our tribe. 

It’s the lie that flows from Cain that says, “the mighty are their brother’s conqueror, not their brother’s keeper.” (Zahnd, p. 79)

It’s the lie that empowered Pilate to say, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” (Jn. 19:10)

Jesus said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (Jn. 18:37b)

The truth is, Jesus is the way.

And his way is truth.

And his way is life. 

To say that “Jesus is the way” isn’t just something we say or believe so we can go to heaven when we die. Jesus’ way is a way of life. 

And we don’t have to wonder what that way of life looks like. Jesus tells us what the Kingdom way is…

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Mt. 5:3-12)

The truth is, Jesus is King of all who strive to live in these ways, imperfect as we are, nevertheless we are dedicated to this way. 

Zahnd closes his chapter with a scorcher of a quote from Miroslav Volf…

“Pilate deserves our sympathies, not because he was a good though tragically mistaken man, but because we are not much better. We may believe in Jesus, but we do not believe in his ideas, at least not his ideas about violence, truth, and justice.” (p. 82)

Ouch, and Amen.

A Wondrous Attraction for Me

“The Wood Between the Worlds” (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 7: A Grotesque Beauty

“At the cross we find the ugliness of human sin, but we also find the beauty of divine love - the beauty that saves the world.” (Zahnd, p. 68)

If all Zahnd wrote for this book was chapter 7, it would have been enough for me. Chapter 7 was worth the price of the whole book.

As Protestants, when we think of the cross, most of the time it is just two intersecting lines that have been cleaned up of any splinters, dents, dirt, sweat and blood. 

How easy it is to forget that the cross was a tool of execution used by the Roman Empire to utterly humiliate their enemies and assert their dominance?

It is indeed a strange phenomenon that an ancient tool of public execution has become synonymous with a religious movement.

To have been there on that day, to be a face in the crowd, whether you knew Jesus or not, and to watch the whole thing from the mocking, to the beating, the whipping, the stripping, the parade through the streets, and finally to the securing of the body to a wooden structure with nails through the wrists and feet - would have been horrendous. 

A few years ago, some Al Qaeda militants captured some Christians and released videos of beheading them after they refused to recant their faith. The videos were released before the current era of Social Media platforms that would immediately tag and ban the videos before being published. 

Just looking at still photos of the masked militants with their machetes getting ready to behead their prisoners makes me sick to this day. 

In her book, “The Crucifixion,” Fleming Rutledge writes…

“The cross is irreligious because no human being individually or human beings collectively would have projected their hopes, wishes, longings, and needs onto a crucified man.” (p. 75)

We are so far removed from the era of public crucifixions that we just don’t understand how scandalous it was for someone who claimed to be the Messiah to be killed on a Roman cross. 

The Romans had many ways to kill people, but they reserved crucifixion for the lowest of low - for slaves, outcasts, and the those who didn’t matter enough to be killed by beheading or some other quick execution. 

Rutledge writes, “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God. The crucifixion is so familiar to us, and so moving, that it is hard to realize how unusual it is as an image of God.” (Rutledge, The Crucifixion, p. 75)

And yet we sing about the cross…

“O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me”

The majority of Protestant churches have a cross prominently displayed somewhere in their building. There is no shortage of crucifixes in Catholic and Orthodox churches worldwide. 

How did something so ugly become an object of beauty and admiration?

Zahnd writes…

“The transformation of the Roman cross from an abhorrent symbol of death into a beautiful symbol of love is a testament to the redeeming power of Christ. If the cross can be saved, the world can be saved. If the crucifixion can be made beautiful, all things can be made beautiful. The hope we have for the healing of a world marred by sin and death is that God makes all things beautiful in his time (Eccl. 3:11).” (p. 68)

The cross is beautiful because it conveys Good News to the world. Paul the Apostle writes, “God demonstrated his love for us in this way, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom, 5:8). 

This message is compelling, and it is what changes hearts. There is nothing in this world more beautiful than sacrificial love - and Jesus went first.

Sadly, there is a disconnect for some Christians who only look to the cross as something that benefits them personally, instead of seeing the cross as a summons to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. 

Some Christians use the message of the cross to beat people up with guilt and shame instead of looking to the cross as a model for how we ought to serve our neighbors - not looking to our own interests.

I love Zahnd’s words at the close of the chapter…

“The cruciform is to be our posture within the world. We are to be present in society, not with the clenched fist of anger, not with the wagging finger of shame, not with the pointing finger of accusation, but with arms outstretched in imitation of our crucified Lord. When we become angry and arrogant accusers, we become ugly. We take on the hideous form of satan. But when we enact cruciform love, when we ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom. 13:14), we begin to reflect his beauty into the world. To the extent that our posture is cruciform is the extent to which we possess the attractive nature of Christ.” (p. 71)

Behold the cross, in all its scandal, in all its gore, in all its shame… take it in…don’t try to sanitize it. 

Jesus says to you… “aint’ no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from you!”

Paul the Apostle said it this way…

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-35, 37-39)

That’s beautiful ain’t it?!

Amen, and Amen!

Lent: Day 6 …And to Know this Love Surpasses Knowledge

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 6: A Love Supreme

We attended a church during my late childhood and early pre-teen years that had a picture hanging on the wall in the restroom. It was a picture of Jesus on the cross with these words… “I asked Jesus, ‘How much do you love me?’ ‘This much,’ he answered. Then he stretched out his arms and died.” (The picture above is not the exact image, but you get the idea)

There are a lot of ways that we can interpret what happened on the cross, but somehow one of the most popular thoughts about why Jesus had to die on the cross goes like this… “God was mad at sinners, but instead of taking out his anger on us, he took out his anger on his son.”

If the first thought that comes to mind when we think of the cross is that of God’s wrath or anger, I would suggest our understanding of the Gospel is incomplete. 

It would be a mistake for us to separate God’s wrath from his love. The Apostle John wrote, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). If God is love then we have to say that God’s wrath against sin isn’t a split in God’s personality, but more like an expression of his love for the world.

Whenever I see someone post on social media about a friend or family member who has been diagnosed with cancer, inevitably there will be at least one post about cancer (but usually more than one) that includes a 4-letter expletive… **** cancer! I’ve been there. I’ve said it myself. We’re all so tired of seeing our friends and loved one’s lives turned upside down by this disease.

When we verbally curse cancer in the heat of the moment, we are directing our anger at the cancer, not the person. We hate the disease, not the person who has been struck by the disease. 

I like to think about God’s wrath against sin as similar to a doctor’s determination to heal their patient of cancer. The treatments and the surgeries are all aimed at the cancerous cells, and even though those cells are attached to and belong to an individual, the doctor is laser focused on getting rid of those cancer cells, and preserving everything else. 

God’s wrath against sin can’t be anything other than an expression of his love for people - his beloved creation. God’s wrath is against the disease, not the person. 

Think about it like an organ donor. Sin infected the human heart. We were snake bitten in Eden. We needed a heart transplant. We were incapable of healing ourselves. None of us asked to be born into a broken and sinful world, and yet we all have freely and willfully participated in this broken and sinful world. 

Another picture on the wall of the church was from John 3:16.

“For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

On the cross, God in Christ provided a spiritual blood transfusion, clearing up our soul-sepsis.

Zahnd’s title for chapter 6 is “A Love Supreme.”

The cross is the clearest picture of God’s love, and when we say God, we are saying Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Zahnd writes, 

“When we speak of the suffering love on display at the cross, we must be careful not to isolate this suffering in the Son of God alone. There are some theologies of the cross that make the mistake of imagining the Father as entirely aloof and impassible to the suffering of the Son. Or worse, there are atonement theologies that posit the Father as the source of the Son’s suffering. This is paganized soteriology at its worst. The Father is not the one who inflicts pain and suffering on the Son.” (Zahnd, p. 59)

The Father wasn’t looking away in anger. He wasn’t afraid of getting cooties. He didn’t make the Son do what he didn’t want to do.

“God was IN Christ reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Cor. 5:19)

If at anytime we feel like we have a firm grasp or understanding of the depths of God’s love revealed at the cross - think again. Then think again. And again. And again.

We can ponder the depths of God’s love for the rest of our short lives, and never scratch the surface. 

Meditate upon the words to my favorite hymn, “The Love of God”…

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

and were the skies of parchment made;

were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill,

and ev’ry man a scribe by trade;

to write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry;

nor could the scroll contain the whole,

though stretched from sky to sky. 

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure—

the saints’ and angels’ song.

Paul said it this way…

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19)

…And to know that this love surpasses knowledge.

Amen, and Amen!

Lent: Day 5 Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 5: The Road of Discipleship 

Growing up, my favorite Bible verse was Mark 8:34…

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’”

Prior to saying this to his disciples, Peter had an all-star moment when he declared that Jesus is the Messiah. It’s a big moment for Peter, but we find out quickly that Peter’s thoughts about who the Messiah is, and what he will do, is not in line with what the Messiah actually came to do.

For Jesus’ disciples, the Messiah was going to come and save Israel from Roman occupation, and reclaim Jerusalem for God. The disciples probably expected that at some point Jesus would gather a large crowd and lead a revolt on Jerusalem. 

Immediately after Peter’s “good confession” Mark writes, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” (Mk. 8:31).

Peter rebuked Jesus. What is this talk of suffering, being rejected, and dying? Now is not the time to project weakness. This is not how you win. This not how you gain power and control.

Jesus replied to Peter (while also looking at the other disciples)…

“‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’” (Mk. 8:33)

When Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness, Satan tempted him to take a shortcut to power. He wanted Jesus to be arrogant about being the Son of God, saying…“If you are the Son of God… turn these stones into bread…throw yourself down from this high point and see if your Father doesn’t rescue you.” (Mt. 4)

Lastly, Satan says, “If you bow down before me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world” (Mt. 4:8-9).

Satan knew just as well as Jesus, that the only way to exaltation is through humility and sacrifice.

The way to life is the way of the cross. 

Instead of calling the shots for himself, Jesus trusted in his Abba all the way. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Mt. 26:39)

When Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him, he is asking us to trust him even if following him leads us to a cross. For Jesus’ disciples, and many Christians over the last two thousand years, the cross wasn’t just a metaphor for being inconvenienced or being uncomfortable. Sadly, that is what it has come to mean for American Christians.

Regarding American Christians in particular, Zahnd writes… “The loss of memory regarding martyrs is a particular form of Protestant poverty. But this is what happens when a theology of glory eclipses a theology of the cross” (Zahnd, p. 48).

We would rather know the names and stories of Christians in scripture and throughout church history who were victorious against the odds, instead hearing about all of the martyrs who gladly suffered with and for Jesus.

One such martyr that Zahnd writes about in this chapter is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who is probably the most well known martyr over the last hundred years. Dietrich was an influential German Pastor during WWII who refused to pledge allegiance to Hitler and the Nazi’s, and he lost his life because of it. Thankfully, Bonhoeffer wrote sermons, letters, and books that continue to challenge us today. The most well-known of Bonhoeffer’s books is titled, “The Cost of Discipleship.”

Bonhoeffer writes…

“To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering and rejection for the sake of Christ…But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between ordinary human life and a life committed to Christ.” (Bonhoeffer, shared by Zahnd, p. 48)

Bonhoeffer warns against cheap grace, which is “Grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.” (Bonhoeffer shared by Zahnd, p. 49)

For many Christians this looks like believing in Jesus primarily for afterlife benefits, while avoiding anything that might resemble a cross - be it persecution, ridicule, threats, humility, and vulnerability. 

Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to tempt him to bypass the cross on the way to glory. 

Years later, Peter would pen these words…

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14)

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said…

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Mt. 5:11-12)

Rejoice and be glad.

Amen.

Lent: Day 4 Where is God in Suffering?

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 4: God On the Gallows

As we get started it would be appropriate to define the word omnipotence. It means “the quality of having unlimited or very great power.”

“A God who is only omnipotent is in himself and incomplete being, for he cannot experience helplessness and powerlessness. Omnipotence can indeed be longed for and worshiped by helpless men, but omnipotence is never loved; it is only feared. What sort of being, then, would be a God who was only ‘almighty”? He would be a being without experience, a being without destiny and a being who is loved by no one. A man who experiences helplessness, a man who suffers because he loves, a man who can die, is therefore a richer being than an omnipotent God who cannot suffer, cannot love and cannot die.” (Jurgen Moltmann, shared by Zahnd, p. 42)

Zahnd begins the chapter by talking about one of the most, if not THE most formidable challenge to the idea of a God who is all-loving and all-powerful at the same time. 

The question often goes, “If God is all-loving and all-powerful why doesn’t he stop people from being murdered, children from starving to death, or masses of people from being wiped out from natural disasters, wars, famines, disease?”

This is the question that is probably most responsible for keeping many people from believing in God, and I hope you can understand why. We shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss concerns and questions from people around us. 

During Bible college (2004-2009) one of my assigned textbooks was “Satan and the Problem of Evil” by Greg Boyd. I had to read it and write a book report on it. It may have been the largest and most robust theological book I had ever read up to that point. In it, Greg addresses the problem at hand. How can God be all-loving and all-powerful and there still be human suffering in the world?

Greg suggests that in order for true love to exist, humans must have free will. If we were only robots, whose every choice was pre-planned and pre-determined, would we be capable of experiencing true love - for God and one another? If God determined everything before hand, including those who worship him, and those who reject him, could we say that those who worship him, truly love him if they don’t have a choice?

If your spouse were programmed to love you, would it be true love? Would you be satisfied with that kind of love? No, because it would be like a Roomba just doing what it is programmed and told to do. It isn’t cleaning your house because it loves you. Boyd suggests that true love requires risk - the risk of being rejected. If the risk of rejection is not present, we are talking about something other than love. 

God created a world where human beings have the freewill to choose God’s good way or their own - which is the cause of most human suffering. Love is not possible without the risk of rejection and rebellion. 

To me, this best explains how suffering exists in a world created by a God who is all-loving and all-powerful. 

But this doesn’t answer the question of where God is when we suffer. Is he far off, is he close by, is he watching, and does he notice?

Again, there are many who have rejected faith in God because they would say if God exists, he must not be good if he is nowhere to be found when people suffer. 

Zahnd shares a powerful story of a Holocaust survivor named Elie Wiesel. He was the only one from his family who survived. His father died in the bunk above him after taking a horrific beating. Wiesel shares this story in a book that he wrote, titled “Night”. He writes, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.”

Wiesel talks about all the prisoners being forced to walk by the gallows to look at the victims as they were dying. On one particular occasion, there were three victims - two adults who had already died, and one young boy was fighting for his life for thirty minutes. 

Wiesel writes, “He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is He? Here He is - He is hanging there on this gallows.”

Where is God in suffering? Take a look at the cross, and you will find him. On the cross, Jesus not only suffered for our sins, but suffered with every person who will ever suffer in this life. 

In response to what Moltmann writes about a God who is only omnipotent, Zahnd writes…

“Such is not the Christian God - for our God loves and suffers and is only fully known as God in the crucified Son of Man. In the crucified one we find the suffering God who helps us endure our own suffering and to find meaning in what threatens to be meaningless suffering…Christian faith confesses that somehow the boy with the face of a sad angel hung upon Nazi gallows is taken up into the suffering of Christ and healed. The boy is not abandoned, he is not left alone, he is not left unhealed.” (Zahnd, p. 42)

While living in a world where suffering is prevalent, here is the great Christian hope:

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.’” (Mt. 19:28-30)

I love Jesus words, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things…” 

The Greek word for “renewal of all things” is “palingenesia” which in essence means Genesis again, a return to the beginning, paradise again, paradise reborn. 

At the end of this age, Jesus will come back to make all things new (Rev. 21:5). Heaven and earth will be united. All the wrongs will be righted. Justice will be served once, and for all, and Jesus will be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28). 

At the coming of Jesus, all who were last, will be first. All who were trampled on will be picked up. All who were abused will be treated with honor. All orphans will be brought home. All the hungry will have a seat at God’s table. All who were taken advantage of will receive back what they lost a hundred times over.

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:16-17). 

Zahnd writes…

“When we see Christ in agony upon the cross, we see a suffering God who refuses to allow his beloved creatures to suffer alone…As Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, prior to himself being hanged upon Nazi gallows, ‘Only the suffering God can help.’” (P. 41)

Take heart beloved, God is near.

Amen. 

Lent: Day 3 What Does God Look Like?

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

chapter 3: God Revealed in Death

“And what is the climactic, definitive moment of God’s self revelation in Christ? It is the central event in the gospel story - the crucifixion. The crucifixion is the pinnacle of divine self-disclosure. Jesus told the crowds in the temple, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am (John 8:28)…When we behold Christ crucified, we can say this is exactly what God is like! Being disguised under the disfigurement of an ugly crucifixion and death, Christ upon the cross is paradoxically the clearest revelation of who God is.” (Zahnd, p. 28)

Zahnd begins chapter 3 by referring to some of the most well known god’s of the ancient world and how they have been depicted in art through the centuries. Most of the ancient cultures had hundreds, if not thousands of gods, but they also had their “Supreme Deity” over all other gods. Take a look…

Egyptian sun god, Ra

Babylonian god of thunder, Marduk

Zoroastrian (Persian) god, Ahura Mazda

Canaanite god of storms and fertility, Baal

Greek god of gods, Zeus

What does our God look like? The blonde hair, blue-eyed Jesus doesn’t give off the “King of kings, and Lord of lords” look, does it?

For many Christians, the preferred image of God is the description of Jesus in Revelation 19 - Riding on a white horse, eyes of fire, sword coming out of his mouth, and a robe dipped in blood. That sounds fierce enough.

We prefer our God to look more like a lion than a lamb, let alone a lamb that was slain.

There’s an interesting scene in Revelation 5 when John is told to look at the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but when he looks, he sees something other than a lion… “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne…” (Rev. 5:6)

John heard a song being sung in the throneroom of heaven, a song of victory that makes me wonder whose blood is on the robe of the rider on the white horse.

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev. 5:9-10, 12)

What if the cross isn’t a momentary defeat nullified by the resurrection? What if the image of Jesus on the cross is supposed to be THE picture of God in His most glorious moment, and the clearest revelation of who God is? We don’t have to wonder. We need only see what Jesus says about it.

After Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as recorded in John 12, the disciples and others in the crowd thought that this was the beginning of Jesus’ rise to power. Some visiting Greeks were in town for the Passover feast, and they asked the disciples to take them to see Jesus.

Look at what Jesus says when a group of adoring fans approach him…

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds…Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!…Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.” (John 12:23-24, 27-28, 31-33)

In John 13 during the last supper, as time was coming to a close and Judas had already left to meet up with the religious leaders and Roman soldiers, Jesus tells the disciples, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.” (John 13:31-32)

I am wondering if we (Protestants) shouldn’t be so quick to take Jesus off the cross. Perhaps we should take a longer look instead of rushing to the empty tomb. Indeed, without the empty tomb, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is just a tragic injustice against a really good man. It’s precisely because he rose from the dead that the cross isn’t a momentary set back, but it is the very reason that angels in heaven and all creation sings out, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Rev. 5:12)

Paul suggests in Philippians 2 that the reason why Jesus was given the name that is above every other name, and the reason why every knee will bow, in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord is because…Jesus…

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

Jesus took no shortcut to glory. When men mocked him with a crown of thorns, he was THEN crowned as King of kings, and Lord of Lords!

What does it mean that God looks like a lamb who was slain?

“To see Christ upon the cross is to see into the very depths of the heart of God. Where once in our distant pagan past we imagined there lurked monstrous intent threatening harm, we now discover there is only tender compassion. On the cross we encounter a God who would rather die than kill his enemies. When we look through the riven side of Christ into the heart of God, we gaze upon a vast cosmos filled with galaxies of grace.” (Zahnd, p. 33)

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13)

Amen! Amen!

Lent: Day 2 The Good in Good Friday

The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)

Chapter 2: The Singularity of Good Friday

“The cross is not what God inflicts in order to forgive; the cross is what god in Christ endures as he forgives. This is essential an essential and enormous clarification! At the cross the Son does not act as an agent of change upon the Father. Orthodox theology has always insisted that God is not subject to change or mutation. Rather, God is immutable. Thus the cross is not where Jesus changes God but where Jesus reveals God. On Good Friday Jesus does not save us from God; Jesus reveals God as Savior! We don’t have to imagine the son pacifying an angry Father in order to understand Good Friday as the epicenter of forgiveness.” (Zahnd, p. 16)

The above quote has been one of the most influential revelations that I have come to understand about the cross over the last 5ish years, maybe a little more. My understanding of things was that before the cross, God the Father was angry and unwilling to forgive, but after the cross He became loving, and full of grace and mercy.

The problem when we have a BC (before Christ) and AD (after death) God is that it does great damage to the Trinity, separating the Father from Jesus on the cross because “God can’t look upon sin” as some would say (but somehow Jesus can take sin of the world upon himself). Some would point to the words of Jesus on the cross when he quotes Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” as proof that there was a moment when the Father turned away from Jesus on the cross. The problem with this theory is that it doesn’t take into account what Psalm 22 actually says.

Psalm 22 was THE primary Messianic Psalm of Jesus’ day. It would have been at the top of the charts, if they had charts. To quote the first line was to quote the entire Psalm. It would be like if I walked into a karaoke bar and sang, “Blame it all on my roots…” The crowd would respond with, “I showed up boots…” Pick any number of well known and popular songs where all you need to do is play the first few notes or sing the first line and everyone knows the song.

When Jesus quotes Psalm 22, the Jewish people standing around the foot of the cross would would have immediately began to think through the words to this Psalm…

But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
 All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him. (v. 6-8)

Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment. (v. 12-18)

Think of the crucifixion scene. Jesus was mocked and insulted by the Romans, and even a criminal next to him. They wondered if he was able to do so many miracles, why he wasn’t able to save himself. When the spear was thrust through his side, blood and water flowed out from him. He was extremely dehydrated after the loss of so much blood and body fluids. The lacerations on his body no doubt revealed many of his bones. His hands and feet were pierced. To top it off, verse 18 is exactly what Luke records in 23:34.

This man hanging on the cross was not claiming that God had forsaken him, but rather as it says in verse 24…

For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

God the Father was not standing far off, looking the other way while Jesus was suffering on the cross. Paul says that “God was IN Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). John writes in Revelation about “the Lamb (who) was slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8)

Jesus entered into human history and hung on a cross on a particular day in time. But what was true about God’s love for sinners and His willingness forgive after the cross, was just as true before the cross. Jesus came to reveal who the Father was and is, not change how the Father thought about us. Jesus reveals the love of the Father to us, He didn’t need to twist the Father’s arm with his death on the cross. The Hebrew author writes, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (Heb. 1:3). Paul writes, “The Son is the image of the invisible God…” (Col. 1:15).

As Brian Zahnd often says…

“God is like Jesus.
God has always been like Jesus.
There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus.
We have not always known what God is like—
But now we do.”

On the cross we see clearly who God is - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God is GOOD.

All the time.

Amen.

Lent: Day 1

Here we go!!!! I’ve been looking forward to digging into Pastor Brian Zahnd’s book, “The Wood Between the Worlds” since I heard about it back in 2023.

If you want to read along with me, click the button below to download a schedule of the daily readings. My hope is to write a post everyday (except Sunday) sharing a quote from the book with some brief thoughts.

“The meaning of the cross is not singular, but kaleidoscopic. Each turn of a kaleidoscope reveals a new geometric image. This is how we must approach our interpretation of the cross - through the eyepiece of a theological kaeleidoscope. That the word kaleidoscope is a Greek word meaning ‘beautiful form’ makes this all the more apropos. I believe it is safe assume there are an infinite number of ways of viewing the cross of Christ as the beautiful form that saves the world.” (Brian Zahnd, Prelude, p. 3)

The dominant view of the cross that I grew up with is called (within theological circles) “Penal Substitutionary Theory.” In essence, this theory of the atonement says that Jesus dies to satisfy God’s wrath against sin. Stephen D. Morrison says it this way, “Jesus is punished (penal) in the place of sinners (substitution) in order to satisfy the justice of God and the legal demand of God to punish sin.” This was the only way I had come to understand what Jesus did on the cross. I had no idea there were other ways of understanding the scope of the cross until sometime during Seminary, and even then I was reluctant to give ear to other ideas or theories (i.e. Christus Victor, Moral Influence, Ranson Theory, Satisfaction Theory, Governmental Theory, Scapegoat Theory). As I read some theologians who preferred one or the other, I mistakenly thought that I had to choose one, whichever one I believed to be the most Biblically accurate atonement theory, and most of the theologians I read preferred theories other than the Penal Substitutionary Theory.

It wasn’t until I read Fleming Routledge’s masterpiece, “The Crucifixion,” during the Lenten season of 2023 that I came to an understanding that the atonement theories don’t have to compete against one another, but rather they are most helpful if we see them as singular pixels in a larger, much larger picture. Seen together, understanding the cross is as Zahnd describes, more like looking into a kaleidoscope. He says it well in Chapter 1 (titled The Wood Between the Worlds) “I won’t try to ‘sum up’ what the cross means, as doing so would be to treat the cross dismissively. Instead, I want to muse on the deep mystery of the cross. Rather than searching for a final word, I seek an eternal recurrence of holy awe.”

Each of the 19 chapters in Zahnd’s book is like turning the kaleidoscope 19 times for a different contemplation of the cross.

“The cross of Christ is the wood between the worlds. There is the world that was, and the world to come, and in between those two worlds is the wood upon which the Son of God was hung.” (Zahnd, Ch. 1, p. 10)

I pray that during our journey through Lent we would be content to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified.

Grace & Peace,

Lenten Book Study 2024

During the season of Lent I am going to read through Pastor Brian Zahnd’s new book, “The Wood Between the World: A Poetic Theology of the Cross” and John Mark Comer’s book, “Practicing the Way: Be With Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did”.

I Invite you to read along with me. I plan to write a short blurb and quote from each day’s reading right here on the website, as well as on the Extremely Moderate Christian Facebook page. I would love it if you shared your thoughts and favorite quotes as well.

Sundays are not counted in the season of Lent, so the two books will be divided into 38 days. We’ll finish two days early, so you have a couple of buffer days to work with. Sundays are a free day, so you can either take a break from reading or use it as a catch-up day. On average we will read 10 pages a day through Zahnd’s book, and 12 pages a day through Comer’s book. This is very doable, and I know you will have some days that you’ll want to keep on reading. You are welcome to keep reading or structure your schedule however you wish, but you can see or download the schedule I will be following here.

I hope you have a blessed Lenten season, as you seek to draw nearer to Jesus. I look forward to hearing your insights as we go through these books together.

Grace & Peace to you! ><> Ben

Big Bang Confessional

This is a a post that I wrote in 2015. After some editing and updates, I am sharing this on Earth Day 2021 in the hopes that we would make space for our differences in theology, and praise God from whom all blessings flow. May we be faithful and earnest stewards of the gifts that we have been given.

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During my first pastorate in Indiana, I had a dear friend and mentor named John. He was a retired minister with an incredible knowledge of God’s word, theology, philosophy, and music to go along with a brilliant machinist and engineering mind.

At first, John was a bit intimidating to me. I imagined him to be one that would take notes on my sermons and refute me on every point. John was a burly man with a loud, booming voice who didn’t have a hard time confronting someone whether it was over incorrect theology, politics, etc.

John and I struck up a good friendship over many breakfast visits. I don’t know if he was just taking it easy on me, but even when he disagreed on a sermon point, he would often hear my rebuttal and then find some way to point out our common ground.

John became one of my biggest supporters while ministering there. He went to be with Jesus in 2015, but I will never forget him and I hope to one day be the same kind of influence on a young minister.

One morning at breakfast, while talking about the wonders of creation, John began to slowly begin a confession, as if I was a priest and the booth we were sitting in was a confessional booth. He was very slow with his words and hesitated to even say it. He confessed that at one point in his life, he vehemently defended a view of creation that believed the earth was 6,000-10,000 years old. He confessed to reading many science magazines and periodicals and had settled on the opinion that the earth was millions of years old, and the universe billions of years old and that there were no inconsistencies with that belief and the creation account in Genesis.

I was expecting a confession of another kind. Something of a darker nature. Something including tears.

He admitted this new theological position cautiously, almost as if he was committing some act of heresy or denouncing Christianity altogether.

I was admittedly relieved that he held such a position because I was beginning to question my own life-long belief that the earth could only be thousands of years old.

I grew up hearing from good and faithful Bible teachers that the only view a Christian could hold concerning creation was one where Genesis chapters 1 and 2 were understood literally.

In High School, I loved biology, and earth and space science classes. On tests, I would write the answer that I knew the teacher was looking for, and then in the margins, write down the “Sunday school answers.”

Honestly, I thought that if I deviated from a belief of a literal 6 day, 24 hour creation period, I would go to hell. That is more of a product of the religious environment and mentality that I grew up around than any individual Sunday School teacher or my parents telling me I would go to hell for such a thought.

John cautioned me about being too vocal about believing in an “old earth” and just preach the gospel.

I couldn’t agree more.

Years later in Bastrop, while teaching the adult Sunday School class, I outed myself as no longer believing that a right view of creation (whether young earth or old earth) is an essential view by which we draw lines of what makes one a disciple of Jesus.

Oftentimes, it is said of those who believe in an old earth, that they can’t possibly take the Bible seriously if Genesis 1 & 2 is not literal. But in truth, the belief by Christians that the earth is millions of years old is not new. The consensus of the church through the ages on this matter is not as conclusive as some would have us believe.

At the end of the day, this is where I stand. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 is about WHO, not HOW.

Let me leave you with this quote from www.biologos.org, a website of committed and faithful Christians who whole-heartedly confess the Lordship of Jesus, his death on the cross, and resurrection while also holding the view that God created the universe and earth over millions and billions of years,

“While Christians differ on their views of the age of the earth and evolution, we all agree on the essentials of the faith: that all people have sinned and that salvation comes only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We agree that the God of our salvation is the same God we see in the wonders of his creation. Whether we ponder the intricacy of DNA, the beauty of a dolphin, or the vastness of the Milky Way, we can lift our hearts together in praise to the divine Artist who made it all.”

Billy Graham. Remember him? Listen to his words on creation.

“The Bible is not a book of science. The Bible is a book of Redemption, and of course, I accept the Creation story. I believe that God did create the universe. I believe that God created man, and whether it came by an evolutionary process and at a certain point He took this person or being and made him a living soul or not, does not change the fact that God did create man. … whichever way God did it makes no difference as to what man is and man’s relationship to God.”

The Apostles Creed, the earliest statement of belief by Christians that was recited by new Christians before their baptism simply says, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth.” It is the WHO of creation that we believe in and confess. The rest of it, whether young earth or old earth, we can stand back in awe every time that we see Christ in creation. Christ is all and in all. Amen.

I am open to correspondence. Email me at blhitzy@gmail.com for further discussion.

Grace & Peace,
Ben

Sources
Collins, F. S. (2007). The language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief. New York: Free Press.

http://biologos.org/common-questions/christianity-and-science/biologos-id-creationism

Keeping Christ in Christ...ian

The following post was written in 2015. It is Still true. And it is perfect to share on this Gaudete (rejoice) Sunday.

This past weekend at my monthly Army Reserve battle assembly, I was saying goodbye to fellow soldiers and wishing them “Happy Holidays”. One soldier jokingly, yet sternly replied, “It’s Merry CHRISTmas sir!”

Oh yes. I know. Jesus is the reason for the season. At least for me, He is. And I really get into it. I love Advent and Christmas time! It is two of my favorite seasons on the church calendar. Preaching on the themes of advent and the incarnation – or God becoming flesh and coming to be with us, fills my heart with joy.

Hanging lights up on the house is symbolic for me. As I spent time (like 3 weeks) untangling the lights, stringing the trees, tracing the roof line, and running power cords all over the yard – my mind was fixed with the words in the Gospel of John,

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (v. 4-5)

There is a method to my decorating madness. It may just be a house to “oooh and ahhhh” at for families driving through the neighborhood, but for me, those lights are a vivid reminder of the beauty of light in the darkness. Perhaps other people think the same thing, but I am sure for many others, seeing my lights does not equate to a life changing religious experience.

You see, there is no possible way that I can force the joy of the light of Christ upon anyone. Joy is not something that we can force upon other people.

The Good News of Jesus birth and ultimate death and resurrection is not a message to be forced on people.

Ever heard of the Crusades?

Yeah. Not a bright spot in the history of Christianity.

Every year there are memes going around on Facebook like the one below.

I can’t help but ask: Who is being told they can’t say Merry Christmas?

I mean honestly?

Taking down a manger scene at the courthouse is not an attack on your faith and right to believe that Jesus is the reason for the season.

The cashier at the store wishing you happy holidays is not an attack on your faith and right to believe.

It just isn’t.

It is simply coming to terms that we live in country where people are free to worship whatever god they choose or even live as if there is no god.

I am fine with that.

If someone wishing you “happy holidays” is an attack on your faith, then I would dare suggest that we take a step back for some much needed perspective.

While Christians in America are occupied with protecting “Christmas”, Christians in other parts of the world where it is actually illegal to be a Christian are growing in numbers much faster than the American church.

And it’s not because “Merry Christmas” is the official greeting of the holiday season.

The cries and the claims of persecution and mistreatment of Christians in America really needs to stop.

The story of Jesus’ birth should clue us in to the reality of what to expect in this world as followers of Jesus.

God quietly slipped into this world. His own people were unaware of his arrival. There was no red carpet rolled out for Mary and Joseph when they entered Bethlehem. On the night of his birth, the lowest of the low, shepherds, were the only ones to greet and worship the new born king. No special accommodations were made for Jesus and his family, and that is just the way He planned it. It was not by accident that a feeding trough was only place to lay the little Lord Jesus.

Keeping Christ in Christmas has more to do with how we live, than it has to do with how other people live.

I don’t need everyone to hear me say I’m a Christian but I need everyone to see Christ in me. – Nishan Panwar

Some Christians just don’t exude a lot of joy this time of year – or any part of the year for that matter (and I certainly have a part in that).

We forget that Christ promised to exalt the humble – not the powerful – not the majority – not the ones in charge – not the ones calling the shots.

Keeping Christ in Christmas means doing what a growing number of Christians are already doing – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned, defending the defenseless,  and taking care of the widows and orphans – among many other things.

Lets be honest. We are the ones who take Christ out of Christmas.

Joy is infectious. It is not forced.

May our lives be something beautiful. May our lives be like light that shines in the darkness.

May we live in such a way that gives people a reason to believe that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Whatever you are celebrating this year, may it bring you peace and joy to you, and yours.

Now is Not the Time for Moderation

I realize the title of this blog post is at odds with the name of my personal website. I thought up the idea of being an extremely moderate Christian a few years ago. I thought it was clever, and a way to describe who I am as a person of faith but also as an Enneagram 9 (Peacemaker).

A few years ago while attending seminary, I read MLK Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” I don’t know about you, but I have read many quotes from Dr. King over the years that I would describe as “safe” or “inspirational” for the white person who wants to seem well-read or at the very least wade in the shallow end of the civil rights movement.

For instance…

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Or…

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

And again…

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

How about one more?

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

These are quotes that make good fridge magnets or a decorative wall piece from Hobby Lobby. I have sprinkled these and many other MLK Jr. quotes into my sermons over the last 10 years. Most of the time, I see people nodding in agreement, or hear an amen or two (we don’t say amen very often in white Protestant congregations…so that’s a big deal!). These quotes are the ones that, as a white man, I can share on social media and get a bunch of “likes,” some “hearts,” and a few general comments of solidarity.

Through the years in white Evangelical circles, MLK Jr. has been “whitewashed” (pun intended) and stripped of any quotes that confront our privilege that we would rather be ignorant about, or at least pretend to be ignorant about.

When talking about racism or civil rights, we try to keep things as generic as possible by saying things like, “All Lives Matter.” We bristle against the smallest hint of white guilt because after all, we have never owned a slave. We may have never harassed a person of color, told a racist joke or used a slur. Thus, you are barking up the wrong tree. We love all people. It is not difficult for us to affirm that black, brown, and tan persons were created in the image of God. You are preaching to the choir! We are against racism too. We don’t spend our free time with members of the KKK. And, don’t forget, we have blacks friends, so…

One of my assignments in seminary was to read MLK Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail (everyone should take the time to read it). It is addressed to King’s fellow clergy-folk, specifically white clergy who objected to the rampant racism and discrimination towards black people, but thought that Dr. King and other civil rights leaders ought to tone down their protests. Dr. King writes, “You may well ask: ‘Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth?’”

While protesting and marching in Birmingham, the local white clergy wanted Dr. King to try negotiating with city leaders, to give them time respond and act. Dr. King continues,

“For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’ We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights.”

As I read the entirety of Dr. King’s letter, I put myself in the shoes of the white clergy in Birmingham, AL, or in other parts of the south during this time in history. It is fairly easy to be a preacher in 2020 who preaches against racism every once in a while. It is not a controversial act to affirm the worth and dignity of black, brown, and tan peoples from the pulpit.

But if I was employed by a congregation in 1963, would I be more concerned about keeping the peace than doing the hard work of peace making? Making peace is not a passive wish or hope. It is not a prayer. It is not watching and agreeing with the struggle of others who are fighting for equality and justice. Dr. King didn’t need white preacher cheerleaders. He needed white clergy who were willing to march. Wiling to sit-in. Willing to resist. Willing to be put in handcuffs. Would the thought of having a mugshot published in the local paper be enough to keep me on the sidelines, hoping that everything just resolves itself over time?

The uncomfortable truth for me is that I don’t have to wonder what I would have done. The answer will be found in what I do right now in this tender moment. It has been a little over a week since the horrific murder of George Floyd and I am already battling those nagging little thoughts that tell me to keep the peace. Don't fan the flames. Call for cooler heads to prevail. Don’t rock the boat any more. If I am honest, I already deleted a Facebook post after receiving two snarky replies.

I may have not fared very well in 1963. But today, I refuse to be the kind of moderate that Dr. King said was the Negro’s stumbling block. I refuse to be the moderate who…

“…is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

Now is not the time for moderation in order to keep from offending someone who is tired of hearing it. For my white family, friends and colleagues who are tired of hearing it, tired of being asked to examine their privilege, tired of being lumped in with extremist hate groups, tired of social media posts and memes and ready to tune out all of the noise, consider for a moment that tuning out the noise is the kind of privilege that people of color do not have.

Now is not the time for moderation because we are uncomfortable. The message of the protests all around our nation is the culmination of hundreds of years of people of color being uncomfortable and crying out for justice and equality.

Now is not the time for moderation in order to get back to some kind of “negative peace” as Dr. King writes. Now is not the time to try and hide from the tension and quickly resolve it so that everything will go back to normal. Now is not the time to drown out the message of the protests by replacing it with good news and cute stories that make us feel good for a second. People of color are not feeling good. And that will not change if we go back to burying our heads in the sand.

Now is not the time for moderation because normal has rarely worked for our black, brown, and tan friends.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “the good old days”? I hear it all the time. “I wish we could just go back to the good old days”. The days of Leave it to Beaver, when people sat on their front porch, when Coca-Cola came in glass bottles, when “everyone” went to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Every time I hear someone talk about the “good old days,” I gently remind them that the “good old days” weren’t good for everyone.

Friends, now is not the time for moderation because we can’t wish ourselves back to better times for a select few. The only option available to us, is to work for a better day, right now, and a brighter future for those who will come tomorrow.

The work of creating “a more perfect union” is not set in stone in our past. It is the ever present, and immediate work that is before us today. This is the work of true Patriots - to sacrifice ourselves until America finally lives up her ideal of liberty and justice for ALL. Not just for people who look like us, worship like us, love like us, or live like us.

Now is not the time for moderation.

Thy reign and rule come, on earth, as it is in heaven.

Grace & Peace Beloved,
Ben ><>