03-13-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 13, 2024
Last Sunday, I talked about Pressing the Reset Button in regard to our understanding of atonement. It was one of those sermons that deserved another 12-15 minutes of explanation, as it is a complicated subject and has a lot of history that is sort of lost in most churches today. So often, a certain aspect of our faith, or even a go-to line common among good Christian folk, is assumed to have been handed down from God to Moses and then to us. Of course, with much of the Christian faith, it is a bit more involved, and the pathway to our doorstep is a bit more convoluted. My ultimate hope in the sermon was to present how the church, for 2000 years, has had multiple explanations for why Jesus died and whether his death was a necessity from God’s standpoint. There were those who emphasized the payment of a debt that could only be paid by someone of equal stature to God. Jesus, as the incarnation of God, was the answer. There were those who spoke of God wanting to forgive humanity, but forgiveness without some penalty would not be just. For those making this argument, Jesus became the one who paid the penalty for all, which allowed God to remain just. Others went down the road of appeasing an angry and wrathful God. In a sense, Jesus took all of God’s anger and rage upon himself in his suffering on the cross. These and many other theories, along with strange combinations of some, are woven into the fabric of Christianity. If anything, my hope on Sunday was to point out three things: First, the different theories of atonement were often a product of the social and political settings in which they were developed. Second, there were many such theories, including some that were pushed aside for no other reason than that they did not help the church’s agenda at that moment in time. And third, for those who are troubled by the notion of an angry and vengeful God, there are other ideas that are, in fact, as old as some of the better-known theories. Christian theology is wonderfully perplexing and beautifully confusing, but I’m pretty sure that is a reflection of human beings trying to make sense of God’s immeasurable love that found its way into the world.

In whatever way people have tried to describe you, Lord God, I give thanks for the glimpses of your unconditional and relentless love. Amen.