What’s Going on at the Church
“Weighing Truth and Life”
In the last couple of weeks, we considered that retributive justice is not God’s way, and that Jesus’ death on the cross is about “showing the world how wrong its been about sin, and judgment, and suffering. In other words, Jesus’ life and death isn’t about God’s mind being changed about human beings, it’s about our minds being changed about God, and ourselves, and about what’s really good and evil. The following are some closing thoughts from Richard Rohr concerning the cross.
“The scapegoat mechanism, (sic: which is the largely unconscious human need to transfer our guilt onto something or someone else) which leads to our ability to hate ourselves in others and attack, is too seductive and too difficult for most people to recognize. It must be opposed anew by every generation and every culture. The kingdom of God is always a leaven, a remnant, a critical mass, who save us from ourselves for the sake of truth.
God is the ultimate nonviolent one, so we dare not accept any theory of salvation that is based upon violence, exclusion, social pressure, or moral coercion. When we do, these are legitimated as a proper way of life. God saves by loving and including not by excluding or punishing.
This God is calling every one and every thing, not just a few chosen ones to God’s self. (Gen. 8:16-17; Eph.1:9-10; Col. 1:15-20) To get everyone and every thing there, God first needs models and images who are willing to be conformed and transformed into the body of his resurrection. These are the “new creation” and their transformed state is still seeping into history, and ever so slowly transforming it into life, and life more abundantly. (John 10:10)
If we do not recognize that we ourselves are the problem, we will continue to make God the scapegoat – which is exactly what we did by killing Jesus on the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus – whom we see as the Son of God – was a devastating prophecy that humans would sooner kill God than change themselves. Yet, the God-Man suffers our rejection willingly so “something bigger can happen!“
Peace, Pastor Ed
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