During our annual 40-Day Spiritual Adventure, also known as the season of Lent, we are delving into a number of New Testament teachings about the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus. We’re calling this sermon series “Scandalous Good News: The Multifaceted Richness of the Cross.”
In seeking to explain what happened in the crucifixion, the New Testament writers drew from a kaleidoscopic trove of metaphors, analogies, and images from the Hebrew Scriptures, commerce, law, family life, and more. Brian Zahnd, in his book The Wood Between the Worlds, provides this lovely summary of the surplus of meanings found in the crucifixion of our Lord:
It’s the pinnacle of divine self-disclosure, the eternal moment of forgiveness, divine solidarity with human suffering, the enduring model of discipleship, the supreme demonstration of divine love, the beauty that saves the world, the re-founding of the world around an axis of love, the overthrow of the satan, the shaming of the principalities and powers, the unmasking of mob violence, the condemnation of state violence, the expose of political power… the sacrifice to end sacrificing… the healing center of the cosmos, the death by which death is conquered, the Lamb upon the throne… indeed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible revelation of who God is.
Recent Comments