Today is called 'Good Friday', but of course that is a bit of an ironic title, since it was certainly not a very good day for the one who brought about our redemption. Jesus suffered what unfortunately has been all too common throughout human history: intense (Christians would say THE most intense, because of its spiritual implications) torture at the hands of those who viewed violence as the vehicle by which power and order are maintained. While we recognize as Christians that Christ's death and resurrection are ultimately the most good news of all, we might also do well to take time, especially today, to reflect on what Christ's death has to say about the way we live and treat each other as human beings. Here is a quote from George Hunsinger, a theologian and professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, that I find quite valuable in this regard (thanks to Jeff Keuss for the quote!):
"The Christ who died in the throes of torture could not be held by the bonds of death. On Easter day, God said yes to Jesus and no to torture, yes to life and no to death. The means of terror were forever banned as instruments of peace. They did not have the last word for Jesus; they must not tempt Christians today. Jesus allowed himself to taste torture and death to disclose how abhorrent they are in God's sight. He terminates the resort to torture just as he brings an end to the law (Rom 10.4). His resurrection manifests a humility more resilient than vengeance, a faithfulness more powerful than fear, and a love that triumphs over death. The resurrection points to a hidden divine cunning in history, the power of an invincible forgiveness that will not rest until it reclaims the world."
3 comments:
I like how you start this with the irony of the title Good Friday. We talked about this (a little) in one of my classes today. We were discussing evil and pain and it was brought up that Jesus suffered lots of pain, but because of the pain He suffered there has been brought about a much greater good than what was possible without that pain (from the Christian perspective). Tis interesting to think about...
I also like the quote, and the contrast between torture, life, death, terror, humility and vengeance, faithfulness and fear, and love and death. Neat stuff! Also, the last line is wonderful, in my opinion :)
Not to get all what's his name up in here (yo, bro, love wins!) but what do you do with hell if "Jesus allowed himself to taste torture and death to disclose how abhorrent they are in God's sight"? Can Christians finally put that away or does that get held onto because of some technicality?
Well, I don't ever like speculating about hell, but let me just say this: I tend to hold to the view that a purely literal interpretation of Scripture is fraught with at least as many problems as a non-literal interpretation.
So, while recognizing that there is quite a bit of language regarding judgment and hell found in Scripture (and we must wrestle with that if we believe), I don't have a problem with saying that Christ and God may not desire that anyone end up 'in hell'. Whether that happens to a person or not seems to involve some responsibility on our part.
In other words, I think Jesus is far less concerned with *what* exactly hell may involve, and more concerned with directing people to be in relationship with God/himself. Any discussion of hell beyond this seems to me to be generally an exercise in either fear-mongering or navel-gazing.
After all, if we really believe "God will judge", then why be upset if, say, God decides that in the end no person is eternally tortured? I personally would welcome that outcome, if it were to be the case. And, since all of this takes place in a reality of which we can have no adequate conception, I don't like to make very many claims about it.
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