A Word from Pastor Lisa: At the Cross
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
— Luke 23:33-34 (NRSV)
I still remember moments on youth trips and college retreats where we heard the crucifixion story in a darkened room. We sang music about Christ’s blood shed for us, whose personal sins had nailed Jesus to the cross. We were asked where we hoped to spend eternity. Then we were instructed to close our eyes and raise our hands if we accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, who died to save us from our sins and guarantee us eternal life in heaven. I shed a lot of tears in those moments, hoping my heart was right with God and praying for friends I feared weren’t.
Early in my Christian journey, I was shaped by a strong theology of personal sin and substitutionary atonement, which is the belief that Jesus died to pay for our sins in order to make us right with God. More than 20 years later, I recognize how damaging this theology can be. I would invite someone into relationship with Christ very differently – not based on personal sin, threats of hell, and separation from God, but in love and forgiveness. That doesn’t mean I ignore sin and brokenness; I define it much differently. “Sin means separation from God,” writes Anglican rector Martha Tatarnic in the most recent issue of The Christian Century. “The word refers to choices that individuals make to turn from God’s love. But it also refers to the more systemic brokenness of our human lives that leads us collectively to choose something less than God’s rule of love.”
Pastor Trey Ferguson adds that it’s “raggedy theology” when we limit sin to just the wrong things we’ve done and not the wrong way things are. “When we teach sin as the breaking of an infraction, we rob people of the fullness of who Jesus is,” he writes. So sin isn’t limited to our personal brokenness like hatred, lust, greed, and jealousy. It extends to our lack of care for the environment, our global pursuit of wealth in the midst of poverty, our failure to end senseless killings where justice isn’t served, and our unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Pastor Ferguson says that Jesus didn’t end up on a cross because a few people made mistakes. Jesus was sent to the cross because an entire society was unable to recognize Divine Love in their midst. And if Jesus died to save that whole society from the way things are, not just us individually from what we have done, then that is good news.
As we remember Christ’s sacrifice on this Good Friday, I hope you will take some time at the cross both in your life and the broader world. As for me, I’ll be a white pastor reflecting with the Derek Chauvin trial playing in the background. I’ll be naming the times I’ve failed to call out racist comments and jokes, while also seeking forgiveness for my participation in systemic oppression. I’ll be identifying ways I’ve failed to be generous personally, while also owning my participation in global capitalism and sweat shop labor. I’ll be seeking forgiveness for an increased use of one-time plastics (so hard in the pandemic!), while also claiming our corporate abuse of creation. I’ll be mourning personal loss from the pandemic, while also asking Jesus to help me use my privilege to elevate others.
One of my mentors the Rev. Dr. Peter Storey says we each need to enter our own conversation at the cross with the One who hangs upon it. He writes in Listening at Golgotha: “If we believe ‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3), we each need to bring to Calvary the issues of sin and righteousness, both personal and systemic, that we wrestle with in our time and place.” We have to do this seriously if the Easter that follows our Good Friday will mean anything. We can’t live in the power of Resurrection unless we’ve walked with Jesus to Calvary. “We need to make space for the vulnerability, pain, and self-offering of the Crucifixion to engage us deeply, bringing us to an awed penitence,” he adds. “Only out of such penitence can transformation and new life be born.” May it be so for us.