A Fresh Perspective - 03/21/08

Clarence Jordan was an American Baptist who founded Koinonia Farm in 1942, an interracial community in southwest Georgia. Jordan gave us the "Cotton Patch Version" of the New Testament. In a sermon he identifies the crucified Christ as "a lightning rod" on which the world discharged "its static, spiritual energy." He writes, "Did God put our sins on the back of his Son on the cross? No. He made him available and we put our sins on his back."

Jordan is right. God didn't put Jesus to death; we did. God did not require Jesus to be a victim - as if God needed a sacrifice in order to satisfy God's honor or offended justice, or to bear divine punishment for sinners. God didn't need a victim in order for God to forgive sinners. God is a forgiving God; it is God's nature to forgive. God's forgiveness does not need to be purchased.

Jesus was a victim, but God didn't make Jesus a victim. According to the Gospel accounts powerful members of the religious establishment conspired against Jesus. Pilate, representing the imperial power of Rome, tried to wash his hands of the matter, but Matthew's Gospel says, "he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified." The disciples betrayed, denied, and deserted Jesus. And if we look closely and honestly through the window of this story, we can see ourselves in the reflection.

Jesus was a representative sin-bearer - bearing not the punishment of God, but the sins of the people; in this sense, Jesus died for our sins. Jesus was the lightning rod, and the hate, jealousy, greed, evil, and cruel judgment of the world was discharged on him.

Jesus came preaching, teaching, and manifesting God's new world of compassion, peace, justice, and forgiveness (the kingdom of God). He upset the powers-that-be. God didn't send Jesus to die, but God's mission for Jesus put him in a context that made death inevitable. I'm sure Jesus anticipated his death as soon as he experienced the animosity of a number of the religious power-brokers, provoked by his disregard for some of their rules and his meal-sharing with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus interpreted his death as the seal of God's covenant with God's people (Matt. 26:27-28). Matthew's version of this emphasizes God's forgiveness. Forgiveness is at the heart of this relationship.

Isn't this, in large measure, what forgiveness is - bearing the sins of others? Forgiveness is the capacity to take on the offense - the hate and greed - and absorb it, in order to break the cycle of violence and revenge, and make possible a new beginning.

Jordan says, "I think God needs in this world, available people who will bear the sins of the world." Such is the way of the cross that makes possible healing and reconciliation. The triumph of God's kingdom will be a triumph of love and forgiveness.

Chuck Queen is Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Frankfort (CBF affiliated). You can access his sermons and past articles at www.ibcfrankfort.com. He welcomes your comments at cqueen@fewpb.net.