What if God was only giving the Devil enough rope to hang himself on that dark April day when he hung up God’s Son to torment and shame? I may be wrong, but what if the only wrath shown against Jesus at the cross was the wrath of Satan, who was about to get his head crushed by heavy fallout from his own diabolical deeds of terrorism—the prelude to God’s turning the ancient world upside-down?
What if the heinousness of human sin was sufficiently portrayed at the cross in the savagery of the malevolent who trumped up defamatory charges and brutally whipped, hit, mocked and pierced the Just and Holy One of God, without any alleged downpour of divine wrath on him (as if he were bearing God’s punishment for sins instead of suffering from their actual sins, which fatally took him down)?
What if sin was wrongly imputed to him by false witnesses and popular conjecture, not by God? What if that false condemnation justified the display of the true justice of God in reversing his death? What if Jesus by surrender to death was really paying his soul to ransom mortals from slavery to sin due to fear of death, without paying one thin drachma to God for sin’s punishment, much less to the Devil!
What if the only satisfaction God received from His Son’s death—far, far from any satisfaction for our debt of sins!—was observing his faithful obedience in the face of grisly assaults, staying innocent and non-retaliatory even to the bitter, bludgeoned, bloody end, so as to win immortality for humankind?
What if the love of God was demonstrated in His not avenging the malicious execution of His beloved Son with immediate wholesale slaughter by angelic hosts (after all, such displays of divine wrath against the vicious do fill grim pages of the Old Testament), but letting the crime slip by in forbearance?
What if God was simply letting a day or two pass to let tears dry before unveiling His true, unimaginable justice by raising up His mangled Boy from such an indecent yet indubitable death to the pinnacle of honor, thus unleashing a flood of joyful tears from his loved ones in exchange? I wonder.
What if the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice signifies not his death but his resurrection from the dead? Could it possibly be that the ancient sacrificial blood had all along depicted the restorative power of Christ’s own resurrected life? Is that why it could serve for cleansing, sanctifying, healing, atoning, etc.?
And what if Christ’s well-deserved reward for his ordeal was God’s whopping repayment to make up for such tragic loss of his sinless life and Spirit-powered career—teaching all he was instructed and doing all he was directed by God—to become a life-making Spirit, crowned at God’s side, peaceably drawing foes to conciliate with God and share in his promised inheritance of all, with plenty of siblings?
So, what if the graciousness we enjoy from God is simply the surplus of favor that God in His premial justice bequeathed Jesus for voluntarily suffering such abuse from evildoers yet responding with resolute forgiveness, as attested by the wonders of Pentecost and showers of gifts from the Holy Spirit?
In short, what if—just what if!—God flat out ransomed Jesus from the grave as a sample of what He was preparing to do for any who would dare like fools to believe such a topsy-turvy story about His unfathomable graciousness and then respond accordingly by lifelong loyalty to His ethic and example?
I find it interesting that both Evangelicals (see Brad Jersak's Stricken By God?) and Catholics (Scott Hahn...EWTN Archives) are slowly coming to the realization that God was not venting his wrath on His only begotten son so that He could forgive us... to me that is not forgiveness. God can and does forgive, forgives freely, forgives lovingly without grudge, forgives compassionately, and does not need to punish in order to forgive. The son was and will always be precious to the Father (even on the cross)... there are many other more profound compassionate, insightful, and shrewd reasons on why Jesus came to die... and I think the key is found in Genesis where God had to do what Adam failed to do (become willing to die for his wife)... because God won't expect from us what he would not expect from Himself (He came and died for His wife: the Church to show His love for us)... thank you for mentioning a few... more reasons...
Posted by: Rene Lafaut | April 03, 2011 at 10:52 AM