Speaking Christian in
our Lenten Journey
Why is the Death of
Jesus so Significant?
Jesus’ death is foundational to Christianity in a way that
the death of a central
Why is it important? Because Jesus’ death paid the price for
our sins by dying in our place. Substitutionary sacrifice or atonement means
that Jesus is the substitute who satisfied God’s wrath by undergoing the
punishment that we all deserve for sin.
But this is not biblically based- but written in 1097 by
Anselm of Canterbury who asked, “Why did God become human incarnate in Jesus?
His answer- God required that the penalty for our sins must be paid from the
human side. But we are all sinners and thus cannot adequately make the payment.
Only a perfect human can. But a human cannot be perfect unless also divine. So
God became human in Jesus in order to pay the price for our sins.
Yet this has problems and raises further questions. Jesus
was killed- a very public and prolonged form of execution. Jesus’ death obscures the fact that he was
killed by the powers that ruled his world.
Did God really need someone to die for our sins? Isn’t Christianity and
salvation about transformation of ourselves and of the world?
Jesus’ Death brought different meanings to the early
followers and still does to Christians today.
a) Jesus was crucified on a cross- a public way and by
authorities beyond the community in which he lived.
b) Death and resurrection are dying and rising with Christ.
This is a metaphor for the personal and yet communal transformation at the
centre of Christians. Galatians 2:19-20—I have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I who live, but it Christ who lives in me.”
c) Jesus’ death is the revelation of the love of God. In Jesus we see what God is like. In Jesus’
passion for the kingdom of God and his challenge to the powers at the risk of
his own life, we see the depth of God’s love for us.
PRAYER
Loving God as we read about Jesus’ death and why he died, we
pray that you would touch our hearts to understand and know it was for us and
because of us. Clear our confusion, enable us to ask questions and call us to
you in praise and love. Amen.
Reflection:
As Lent leads us towards Holy Week and we hear the Passion
Story of Jesus- from triumph to tragedy what does Jesus’ death mean to you? Do
you believe he did for you and because of you? What does ‘we shall also rise
with him” mean in anticipation of Easter?
Please reflect and respond to these questions as you share
pray for your understanding.
Please respond to http://revcathysblog.blogspot.ca/
Marcus J. Borg, Speaking
Christian: Why Christian Words Have
Lost Their Meaning and Power- and how they can be restored, Detroit: Gale
Cengage Learning, 2012.
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