Friday of Holy Week

It’s almost embarrassing to ask my question for today: According to Mark’s Gospel, what killed Jesus? Embarrassing because when you pay attention, it’s plainly seen.

But so many Christians, and non-Christians today still think what killed Jesus was/is human personal guilt that God’s honor cannot abide so God must punish the guilty and thus so God killed Jesus so God doesn’t have to kill us. It’s called substitutionary atonement (something, an understanding, a theology, that really did not come into vogue until Anselm’s work and writing in the 11th century C. E.).

There are at least two reasons that I can see as important for leaving that still so very popular soteriology behind.

One, it cheapens the depth and breadth of the unconditional love that has been God’s operating system, if you will, since the beginning of time. A “system” that is not a deal-making with and through Covenants (I know, Deuteronomy and elsewhere must be engaged, and can be, but not here) but rather life-giving through Creation. In other words, Anselm’s theology, as brilliant and logically tight as it is, takes God out of the creative game and into the retributive game.

Ok, that, but perhaps the second reason is the most important reason because of the damage done to creation (human, plant, animal, earth) because it turns humanity into spectators rather than participants in the creative work of making sure the mission and values of Jesus (“kingdom of God”) are actualized. (Yes, I know and understand how historically many theologians have understood the gospel to be something that urges action while others understand the gospel to be the action itself. And while I land on the side of the latter, we simply cannot tolerate a theology that if not legitimizes inequality and injustice, sits by and watches). We spectate: “isn’t it wonderful that we are off the hook?”, instead of participate: “now that Jesus has inaugurated, indeed embodied, the Kingdom of God, let’s embody it too!” Yes, we are “off the hook” of any condemnation, but we are “on the hook” of self-giving love.

Ok, enough. It’s Good Friday. My question: According to Mark’s Gospel, what killed Jesus?

Onward we go.