![]() Many Jews refused to believe because all those years since the prophets, they were expecting a reigning Messiah geared up to liberate Israel from the yoke of captivity. But the supreme paradox is that the God against whom we transgressed was the same God who ransomed us. This is very inspiring, if not edifying.Īs Keller resonated with the Scripture: “This pattern of the cross means that the world’s glorification of power, might and status is exposed and defeated.” Yes, our faith is replete with paradoxes notably Jesus’ triumph by His death on the cross, and all authority was given to Him through His weakness during His bogus trial and silent submission in Calvary. For our sake, he honored justice with us, He identified with the oppressed, rather than those who oppressed. But we loved growing with our children, and suffering with them.īy coming in the flesh, Jesus both suffered for us and with us. For the parents among us, we gave up a great measure of our own independence and freedom in order to raise our children who were completely dependent on us in their growing years. Without the cross, the narrative is without the God of love. All that it takes is just to teach about God’s love for justice, for the poor and for the environment. Some might deny this theology of atonement, that the narrative of the cross is no longer necessary. But God is so full of grace, and the Scripture makes it clear that “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:17) It was so easy for God who created the world and the fullness thereof, to simply destroy the world as in the time of Noah, or a city as Sodom and Gomorrah. We have transgressed, so we must pay the penalty of sins, but John 3:16 clearly explains that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus’ crucifixion offers not only a picturesque example of how it is to love and to sacrifice, but also to find a way out of debt that we should pay ourselves. Jesus is God Himself who came in the flesh, and in the words of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, “offered His own lifeblood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that someday he can destroy all evil without destroying us.” ![]() We are aware of some primitive deities who demanded their devotees’ flesh and blood to appease their fury. God Himself in the person of Jesus did not inflict pain on somebody else but endured the humiliation on the cross and died for the sins of the world. His apostles could have whisked him away to the hills of Hebron or the coasts of Joppa, as some disciples protected Paul during his many dangerous missionary journeys.īut the cross is the story of forgiveness. He could have chosen to flee rather than spent countless hours sweating with blood in Mt. But for many, even for some Christians, that is bad news. His death between two criminals is at the heart of the Gospel. ![]() One of the mysteries of our Christian faith is the victory of Jesus on the cross of Calvary.
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