+Well these are some interesting readings aren’t they? Raging, whiny Israelites, a vengeful and mean God (I mean, really….poisonous snakes, biting people left and right? Seriously, God?) and then “God so loved the world, God came to us in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ.”
Which is it? Does God love us beyond all measure or does God also have that dark and vengeful side?
Now, I do think that the God of the Hebrew scripture was, well, a little moody, but I don’t think our God has ever been mean, vengeful and spiteful.
Even though, after reading our story from Numbers today, one could make a case for a mean God, I maintain that God is, like God’s creation, evolving, growing, moving, changing.
To me the wonder of today’s readings is this---our behavior toward one another and toward God hasn’t gotten any better over the generations—but God will not be deterred. Even though when God came to live among us, as one of us, in the person of Jesus Christ, we killed him on that tree, God still loves us.
Seriously folks, our God is indeed an awesome God, because I don’t know about you, but I can’t even IMAGINE being able to forgive the death of my child. And yet, God did forgive us, God does forgive us. Again and again and again.
God’s reaction to our ultimate rejection---the death of Jesus-- was an act of Love …it was an act of unmitigated, inexplicable, unquantifiable Grace-filled Love.
You see, as we head toward the last two weeks of Lent, I think it is important that we get real clear about what is about to happen. Humanity, the very people God came to live among in the person of Jesus killed God. And God forgave us. Jesus had to die, it’s the cornerstone of our faith, but why he died is a matter of theological debate. My stance is that Jesus died to defeat death---the Jewish authorities and the Romans thought death by crucifixion would, once and for all, squash this crazy movement about love for all, no exceptions… but they didn’t know the rest of the story, did they? They didn’t know that death was no match for Love.
But Love still hasn’t won the day…there are still those who maintain that God sacrificed Jesus due to our sins. This is known as “Atonement Theology.” Atonement theology states that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. That Jesus dies because we were bad.
Now while we often use phrases that suggest atonement theology in our liturgy, that isn’t what they—at least to me and many others—mean.
Yes, Jesus died for our sins, this is true. But not as a ransom. It wasn’t like God decided: “ the only way these people will learn is to send them my Son and then have him killed. That’ll teach ‘em.”. And when you hear today’s first reading it makes sense…in many instances God does appears vengeful, spiteful and down right mean. Mean enough to send Godself in the flesh to be tortured and killed….just to get a point across.
But that’s not it.
By the time God decided to walk among us as Jesus, God had changed. Our evolving, dynamic God is still figuring it all out. When God gave humanity free will God gave up a lot of control. And so, as we have engaged in free will, we have made a boatload of lousy choices. We have rejected God’s overtures again and again and again. So finally…finally God came among us, as one of us, to help God “figure us out.”
A significant part of this “figuring out” is outlined in today’s Gospel.
But, here’s the surprise… instead of figuring US out, God coming to us as Jesus helps US figure this out: God loves us. No matter what.
For God so loved the world, God came to be among us and God experienced us at our worst as we took God in the flesh and nailed him to a tree, once more turning our backs on God.
And God so loved the world—God so loved US that God didn’t turn God’s back on us.
God took the worst that humanity could offer and turned it around. It’s the ultimate re-frame, the ultimate “life gives you lemons you make lemonade” scenario. God took God’s own death and made it the singular most loving action of all time. God, once again, turned it all upside down and inside out.
God, in the person of Jesus Christ, didn’t die on the cross as a ransom for our misbehavior-- Jesus’ death on the cross isn’t tit for tat, Jesus’ death on the cross isn’t the point. It’s what happened after Jesus died on the cross that’s the point….there’s the Resurrection—that’s important---but that’s not what I mean.
No the thing that happened after Jesus’ death, the thing that is so amazing, incredible and unprecedented is:
NOTHING HAPPEN.
Or maybe EVERYTHING Happened.
God so loved the world that after the world killed God in the flesh, God continued to love us.
God’s grace just kept flowing and flowing and flowing.
Jesus’ death isn’t about paying a ransom or atoning for sins. The death of Jesus on the cross is about endless waves of love-filled grace.
The message of the cross isn’t just forgiveness, though we are certainly forgiven by God for our misdeeds, small and large.
The message of the cross is LOVE.
The message of the cross is GRACE.
Our job, then, is to live into this grace, to live into this Love.
Our job is to stop worrying about everything we haven’t done and wish we had; to stop worrying about what we’ve done and wish we hadn’t. Our job is to allow ourselves to be washed through and through by God’s amazing, astounding and abundant grace. And then, thoroughly awash in this Love, we will, we must, respond in kind. Loving others as we have been loved. The message of these next few weeks, the lesson of Jesus’ death upon that cross isn’t punishment for who we’ve been, it’s hope for who we can be. The message as we walk up to Calvary and descend deep into the grave isn’t punishment for our sins, it’s love in spite of our sins. +
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