Rev. Cathy Cox<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before there were systematic theologians, there were poets.
That\u2019s what the Psalmists were \u2013 and the prophets
That\u2019s what the gospel writers were too, \u2013 and that\u2019s what Paul himself actually was.
When they recovered from the stunning events of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, they tried to express what it had all meant:
What the cross signified \u2013 how an instrument of Roman execution had become, for them, the center of human history.
What Jesus\u2019 death had meant \u2013 how an intinerant preacher, agitator, lover of sinners, tax collectors, outsiders and poor ordinary people who couldn\u2019t really make much difference in their world had been murdered because his very presence threatened the precarious truce between Jews in Jerusalem and their uneasy Roman rulers.
But they didn\u2019t come up with theories. That came a whole lot later. Instead, they piled up image on top of image \u2013 and so did the poets and preachers of the next several centuries.
Jesus\u2019 death is sacrifice \u2013 but offered willingly, consciously, deliberately.
It is victory over sin and death for all humanity.
It is atonement.
Jesus was the paschal\/passover lamb that was slain to receive power and wisdom and glory \u2013 as the author or Revelation sings.
His death was a ransom \u2013 evoking the image of the slave market: \u201cYou were bought with a price.\u201d Paul says.
Jesus took us through the sea that promised death and defeat \u2013 like Moses \u2013 and brought us out to songs of triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the cross?
Clement of Alexandria in about 200 AD wrote: \u201cHere in o\u2019erwhelming final strife the Lord of life hath victory, And sin is slain, and death brings life, and earth inherits heaven\u2019s key.\u201d(hymn 163)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It becomes a throne \u2013 the place from which Jesus began his reign, even before the Resurrection
The cross becomes the flowering tree of life \u2013 whose roots sink down into the earth and which flowers into eternity.
It is the place of privilege: \u201cO tree of beauty, tree most fair, ordained those holy limbs to bear; gone is thy shame, each crimsoned bough proclaims the king of glory now.\u201d (hymn 162; 6th century)
And the crucifixion \u2013 that was supposed to end this pernicious preacher\u2019s influence \u2013 well, it backfired
Remember the hymn we sang tonight: (170)
\u201cTo mock your reign, O dearest Lord, they made a crown of thorns, set you with taunts, along that road from which no one returns. They did not know, as we do now, that glorious is your crown; That thorns would flower upon your brow, your sorrows heal our own.\u201d
And the Easter hymns practically thunder the same theme \u2013 again and again they say that everything that sin did to the world, everything that the Empire tried to do to crush Jesus and his movement, turned against them \u2013 became something else entirely –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sin is defeated. Death is upended.
His death is the way to life
His broken body becomes our treasure \u2013 and our meal
His blood poured out becomes our drink
His shame becomes our glory \u2013 and his.
(174) – a 17th century hymn
\u201cAt the Lamb\u2019s high feast we sing, praise to our victorious King. Who hath washed us in the tide, flowing from his pierced side,\u201d
(Do you hear the Exodus imagery there?! )
\u201cPraise we him whose love divine, gives his sacred Blood for wine, gives his Body for the feast, Christ the victim, Christ the priest.\u201d
Where the Paschal blood is poured, death\u2019s dark angel sheathes his sword. Israel\u2019s hosts triumphant go, through the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ whose blood was shed, Paschal Victim, Paschal Bread; with sincerity and love, eat we manna from above.
Well, the examples are unending.
Jesus\u2019 followers didn\u2019t limit themselves to one way of speaking about the cross \u2013 or about Jesus\u2019 death.
It was too big for them; and it is too great for us, too.
It isn\u2019t a magical or logical or legal or transactional event.
It is wonder, and grace, and beauty, and grief \u2013 and God with us in suffering, transforming it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it still is \u2013 even now, Ukrainian Christians are preparing to remember Christ\u2019s death in the midst of their own \u2013 And they are not recalling it with despair either \u2013 but with confidence and hope.
Jesus died for us.
That\u2019s all I know. That\u2019s what we sing.
We are better off to pile image on image \u2013 to fall on our knees, or on our faces \u2013 to weep and dance and rejoice and paint and write music
But we had better not try to explain the truth that in the cross, God did something that can never, and never needs to be repeated \u2013 for the whole world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rev. Cathy Cox Before there were systematic theologians, there were poets.That\u2019s what the Psalmists were \u2013 and the prophets That\u2019s what the gospel writers were too, \u2013 and that\u2019s what Paul himself actually was.When they recovered from the stunning events of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, they tried to express what it had all meant:What the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2806,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions\/2806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stalbansbolivar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}