A Good Friday Credo
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. – Isaiah 53:10a (NRSV)
I don’t believe it. I won’t. I cannot believe it was God’s will for Jesus to be crushed with pain, tortured, and strung up on a cross to die. I know atonement theology has been a part of Christianity from the beginning. I also know that no matter how hard I’ve tried, I’ve never been able to believe that God wanted Jesus to suffer and die.
I do believe, in the words of Isaiah, he “was despised and rejected” by the leaders and the mob they’d whipped into a frenzy. I believe he was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” as he was betrayed and abandoned by his closest friends.
And I certainly believe he was “wounded for our transgressions.” The sin of human greed, oppression, and selfishness crushed his life and despised his work as it has others who’ve welcomed the outsider and advocated for the poor. I also believe “all we like sheep, have gone astray and turned to our own way,” time after time.
But do I believe that the crucifixion that came from such sin was—or is—God’s will? No. I cannot lay on God the responsibility for my actions or inactions—or those of others—that lead to suffering.
If I don’t believe God willed Jesus’ suffering, how can I still believe that Jesus was, and is, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Because I believe that on the cross, Jesus showed us not only the cost of human sin. He also showed us the power of love, both human and divine, to overcome sin and even death itself. That I can believe.
Prayer
Whatever we believe about this day, O Lord, thank you for being here. Amen.
About the AuthorTalitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.