Why Do I Believe In The Crucifixion?

Good Friday, April 6, 2012

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Why do I believe in the crucifixion?

Why do I believe Jesus suffered, was crucified, died and was buried?

Why do I believe that Jesus was tortured by betrayal? A betrayal he could foresee but wouldn’t avoid. A betrayal he endured well before it became reality. A betrayal by the first apostle he called to follow him. A betrayal by the disciple who swore to follow him to the death. A betrayal that left him friendless, alone, abandoned. A betrayal by all the men who called him teacher, who called him master, who called him friend.

A betrayal by a kiss, for some silver.

A betrayal by the ones who walked with Jesus, endured the dusty roads and cold, dark desert nights. Betrayal by the ones who asked the most questions, by the ones sent out to heal and proclaim forgiveness, by the ones witness to feeding of thousands, casting away evil spirits, and welcoming sinners to dinner. Why do I believe Jesus suffered?


Why do I believe Jesus was tortured by injustice? An injustice that permeated the land, an injustice that required a prophetic confrontation from Jesus.

An injustice that had existed for the life of the nation, an injustice that crushed the widows and orphans, that took advantage of the poor and the foreigner, an injustice that flowed from the ones with power and privilege, an injustice that rolled like a river, drowning the weak and crippled, the sick and broken, the abandoned and traumatized.

An injustice that used lies to establish it’s grip, an injustice that fueled fears to sink it’s roots deeper into the community, an injustice that used misunderstanding for its gain, that used apathy to further its agenda in the nation.

An injustice that prompted God to send a prophet to confront, an injustice that God would no longer allow to reign in Israel.

Why do I believe that Jesus was tortured by violence? Tortured by clubs and swords, tortured by chains and shackles, tortured by shoves and spit, tortured by slander and mockery, tortured by ripping out of beard and tearing off of clothes, tortured by whips, by lashes of shards and spikes, tortured by thirst, tortured by exhaustion, tortured by carrying his cross, tortured by the nails in his feet, spikes in his wrists, tortured by the speak in his side, tortured by the splinters in his open wounds, tortured by the gasping for air, tortured by the searing agony of breathing, tortured by the hanging naked in public, tortured by the jeers and disbelief, tortured by the violence of humanity, tortured by the darkness.

Why do I believe Jesus was crucified?


Why do I believe Jesus was put to death on a cross by humanity? Why do I believe that Jesus was abandoned by God? Forsaken, as Jesus put it. “Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani,” to quote the crucified and dying Jesus. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me…” is what he whispered, what he groaned, what he felt. Why do I believe that Jesus was trusting in a Father who seemed far away, far from his cries of anguish?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

God did not answer Jesus’s plea for rescue. It’s as if God turned his eyes and ears away from the bloody cries for deliverance and justice.

Why do I believe that Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer and insurrectionist? Why do I believe Jesus was killed on a cross, the sign of a cursed man in God’s eyes? Why do I believe Jesus was killed as a criminal, murdered along with two other terrorists? Why do I believe that Jesus was caught up in the execution machine of the Roman Empire? Why do I believe that Jesus let himself be crucified by the Israel he came to save? Why do I believe Jesus let himself be executed by the Romans he came to save?

Why do I believe in the crucifixion?

I believe Jesus was the Cup whose wine and blood were poured out to establish a New Covenant of forgiven sins, of shalom, agape and zoe for this life now and in the one to come.
I believe Jesus was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.


I believe Jesus was the Shepherd of Israel who lays down his life for his sheep.
I believe Jesus was the Servant of Israel who was pierced for our transgressions, who was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.


I believe Jesus was the Prophet of Israel sent by God to turn his people away from injustice, to return his people to the way of righteousness.
I believe Jesus was the High Priest of Israel sent by God to offer his own life as an atoning sacrifice in the Temple of God, in the Holy of Holies for the sins of Israel, for the sins of all the nations, all the peoples.
I believe Jesus was the King of Israel sent to establish the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and free his rebellious people from their captivity by proclaiming the truth and leading them in a new way.

Why do I believe Jesus was crucified? 


It’s a scandalous event. God killed by his own people. Jesus murdered by the ones he came to save. The Son of God sent by the Father, executed as a rebel king and blaspheming, false prophet. This is not how the story is seemingly supposed to go.

Historically, the crucifixion of Jesus is the most likely verifiable part of the Gospel story. It’s the one element of the tale that is most likely to be believable. And yet we find ourselves believing in the historical event without believing the truth of the event in our heart, in our life.

Do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? 


Do I believe in suffering as a servant of God? Do I believe that God will send me to confront injustice? Do I believe that God will call me to turn people away from their sins? Do I believe that God will ask me to live as a kingdom of priests, a witness to the words and works of Jesus? As the body of Jesus, do I believe that there are holes in the wrists and feet of my heart?

Do I believe that I have suffered for speaking truth to power? Do I believe that I have suffered for bringing love to my enemies? Do I believe that I have suffered for teaching others to forgive those who sin against them? Do I believe I have forgiven those who are crucifying me? Or do I avoid crucifixion?

Do I avoid suffering? Do I avoid confronting injustice? Do I avoid turning others away from sin? Do I avoid loving my enemies? Do I avoid caring for the widows and orphans? Do I avoid the label of blasphemer and insurrectionist? Do I avoid trouble? Do I believe in the crucifixion?

Do I believe I would have been like Peter, and sought to prevent the crucifixion? Do I believe I would have been like Judas, and sought to prompt Jesus to rise up as the new powerful king of Israel and deliver them from the Roman Empire? Do I believe I would have been like the Pharisees, irritated and threatened by Jesus’ new teachings about God and forgiveness and sin and unrighteousness and injustice and love?

Do I believe I would have been like the mob that called for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus? Do I believe I would have been like the apostles who ran away from the ones sent to arrest Jesus? Do I believe I would have been like the Temple priests who wanted God to intervene and free Israel, but not in the way that Jesus commanded and demonstrated?


Do I believe that crucifixion is part of following Jesus? Do I believe that suffering is part of our discipleship? Do I believe that loving my neighbor as Jesus loves me will bring both joy and suffering? Do I believe that loving my enemies as Jesus loves my enemies will bring both peace and conflict?

Do I believe that welcoming sinners, giving hospitality to sinners, healing sinners, befriending sinners, will bring both love and hatred? Do I believe that confronting injustice with truth will bring about victory and persecution? Do I believe that crucifixion was the way of salvation for the world? Do I seek to avoid my own crucifixion? Do I work to avoid suffering or do I work in the way of Jesus?

Why do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? 


I believed it as a child because of the stories my parents taught me, because of the Bible lessons I learned in Sunday School, through the sermons I heard in church. I believed in the crucifixion of Jesus because it was presented to me as true. But then I grew up.

As the Apostle Paul puts it:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 

I had my own sufferings, my own deaths, my own disappointments, my own betrayals, my own wounds, my own clashes with reality, my own attempts to love and be loved, my own sense of forsakenness by God.

And then I wondered: does it matter if Jesus was crucified or not. In this life, in this age, in my world, so what if Jesus was crucified. And so now I am on a journey, working to believe in the crucifixion of Jesus. So many people before me have believed it. Why? Why believe that Jesus was crucified? Why believe the stories of his crucifixion?


If there is a God, surely he wouldn’t do what the Bible claims God did. It’s scandalous what happened to Jesus. It’s unexpected. It rattles the status quo. It shakes our understanding of reality. The crucifixion is how we know that God identifies with our suffering. In this pain-full world, God is not immune to our cries. We have caused him to weep, we have inflicted wounds on his heart.

We shake our fist at God for the suffering we endure, the suffering we see inflicted around us – and yet God does not shake his fist at us for the torture and betrayal we inflicted upon him. In his crucifixion, Jesus asked God to forgive humanity, for we did not know what we are doing.

I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus. It reveals to me a God who is with me, for me, even when I am against him. I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus, for it is the way of deep wisdom, the way of redemptive suffering, it is the way of overcoming evil with good. I believe in the crucifixion because it is unbelievable, it is unlikely, it is unexpected, it is scandalous, it is outrageous, it is unimaginable.


The story of the crucifixion of Jesus requires a leap of faith to accept. I grew up believing it with no leap of faith. I assumed the story was true because that’s what I had been told. I had to disbelieve and doubt the story in order to believe it to be true. It takes a leap of faith for me to accept the crucifixion to be true.

There is plenty of evidence being amassed against the veracity and reliability of the crucifixion stories. On one hand, the research challenges my beliefs, it makes it harder to believe. On the other hand, the world wants Jesus to be dead, to be quiet, to fade away as a quaint historical memory. But when the story of Jesus and his crucifixion is believed, there is no power on earth that can stem the message of salvation, reconciliation, forgiveness, righteousness, agape, shalom that comes from the crucifixion.


I believe in the crucifixion because it’s not the final story of Jesus. I believe in the crucifixion because I also believe in the resurrection, because I also believe in the ascension, because I believe in Pentecost, because I believe in God’s Kingdom come to Earth, because I believe in the return of the King, Jesus and the restoration of all things, when the New Heavens and the New Earth come together and God dwells with his people.

I say why I believe in the crucifixion, but the real challenge is to live as if the crucifixion is true. I read and hear the stories of the crucifixion of Jesus – but do I live as if they are true. Too much of the time, the answer is no. I must turn to the crucified Jesus and ask for forgiveness, for help to believe, for help in my unbelief.


I believe that my starting point for the crucifixion of Jesus is disbelief, as revealed through my everyday actions. That any of us believe in the crucifixion of Jesus is an act of God, that any of us live out the belief of Jesus’ crucifixion is a sign of God at work in our world.

We must rely on God to believe in the crucifixion, we must rely on God to live out our belief in the crucifixion. We must rely on God, since there is no difference between what we believe about the crucifixion and how we live, since how we live is what we truly believe. We can confess with our mouth what we believe about Jesus and the crucifixion, but it is our works that give life to our faith – a faith that is gift of God by grace.


Why do I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? It’s a gift of God that I do. It’s a sign of God at work in the world, in my life, that I live out the reality of Jesus’ crucifixion. It’s by grace that I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus.


And it’s only in suffering that I live out the crucifixion. Where there is suffering for loving, for righteousness, for justice, for reconciliation, for forgiveness, for peace in the name of Jesus – that is living out our belief in the crucifixion.


Why do you believe in the crucifixion of Jesus? How do you live out your belief in the crucifixion of Jesus?

May we, in our honest moments on this Good Friday, hear Jesus words to us – hear the Jesus with holes in his hands, his feet, his side, hear his words to us, hear his words to the disciple known as Peter, a disciple who like the others didn’t believe in the crucifixion, yet who was still a disciple of Jesus.

May we hear Jesus’ words to Peter, to us in our failure to believe, in our disbelief, in our running away from suffering, from God’s work in the world he is redeeming and establishing his kingdom, may we hear the crucified and resurrected Jesus’s questions to us: do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?

Now these three remain, belief in the crucifixion, hope in the resurrection, and love in the name of Jesus. And the greatest of these is love.