Tag Archives: cross
Doing the Victim Thing Right
Jesus’ Death Doing the Victim Thing Right Tuesday, April 16, 2019 The deep-time message of Jesus’ death is presented through a confluence of three healing images from his own Hebrew Scriptures: the scapegoat whom we talked about on Sunday; the Passover lamb which is the innocent victim (Exodus 12); the “Lifted-Up One” or the homeopathic… Continue Reading Doing the Victim Thing Right
Savior of the World
Jesus’ Death Savior of the World Monday, April 15, 2019 Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —1 Corinthians 15:57 How does Jesus the victim transform us? How does the lamb of God “take away” our sin (John 1:29), to use the common metaphor? How does Jesus “overcome… Continue Reading Savior of the World
The Scapegoat
Jesus’ Death The Scapegoat Sunday, April 14, 2019 Palm Sunday The ingenious Hebrew ritual from which the word “scapegoat” originated is described in Leviticus 16. On the Day of Atonement, a priest laid hands on an “escaping” goat, placing all the sins of the Jewish people from the previous year onto the animal. The goat… Continue Reading The Scapegoat
Dying with Christ
Dying Before You Die Dying with Christ Monday, April 1, 2019 My good friend and Franciscan colleague Sister Ilia Delio writes: God is radically involved with the world, empowering the world toward fullness in love, but God is unable to bring about this fullness without the cooperation of humans. Human and divine cannot co-create unto… Continue Reading Dying with Christ
The Performance Principle
Growing in Christ: Week 1 The Performance Principle Friday, March 22, 2019 Religion in the second half of life is finally not a moral matter; it’s a mystical matter. While most of us begin focused on moral proficiency and perfection, we can’t spend our whole lives this way. Paul calls the first-half-of-life approach “the Law”;… Continue Reading The Performance Principle
Jesus and the Cross: Weekly Summary
Jesus and the Cross Summary: Sunday, February 3-Friday, February 8, 2019 Unfortunately, with the widespread acceptance of the substitutionary atonement theory, salvation became a one-time transactional affair between Jesus and his Father, instead of an ongoing transformational lesson for the human soul and for all of history. (Sunday) Christianity’s vision of God was a radical… Continue Reading Jesus and the Cross: Weekly Summary
The Scapegoat Mechanism
Jesus and the Cross The Scapegoat Mechanism Friday, February 8, 2019 The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus’ death. On the “Day of Atonement” the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat… Continue Reading The Scapegoat Mechanism
Coincidence of Opposites
Jesus and the Cross Coincidence of Opposites Thursday, February 7, 2019 The Divine Mind transforms all human suffering by identifying completely with the human predicament and standing in full solidarity with it from beginning to end. This is the real meaning of the crucifixion. The cross is not just a singular event. It’s a statement… Continue Reading Coincidence of Opposites
A Bigger God
Jesus and the Cross A Bigger God Wednesday, February 6, 2019 Our predestination to glory is prior by nature to any notion of sin. —John Duns Scotus [1] The Franciscan School, led by such teachers as Duns Scotus, refused to see the Incarnation and its finale on the cross as a mere reaction to human… Continue Reading A Bigger God
Changing Perspectives
Jesus and the Cross Changing Perspectives Tuesday, February 5, 2019 When we look at history, it’s clear that Christianity is an evolving faith. It only makes sense that early Christians would look for a logical and meaningful explanation for the “why” of the tragic death of their religion’s founder. For the early centuries, appeasing an… Continue Reading Changing Perspectives
