“It is only because I can see God entering the darkness of human suffering and evil in his creation, recognizing it for what it really is, meeting it and conquering it, that I can accept a religious view of the world. Without the religious dimension, life would be senseless, and endurance of its cruelty pointless; yet without the cross it would be impossible to believe in God.” Francis Young, The Myth of God Incarnate)
As we approach Holy Week, our minds and hearts naturally turn to the cross. So many interpretations of the death of Jesus have been offered throughout the history of the church. Frankly, for me many of those interpretations say something about God that I find offensive and even barbaric. I cannot believe that God required a “pound of flesh” before being willing to forgive, redeem, and transform humanity and creation. What is classically known as the “Penal Substitutionary View of the Atonement” never made any sense to me even as a child. Such “whipping boy” theology presents a stubborn and petty God who does not love unconditionally and indiscriminately. Fortunately, I have learned that there were many interpretations of the death of Jesus, and the church has wisely refused to settle on just one view as reflecting all saving truth.
One understanding of the cross, however, does make a lot of sense to me. In this view, the cross represents God’s suffering love for creation. God’s love, solidarity, and identification with us are so profound and abiding that when we suffer, God suffers. Whether that suffering is because of our sin, unexplained tragedies, or the sins of others hurting us, God refuses to remain aloof from such pain. Instead, the Creator of this magnificent universe feels from the inside out our hurt and suffers with us. God embraces us, our identities, and our destiny as heaven shares earth’s plight and redemption. As I have said on many occasions, there was a cross in the heart of God long before one could be planted on the hill of Golgotha outside the city of Jerusalem.
As a pastor, I was strengthened in knowing that there is not a tear shed, a moan uttered, a pain suffered, a fearful moment faced, a loneliness endured, a death encountered without God there in the midst of the pain, co-experiencing our and creation’s travail. The Immanuel (God-with-us) of Christmas finds its ultimate fulfillment in the cross of Good Friday as God goes with us into the depths of human existence and suffering.
But because God is infinite love and creative power, God is able to absorb our and the world’s pain and suffering and transform all that into healing and redemption. God takes upon the divine self the fate of our world, casts the divine lot with our lot, and through such solidarity allows for our salvation. The infinite capacity for God to be with us and to absorb all evil and suffering is the grounds for our hope now and beyond.
I have a cross made in El Salvador. The cross is entitled “The New Creation.” It is a beautiful cross. What this cross communicates to me is that through God’s suffering love and identification and solidarity with us, we are promised the new creation where tears will be no more, pain and death will vanish, and sin will no longer afflict this world God so loves. The only route to this new creation is through the cross—God’s suffering love for us. And the biggest surprise of all is that according to the New Testament, we are invited by God to be a part of that suffering love and thus to “share in the suffering of Jesus.” (Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24) Perhaps this insight helps us understand Jesus’ call for us to “take up your cross and follow me.”
