Lent is a pilgrimage from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. It is the symbolic journey of our lives from the ashes of birth to the ashes of death - through the cross and beyond to resurrection! Lent can be a meaningful symbolic journey for us if we reflect on Jesus' life journey and commit ourselves to follow him.

When John the Baptist saw a group of religious leaders, he called them a "brood of vipers" (sons of snakes)! When he saw Jesus, he said "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). There are many faithful Christians who question the idea that Jesus died to save us from our sins, even though this is a foundational tenet of Christian faith. So, are they just wrong? Are they completely out of step? Or is there something else going on?

The core of Christian faith is that God in Jesus reconciled creation to God. This idea comes out of the history of Israel's exile and the belief that God would accomplish Israel's forgiveness and restoration as the chosen people some day. What began as an image of restored national identity and corporate relationship with God became, by Jesus' time, a literal expectation that a Messiah (kind of a new King David) would arise to overthrow oppressors and restore Israel's fortunes. Many believed this would usher in the new age of God.

Christian's believe that Jesus accomplished this reconciliation for all people through his death on the cross. There are a number of views - called "atonement" theologies - as to how this happened. It is interesting to note that our image of God has a lot to do with the atonement theology we tend to embrace. For example, if we think of God as harsh and punitive, then we will tend to see Jesus as taking on himself God's punishment of a sinful humanity. This view of God tends to be accompanied by a corresponding view of humanity as sinful by nature (original sin). The sentence is death -- eternal death (hell), but the ultimate result through Jesus is eternal life.

If we think of God as the ground of all being and extravagant in blessing and love, then we will tend to see Jesus' death on the cross as a self sacrifice of love, reflecting Jesus' own intimate relationship with God. This view of God and Jesus tends to be accompanied by a view that humanity contains a spark of divinity (original blessing). Jesus, in effect, invites everyone to embrace oneness with God "in whom we live, and move, and have our being."

The journey of the cross has its most profound meaning for us when it becomes a symbol for our life journeys. What Jesus did in the past really only means something for us today when we open ourselves to experience God as Jesus did. To follow Jesus to the cross and beyond is to live in the reality of God's new creation now. It is to envision a world in which people do justice, work for equity, love kindness, and live intimately with each other and in God through the power of the Spirit. It is life fueled by the power of extravagant love. The Church exists to help people see this reality. My prayer is that each of us will come to experience and share the reality of God's new creation during this Holy Week and in each holy week of our lives.

Thanks for blessing me on the journey.

--Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index