Reaching for Liberation – Part 5 “The Crux of the Matter” or “Jesus Died BECAUSE of Sin”

This brings us to the crux - pun intended - of the questions I am wrestling with in this series of reflections (and just in time for Holy Week!). If the central meaning of the cross, i.e. Jesus' death, has to do with overcoming sin and creating salvation, what is the nature of this connection?? In what ways are sin and Jesus' death related? And in what sense does death give rise to hope and salvation? It is the way these three – sin, death, salvation - come together in Ellacuria's re-framing that intrigued me the most in reading his article, and that opened up a new and liberating way for my understanding of faith.

An important foundational point for Ellacuria is the insistence that theology be related to real life. In the tradtional approach the God-required/God-ordained death of Jesus, humankind's intangible sinful nature, and the resulting salvation to a life in heaven seem somehow detached from human life, a sort of mystical overlay on reality. To this Ellacuria counters: “A faith apart from history, a faith apart from historic events, whether in the life of Jesus or in the life of humankind is not a Christian faith.” The cross, he argues, must not be about “an expiatory masochism of a spiritualizing sort, but the discovery of something real in history.”

In support of this he points to the way in which the gospels came to be written. It is not that the disciples or even Jesus understood from the outset the direction and purpose of his life. Meaning and understanding came afterwards. It is in experiencing the presence of the Living One that the disciples are led back to reflect on their Teacher's life and to begin making sense of his death. It is “the resurrection that points back toward the crucifixion,” writes Ellacuria. Contrary to the traditional viewpoint, Jesus did not come into this world with the goal or purpose of dying. And while his death is connected to sin, the connection is not some mystical-sacrifical taking upon himself of sin or the punishment for sin. Rather, his death comes as the historical consequence of the life he led.

As I developed in greater detail in my previous post,¹ sin expresses itself and is experienced in the real world as destructive power. It stands as antithesis to the Reign of God proclaimed by Jesus. What he announced - glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed - stood out in stark contrast to the experience of political oppression, poverty, imprisonment and poverty-related disease suffered by many of the common folks of his day, the pueblo, to use a helpful Spanish word. His was an historically rooted proclamation, relevant to the concrete daily life of real people, especially the poor. As long as he was seen as just one more pseudo-messianic figure talking about other-worldly or unattainable ideals (as much of traditional Christianity has finally made him out to be) he could be ignored. But when he began gaining a growing number of followers and when it became clear that his preaching challenged the power structures of his day, he became a threat and was seen as an enemy of those who benefitted from the way things were.

It is clear from the gospels that Jesus eventually understood that his life and teaching would lead to his own death (see, for example, Matthew 16:13-21; esp v 21), at which point he could have chosen to back down. But his message of hope was clear: God desires and calls us to imagine and engage in the struggle (the lucha) to create a different kind of world, one where all share in the abundance of the earth, where there is true community, forgiveness and sharing, where there is true and comprehensive peace among all. Proclaiming and living this message of hope was his mission, and he stuck with it, regardless of the consequences to which it would lead. And so, confronting the power structures of his world would eventually lead to his death at the hands of those who felt threatened by his message and the impact it was having. 

Understanding faith as truly historically rooted leads us to the recognition that Jesus did not die for our sins, but because of sin. His death came as a consequence of the vision he proclaimed and the life he lived challenging the power structures and those who held the reigns of power of his day.  His death was for a cause, and the cause was a grounded vision and a historically active and strategic commitment to creating a more just world - especially for those placed at the margins by the political, economic, social, and cultural-religious power structures of his day.

---------------------------

1 See Searching for Liberation – Part 4: “So What About Sin?” at http://spiritandpraxis.blogspot.com/2015/03/reaching-for-liberation-part-4-so-what.html