The Crucified God - Brian Zahnd

I love this post by Brian Zahnd. It really gets to the heart of the rich meaning of the Cross.

Here are a few of my favorite ways Brian describes Jesus on the Cross:

On the cross we sinned our sins into Jesus and he forgave us.

On the cross Jesus became the sacrifice to end sacrifice.

On the cross Jesus became the scapegoat (lamb of God) who saves us from the foundational sin of scapegoating.

At the cross Jesus gives the world a new organizing principle: Love.

At the cross Jesus gives the world a new telos: Peace.

At the cross we discover a God who shapes the world, not by coercion, but by love.

In his crucifixion Jesus reorients the way of the world from the way of Cain (collective murder) to the way of Abel (co-suffering love).

At the cross Jesus reveals a God who would rather die than kill his enemies.

The cross is God’s alternative to the sword.

In the crucifixion we understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself…not the other way around!

At the cross Jesus doesn’t save us from God, he reveals God.

At the cross Jesus saves us from the coming wrath that is the inevitable result of following the ways of pride and power.

(The artwork is Sanctus Christus de Capel-y-ffin by David Jones, 1925.)