The death of Jesus confuses me. The traditional explanation seems to be that Jesus was sacrificed to atone for the sins of humanity, this seems to be found in the Bible also. What I don't know is whether or not this explanation of Jesus as sacrifice is a metaphor to get at a part of what happened at Jesus' death or whether that is the end of it, whether that is it in its entirety.
Here's another thing that confuses me: I feel that Jesus' death was necessary, but I'm not sure why. Why did Jesus have to die to atone for sin? Is this because "the wages of sin is death"? Maybe. What I don't understand is why death is necessary for God's plan to be carried out. Saying that Jesus' death was necessary to satisfy God's wrath creates an image of a vengeful God who just needs to kill something to be happy. So I don't if it's Jesus' death that was necessary or the symbol of his death that was necessary. In other words, maybe what was important about his death wasn't his actual death but the symbol it created of making things right with God, a symbol that would have been impossible without his actual death. In the end, it seems strange to me that death, any death, whether a bull or a goat or God on earth as Jesus, could appease God.
Also, I wonder if the resurrection of Jesus is maybe more important than his death. Maybe it shows that things don't end at death, the end is life and making things new.
2 comments:
It's kind of like the "deep magic from the dawn of time" thing in The Chronicles of Narnia, and I don't get it either. Also, we're going to sojourn on the Olympic Peninsula sometime this next year. Mark it in your day planner.
The problem might be that you're thinking/writing about God as if "He" were a person.
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