God did not torture Jesus for our atonement.
If there is anything to let go from #evangelicalism it’s the shame of ‘bought & paid.’
You know … the aching over our own flesh to be a staunch advocate for how desperate we are in need of being saved from our ugliness. That in this inherent ugliness we must suffer.
Trade it in for the realization that Jesus forgave prior to the cross. In his life, Jesus’ radical ministry broke barriers, laws, religious constructs & allowed ppl to be seen.
God desires for you to be seen.
Because of the entanglement of religion, power, money & order – Jesus’ push for radical love, inclusion & justice was threatening.
It would topple empire – it would open the world for shalom.
On the night before his death, he was betrayed by people who did not know themselves, but knew only what they had been told of their flesh; of their identity.
Christ forgave because he knew them.
Christ died for them & us to topple empire. Christ died to free us, so that God could be for us. In flesh & in Spirit we embody God & we are tasked not to flog ourselves in shame, but to love one another as Christ loves us.
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. – John 13:34
My deepest prayer as we make our way to Easter is that our love would be in action, in justice and in calling out the oppressive nature of the continuation of modern empire – that we weep for the bodies lost to this hatred & we honor them by our faith & unwavering truth telling.
QIF 