Why did Jesus die?

(Spoiler: it's not because God is mad at you)

“The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

… is a really strange thing for St. Paul to say about a man who was killed in the street by the government. Because to be very clear: that is what the cross was, in the Roman Empire.

Crucifixion was a state-mandated execution almost always reserved for enslaved people, particularly enslaved people who were thought to be inciting a rebellion for freedom. So when Pontius Pilate washed his hands and said: crucify your king, he condemned our God to die naked and humiliated, a condemned criminal, in the same manner that people were killed along those oh-so-famous Roman highways to warn off any other enslaved people who got any big ideas about shaking off those chains.

So when Paul, in his letter that we read this morning to the church in Corinth says, “the message about the cross is foolishness,” he’s not wrong. According to many who longed with hope, Jesus Messiah was supposed to start a revolution, not die before he even really got started. But that is exactly what Jesus did.

He died.

I made a video recently, where I talked about Jesus dying, and specifically, I unravel the things some Christians claim about Jesus’ death.

Some Christians claim Jesus died because of “penal substitutionary atonement,” which is the fancy way of saying:

“Jesus died because God the Father was REALLY MAD at us human beings. The Father was mad because when Eve chose to ask questions and ate the forbidden fruit, her grasping to be like God —” (pause to remind us all: ADAM IS RIGHT THERE BUT EVE GETS ALL THE BLAME) —“ but because of EVE there was an unplayable debt we humans owed God. And God was mad about that debt, but God also loves us, so God sent the only person who could pay the debt — Jesus, his Son — and then Jesus hung there on the cross as God the Father just poured out all this wrath and vitriol on Jesus that was really meant for us miserable humans.”

To be clear: I do not think this is true, and frankly, most Christians all over the world, and most Christians throughout history have not considered this to be true.

God did not make us just to hate us.

Also? God is not divisible from God; so while they are three distinct persons, what happens to the Son also happens to the Father. You may have even heard the line “God turned his face away” — this is not even in the Bible. Jesus does cry out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” which is a quote from the Psalms and, surely, something any human being who has suffered extraordinary anguish has said at least once.

Which is why I think the cross matters so much. You may, quite reasonably, wonder: if Jesus did not HAVE to die on the cross to pay this angry debt, why did he die?

Well, there are some other theologies; here is a quick rundown of my favorites:

• There is the “Christus Victor” theory that basically says Jesus died to show us God’s victory over death, God’s victory over sin and evil and all that harms us, because even though sin and death and evil are in the world, God is greater.

• There is the “Scapegoat” theory, which says the evils of humanity are always looking for someone to blame. Consider how in every generation we have a new category of people whom those in power blame for all of society’s problems — how politicians right now don’t seem to be talking about the less-than-1% of the population who hold 99% of the world’s wealth, but they ARE talking about immigrants and trans people. The scapegoat theory says Jesus was just so good, and so beautiful, and so deeply aligned with the suffering scapegoats of this world, of course the forces of sin and death lynched him to deflect from their own addiction to greed and evil.

• And then there is the “Recapitulation” theory, that Jesus is the perfect person, a “New Adam” who is the only person who could resist sin and temptation even unto death.

Personally? I think these all have a lot of merit to them. I also don’t think we can use the method of an algebra equation to figure out why the creator of the universe would willingly submit to such a horrible death.

But I also think knowing these other theories and theologies matters, because when Paul says “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” … I don’t think this is him saying cross is foolishness to the perishing meaning those who have not prayed the “right” prayer or who are damned to hell.

Rather, I think Paul is reflecting that to worship a God who willingly submitted to a brutal, human death shows the foolishness of human systems that thrive on death. That thrive on evil and sin and cruelty and exploitation and oppression.

Those who are “perishing” are the people who behold the crosses of this world — peaceful protests in the streets, electric chairs, dying of exposure or hunger or poverty — and say “I can protect myself from death by shooting first.”

Whereas we who are saved see that Jesus is still on the cross.

We see how Jesus is still on the cross when people are killed in concentration camps called “detention centers.” We see how Jesus is still on the cross when children are ripped from their mothers arms for daring to be born on the “right” or “wrong” side of man-made line in the sand called a border.

But as we behold Jesus on the cross as we see protestors shot and killed in the street, as we behold Jesus on the cross in the anguished and silenced cries of children afraid to play outside lest they be kidnapped in a place where we told them they would be safe —

We also behold Jesus’ resurrection.

This is what it means to be saved by the message of the cross, to be saved by Jesus. Salvation is being freed from the charming and entrapping lie of violence, the lie that says you have conquer death through wealth or security or isolation. We know these seductive promises of “security” and “purity” are lies.

Jesus conquers death by submitting to it to show us the very power of God.

And this is why we have the Beatitudes: this famous passage in Matthew we heard this morning:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

It is not that we must be persecuted to be holy. It is that when we are persecuted or grieving or striving to make peace against all odds, Jesus is with us.

I may not have all the answers as to “WHY” Jesus died on the cross (and, honestly, you should be suspicious of people who claim to know anything in full totality about God) —

But I do believe, ten toes on the ground and arms to heaven, that at least one of the reasons Jesus died was to show us the depth of God’s profound love and solidarity with us when we are suffering, when we are mourning, when we are persecuted, when we are striving to make peace in a world that wants us dead. Jesus says: you want to find me? Look for the hurting places of the world. I am there. I am there bleeding for the wounded and offering the wounded my own blood and body to sustain you in the pit.

The beatitudes are Jesus’ way of saying: this is foolish to the world but it is my wisdom — where there is pain, look for Me. It is foolish to the world, because we rejoice even when we have considered all the odds and all the reasons we should be damned or demoralized and still find hope.

Hope is bigger and braver than optimism. Because we know we are blessed not because we suffer, but because we never suffer alone. And also?

Jesus did not stay dead. And neither will we.

Love is stronger than death. Love is stronger than death. And death knows this and death is terrified.

But we are not.

Amen.