Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 2:02am
Looking for love in Holy Week
Column: New Houses from Old Bricks
In Christian worship this week, we accompany Jesus through his last days — last supper, arrest, trial and crucifixion. And we are asked to believe that he did all that out of love for us, as the favorite memory verse says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ... " (John 3:16).
Anyone who has seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" can envision only too well what that love cost, and how gruesomely those last hours were filled with suffering and humiliation. A traditional theology of atonement would say that suffering, humiliation and death are what all human beings deserve, thanks to sin. "The wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23 says. By dying "in our place," Jesus paid the cost that should have been exacted from each of us.
There's an elegant simplicity to that theology, one that is well-supported by certain biblical verses and that makes a certain sense to human beings. However, I'm suspicious of ascribing to God human reasoning, especially when punishment is involved.
But if this is really how love works, then how do we follow in Christ's footsteps? More specifically, how do we do so without carrying around a martyr complex which takes a self-righteous pleasure in one's own suffering for another ("Look at all I've done for you!")?
For example, on the road yesterday I found myself behind a car with a decal: a drawing of Jesus' bowed head with a prominent crown of thorns, next to the label "TRUE LOVE." I was taken aback: Did this decal suggest that "true love" between people always involves the suffering and humiliation symbolized by the thorns?
It's no wonder that advocates for the abused sometimes blame Christianity for teaching people that "love hurts." In fact, the Bible is sometimes interpreted that way: The greater the (painful) sacrifice, the greater the love. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
Appropriate to its context, that verse is usually read as Jesus' comment on his friendship with people in light of his impending death. But the Greek word for "lay down" is an ordinary word which also means "to put." It's used again in Verse 16: "I chose you and appointed ["put"] you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last."
Bearing fruit does not usually kill a plant, so that sounds like living to me, not dying. I wonder if "laying down one's life" doesn't always mean dying for something or someone. It's been said that it's even harder — it can cost more — to live for an ideal than to die for one. Could it be that following in Jesus' footsteps of "true love" means that we need to live fully, so we can give our life and love over a lifetime?
Jesus poured out his love in both life and death, and he did it for us. So how are we supposed to respond to this gift? Some people are unfortunately skilled at feeling guilt for gifts we have received, especially costly gifts. (That can even be part of the martyr complex: We are always the one suffering, giving, loving — never receiving.)
If perhaps we are not all called to follow Jesus into martyrdom, what's another option? Something I heard last Sunday led to a possible answer, but it wasn't at church; it was on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Homeowners Steve and Mary Boettcher had been living in a dilapidated trailer and running a ministry to at-risk teens out of their tiny, unheated garage. Moved by their ministry and the love that was evident between the Boettchers and the teens, Extreme Makeover built a spacious, well-equipped recreation center for the teens, alongside the family's new home.
At the end of the show, standing with the teens in the new rec center, Steve tells them, "You are worth this. And don't ever let anyone tell you you're not." There was no chance to feel guilty; he was helping the teens feel worthy and deserving of so much beauty, money and people's hard work.
Perhaps we need a similar reminder during Holy Week. Accompanying Jesus through his last days, we might be tempted to feel more guilty than grateful. But the Bible tells us repeatedly that God thinks we are worth it — worth living for and worth dying for.
As Easter teaches us again to live in the light of Christ's new life, here's one way we might respond to this amazing gift. We might ask ourselves: Where am I "putting" my life, and does God (and do I) believe it is worth living for?
— — —
Rev. Rebecca Schlatter is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Reno, Nev. You can contact her at {email newhousesfromoldbricks@hotmail.com}newhousesfromoldbricks@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Rebecca Schlatter.
Anyone who has seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" can envision only too well what that love cost, and how gruesomely those last hours were filled with suffering and humiliation. A traditional theology of atonement would say that suffering, humiliation and death are what all human beings deserve, thanks to sin. "The wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23 says. By dying "in our place," Jesus paid the cost that should have been exacted from each of us.
There's an elegant simplicity to that theology, one that is well-supported by certain biblical verses and that makes a certain sense to human beings. However, I'm suspicious of ascribing to God human reasoning, especially when punishment is involved.
But if this is really how love works, then how do we follow in Christ's footsteps? More specifically, how do we do so without carrying around a martyr complex which takes a self-righteous pleasure in one's own suffering for another ("Look at all I've done for you!")?
For example, on the road yesterday I found myself behind a car with a decal: a drawing of Jesus' bowed head with a prominent crown of thorns, next to the label "TRUE LOVE." I was taken aback: Did this decal suggest that "true love" between people always involves the suffering and humiliation symbolized by the thorns?
It's no wonder that advocates for the abused sometimes blame Christianity for teaching people that "love hurts." In fact, the Bible is sometimes interpreted that way: The greater the (painful) sacrifice, the greater the love. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
Appropriate to its context, that verse is usually read as Jesus' comment on his friendship with people in light of his impending death. But the Greek word for "lay down" is an ordinary word which also means "to put." It's used again in Verse 16: "I chose you and appointed ["put"] you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last."
Bearing fruit does not usually kill a plant, so that sounds like living to me, not dying. I wonder if "laying down one's life" doesn't always mean dying for something or someone. It's been said that it's even harder — it can cost more — to live for an ideal than to die for one. Could it be that following in Jesus' footsteps of "true love" means that we need to live fully, so we can give our life and love over a lifetime?
Jesus poured out his love in both life and death, and he did it for us. So how are we supposed to respond to this gift? Some people are unfortunately skilled at feeling guilt for gifts we have received, especially costly gifts. (That can even be part of the martyr complex: We are always the one suffering, giving, loving — never receiving.)
If perhaps we are not all called to follow Jesus into martyrdom, what's another option? Something I heard last Sunday led to a possible answer, but it wasn't at church; it was on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Homeowners Steve and Mary Boettcher had been living in a dilapidated trailer and running a ministry to at-risk teens out of their tiny, unheated garage. Moved by their ministry and the love that was evident between the Boettchers and the teens, Extreme Makeover built a spacious, well-equipped recreation center for the teens, alongside the family's new home.
At the end of the show, standing with the teens in the new rec center, Steve tells them, "You are worth this. And don't ever let anyone tell you you're not." There was no chance to feel guilty; he was helping the teens feel worthy and deserving of so much beauty, money and people's hard work.
Perhaps we need a similar reminder during Holy Week. Accompanying Jesus through his last days, we might be tempted to feel more guilty than grateful. But the Bible tells us repeatedly that God thinks we are worth it — worth living for and worth dying for.
As Easter teaches us again to live in the light of Christ's new life, here's one way we might respond to this amazing gift. We might ask ourselves: Where am I "putting" my life, and does God (and do I) believe it is worth living for?
— — —
Rev. Rebecca Schlatter is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Reno, Nev. You can contact her at {email newhousesfromoldbricks@hotmail.com}newhousesfromoldbricks@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Rebecca Schlatter.