Jesus Mortal |
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sacrifice Since very early on through to the present, Jesus’ death has consistently been thought of as a sacrifice. This theme is a natural way to make sense of Jesus’ crucifixion. What Pilate and the chief priests thought they were doing was proving that Jesus wasn’t all that. But the early Christians turned it around and declared that, in fact, Jesus’ intentional, horrible sacrifice on the cross had been part of the plan all along: proof of Jesus’ obedience, holiness, and identity with the suffering servant of Second Isaiah. This theme was a total hit as Christianity spread through the Roman Empire. People were getting less superstitious, more civilized, and less comfortable with this whole business of slaughtering animals for religious purposes. If any religious practice looks old-fashioned, it’s animal sacrifice. Once Herod’s temple fell to the Romans, Christians were done with sacrificing animals. Instead, Christ was their eternal sacrifice and the lord’s supper was their bloodless sacrifice. For centuries, Christians understood Christ’s sacrifice to have paid off a debt to Satan. The Devil, by rights, owns the souls of all sinners, that is, everyone; but Jesus’ infinite sacrifice has paid off the debt for everyone, and now anyone can get to heaven by getting baptized, etc. The idea of God having to respect a debt to Satan eventually bothered Christians enough that they came up with an alternative. The medieval innovation was that the debt Christ paid was not owed to any third party but was a debt of honor. Christ paid, but no one collected. Now Jesus did actually preach about sacrifice, but it was more of a personal issue than an end-times prophecy set-up. Turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, forgiving debts, selling your goods and giving the money to the poor, these are sacrifices, for sure. The difference is that these sacrifices Jesus preached about relate to the listener and what the listener does. The crucifixion as sacrifice is about what Jesus did. Suspiciously, the gospel scenes in which Jesus predicts his own suffering tend to be secret teachings made in private, not anything that third parties could independently verify.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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