Confusion about the Cross

For so many Christians, the central symbol of the Christian faith is also the most enigmatic. What exactly happened at the “theological level” when Jesus was crucified?

God is apparently taking out His wrath for the whole human race on His beloved Son—the great penal substitution—the righteous and just wrath of God, and so on. Right?

And yet, somewhat surprisingly, the gospels say very little about this particular, shrunken way of telling the Christian story.

To be sure, the Scriptures which Jesus knew spoke often about God’s “judgment.” Yet, this feature of God’s character was always located within His larger purposes to mend the beloved world which Adam had broken.

So,

What is the larger narrative within which the crucifixion of Jesus was designed to make sense?

Human sin had unleashed evil into the world; Adam and Eve had fallen; Israel too, God’s chosen means of rescue, had fallen like Adam. How would God exhaust the powerful force of evil in the world?

God came in as the human being Jesus of Nazareth, the second Adam, Israel in person. This Jesus preached God’s royal victory over all the forces of evil. What would be, however, this Jesus’ means of victory?

He would lure evil to the center of God’s saving people; right at the heart of Jerusalem he would set the stage for battle.

As Paul says, “He publicly disarmed the rulers and authorities, triumphing over them through the cross” (Col. 2:15).

What is Paul talking about? What sort of battle had Jesus waged? Hadn’t he lost? Hadn’t the “authorities” publicly disarmed and humiliated Jesus, and not the other way around?

Paul has in mind a much darker force, a force which energized and sustained the historical figures which nailed Jesus to the tree. This force, Paul says, approached in battle toward the one crucified up Golgotha. But this force found him hanging there, announcing forgiveness over those not asking for it (Luke 23:34).

In an instant disarmed—shocked. What kind of weapon is this? What kind of battle is this? What kind of king is this? “Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews.”

The Evil was shocked, the weapons fell from its hands; it hadn’t prepared to fight Love.