"So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place of a skull, which is called in Herbrew Gol'gatha. There they crucified him ... (John 19:17-18)."

The story continues, and we know it well. He was crucified with two other criminals - one on each side. We know about the sign that Pilate hung on the cross - proclaiming Jesus (sarcastically) to be "King of the Jews (John 19:19-24)." We know about how the soldiers divided up his clothes (John 19:23-23). We ache when he thirsted, and they gave him vinegar (John 19:28-29).

Of course, there is that wonderful, moving moment when, though wracked by pain, he saw his mother and instructed the beloved disciple (probably John) to care for her (John 19:25-27). Even death could not overcome God's love. Death still cannot overcome his love!

Then it ended: "When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:30)."

Unlike in the other gospel accounts, John's version of Jesus' crucifixion still portrays Jesus as being in control of things.1 Yet the suffering was real and barbaric. Why? Why did he have to die? If God is all-powerful, and if Jesus truly remained in control of the situation as John seems to portray it, why did the Father not merely decree the forgiveness of our sins and leave it at that? Why did Jesus have to suffer and die for them?

In addition, even if Jesus did die for our sins, why is that so significant for Christians in the late 20th century? Is it not sufficient simply to proclaim God's love and his forgiveness? What is really at stake for the church and for us in getting clear about why Jesus had to suffer and die? These are not merely theological questions. They have implications for the way in which you live out your faith and relate to our Lord.

Why did Jesus have to die in order for our sins to be forgiven? For about 200 years or more the church has tended to dodge this question. The leading theologians and teachers of the church have tended not to deal with Christ's sacrificial death. It has been much easier to talk about the sacrificial lifestyle that Jesus lived for others, or merely to proclaim God's love and how Jesus reflects that love.2 I, too, plead guilty of that retreat from attention to Christ's sacrifice.

Are we not all guilty of such indiscretion in our faith? If an ecumenical council were convened by the church in the next 10 years, and we threw out the idea that Christ's death was a necessary sacrificial offering for our sin, would your faith really be seriously affected? Would it not be sufficient for you simply to proclaim God's forgiving love? Be honest with yourself: What role is Christ's sacrificial death playing in your faith life?

There is a history of several hundred years behind this dilemma.3 It has to do with a conflict between two of the most ancient views of the meaning of Christ's death. The one view dominated in the theology that began to prevail in Protestantism about 50 years after the reformation (Protestant Orthodoxy). Its roots were even more ancient, dating back at least to the theology that prevailed in the Middle Ages. This view of Christ's death taught that Jesus had to die in order to placate the wrath of God. God's justice or wrath has been offended by sin, and God demands punishment. Consequently, Jesus must die in order to satisfy God's need to punish sin. (Especially see Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:14).

What do you think of this way of understanding Christ's death? Given the influence of the schools of theology which espoused this view, it would not surprise me if many of you endorsed this idea of Christ's death as a satisfaction paid to God's wrath. However, such thinking has problems.

The main problem in thinking of Jesus' death in these terms is that it implies that salvation is not really God's work. Jesus is seen to be placating God. In a way, God is the enemy. That is not the kind of God whom we want or know. In addition, to understand Jesus' work on this day as a sacrifice paid to God seems to overlook some basic biblical themes. Among those that are overlooked are those portions of scripture that refer to Jesus' struggle with the devil and conceive of his death as a way of overcoming the devil's power. (Especially see Colossians 2:13-15.)

These alternative themes have been brought together by other Christian thinkers in a second, conflicting view of the atonement. On this view, Christ's death is regarded as having been necessary in order to trick the devil and defeat him by coming back to life. This second view makes sense in a number of respects. It makes sense to think of sin and evil as a power or force, which, like the devil, is more than our individual sins. Consequently, some of you may be attracted to this idea of Jesus' death as a consequence of God's struggle against the forces of evil.

This way of thinking about Jesus' death is also attractive for the picture of God it paints. It portrays God as more loving than the first explanation of Christ's death does. For while that first view in a sense made God the enemy (God's wrath must be satisfied if salvation is to be given), this second view of Christ's death as a consequence of the warfare with evil portrays God only as a God of love. God is not the enemy! He is fighting the enemy, sending Christ to destroy Satan.

Nevertheless, despite all of its strengths, this second approach to understanding Jesus' death has problems. Like the first view, it too has difficulties dealing with the whole range of the biblical witness. There are some passages of scripture which very clearly indicate the first understanding of Christ's death as a sacrifice paid by Christ to God. Ephesians 5:2 says it most clearly; it speaks of Christ as "a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Consequently, we indeed have a kind of stand-off between the two prevailing views of the purpose of Christ's death. Neither is fully adequate. Little wonder that the church has been so relatively silent about the issue in the past few years. Little wonder that we do not tend to talk much about Christ's death and why he had to die. To limit ourselves merely to reflect on God's forgiving love seems to be the easy way out. Yet that route does not work either.

To neglect Christ's sacrificial death is to ignore the central symbol of the Christian faith - the cross. Such neglect makes grace cheap! To bypass the death of Christ, which confronts us so vividly today, cheapens grace because then we are ignoring the price that God paid to save us. In addition, if we ignore the price paid, we tend to ignore the depth or tragedy of our sin, and not take our sin as seriously as we should.

The church certainly has a knotty problem on its hands. However, our Good Friday story from the Gospel of John, and to some extent our second lesson (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9), may have a better way.4

The Jesus of John's gospel always has to be understood in the context of the famous prologue of the gospel (John 1:1-8). (In the second lesson, the author of Hebrews designates Jesus as both a "high priest [Hebrews 4:14-15]," who presumably offers a sacrifice through his death; yet the sacrifice presumably was not offered to a wrathful God since God is designated as the one who could save Jesus [Hebrews 5:7].) The prologue reminds the reader that Jesus is the eternal word of God through whom God created the world (John 1:1-3)." Everything that Jesus says or does in that gospel, even his death, must always be seen in the light of "the eternal will of God for the redemption of the world."5 As the eternal Word who had a role in creation, all that Christ does is tied up with redeeming the world. Why did Christ have to die, according to John's scheme? In order to redeem the world.

In a sense, this point seems to offer us nothing that we did not previously recognize. Of course, Christ died to redeem the world. But why did the world require a death to redeem it? Once again we turn to John's prologue to the gospel. After introducing the Word, who is eternal and who created all things, John writes this: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4-5)."

And then John proceeds: "And from his [Christ's] fullness have we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:16-17)."

Christ's death must be understood in this context. His death was related to the struggle that God has with darkness, with sin and with chaos. Darkness, evil and chaos are all around us. You see them everywhere in the poverty, the anguish and the aimlessness that surround us. You experience them in your own heart, do you not? In his death this darkness sought to overcome Jesus, but it could not. Jesus died in the struggle with evil.

Yet, John also talks about Jesus' ministry, his death, as a means of grace in contrast to the law. Somehow, then, Jesus'; death redeems the world by overcoming the demands of the law as well as by being aprt of a struggle with evil. How do we put these elements of a death that both overcomes the law as well as evil together? Our second lesson provides some clues. It speaks of Jesus as a "High Priest," who has presumably offered a sacrifice (Hebrews 4:14-15). To what or whom was the sacrifice offered? Later, in Hebrews (9:15-18), we are told that christ is the mediator of a new covenant, "Since a death has occurred which redeems them [us] from the transgressions under the first covenant ... Hence the first covenant was not ratified without blood."

The point is quite apparent. Jesus' death, his sacrifice, was paid to the first covenant, to the law of God which he established with his people, first with Abraham and then on Sinai. This law (think of the ten commandments) is not just for Jewish and Christian people. The Bible tells us that God has written this law on human hearts; he has built it in to the very structures, the fiber, of creation (Romans 2:14-15). Consequently, by setting things right with the law (the commandemnts) by means of his death, Jesus was setting things right with creation. It is in this sense that John can speak of Jesus' work in redeeming the world.

The law, the commandments, by which the world is structured, had been violated by our sin. The law demands payment for such sin (see John 7:49; Romans 2:12; cf. Deuteronomy 6:3, 18; Psalms 89:31-32). This is why Jesus had to die; the law's just demands (that sinners must die for their sins) needed to be met. Why could God not merely abolish the law and wipe away the darkness of sin? Because the commandments were built into the very structures of creation, if he abolished the law, he would have to destroy us and the creation. Of course, God did not want to make that move. This is why Jesus had to die (to pay the law's commands), and God could not merely abolish the law and the darkness of evil.

The image here is of a world out of control. With sin in the world, God had a problem on his hands. He and his Son (the light) did not want to see his creatures eternally punished, as the law of his creation would dictate. Yet, because the world had been structured in this way, so that what is in violation of the law demands punishment, these demands of the law needed to be fulfilled or else the world's (legal) structure wuld have to be destoryed. John says the Word creates; the Word does not allow the darkness of evil and chaos to overcome its light (John 1:1-5). Consequently, God could not remedy the situation of darkness and evil by destroying the creation's structures. His only option, then, was to satisfy the law's demands by the sacrifice of his Son. This is what the cross is all about. This is why Jesus had to die.

In some cases, Jesus' sacarifice was paid to God, to his word of law in creation. (In this sense, this understanding of Christ's death embraces the biblical images which reinforce the first view of Christ's death that we noted.) However, the way that the law and creation were functioning was not what God wanted. In a sense they were God's enemy - out of control - had been co-opted by the darkness of evil and chaos. In order to overcome these enemies it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and die. (In this sense, this manner of talking about Christ's death also embraces the biblical images which reinforce the second viewpoint's idea that Christ's death was to overcome an enemy of God - in this case to overcome evil, chaos and a created order that had gotten out of control.)

What is at stake in all this for us and for our faith? Keeping in mind that the purpose of Christ's death was to set right the law of creation alerts us to the fact that Christ did not just die for you and me. If Christ's death was a sacrifice paid to the law, to the structures of the created order, then it follows that his death and God's redemptive work are on behalf of the whole of creation.

Christ's death and suffering, then, remind us that we are not saved alone. Salvation is not an individual affair. Christ's saving work on the cross was intended to straighten out the whole of creation. This entails that our Christian responsibility, as people who have been saved by the cross of Christ, also must include a concern for the whole of creation.

We need to keep Christ's sacrificial daeth before us in order to avoid a Christian individualism - to remind us that our salvation is linked with the redemption and restoration of the whole of God's creation. Christ died not just for you and me. He died to heal the whole of God's creation - the only way that he could deal with the darkness of sin without having to destory his good creation in the process.

One more reason should be given for keeping Christ's death at the center of the faith. Our second lesson from Hebrews (4:15-16) says it well: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are ... Let us then with confidence draw near the throne of grace."

Christ's death reminds us of the kind of God whom we love. He is not a God "out there," untouched by human suffering. He is a God who is Jesus Christ, and who as Jesus Christ has suffered. We see him suffering in our gospel lesson when he thirsted on that cross (John 19:28) and when he gave it all up and said, "It is finished (John 19:30)." Yes, we have a God who knows our despair, our trials - an emphathetic God who has experienced our suffering.

What is at stake in keeping Christ's death at the center of our faith? Nothing less than a full appreciation of the extent of God's redeeming love - a reminder that that love is for all creation and is given by a God who has empathized and suffered with us. Praise God that he is a God like that - a God who suffered and died for us and for his whole creation. His cross has wrought so much good. It really is a Good Friday!