Holy Week and Theology lite
On Palm Sunday, a
friend reported that the rector of his parish had preached a sermon, which my
friend partially summarized in these words:
He said he had a
meeting with a Roman Catholic friend who told him she always felt guilty during
Holy Week since she had been taught that it was ‘her’ sins which were the
reason that Jesus had died. The Rector said he was a post-Resurrection person
who only found joy in Holy Week. It would appear that the Old Testament and
theological matters of salvation, atonement, sanctification, etc., do not
bother the Rector too much. Apparently spreading the Good News is all that
matters in the post-Resurrection church.
Resurrection without death is impossible. Regardless of how a person understands
resurrection and death – literally, metaphorically, or mythically – that which
is not dead cannot be brought to life.
I agree with what my friend’s summary of his rector’s sermon implies,
that is, orthodox Christian theories of the atonement are at best
incomprehensible and at worst evil in the developed world of the twenty-first
century. Any theological framework that requires Jesus to die in order for
humans to participate in Jesus’ resurrection depicts God as a masochist,
sadist, or child abuser.
However, that agreement does not mean that I think resurrection is
possible without death. If resurrection is possible without death, then the
Good News of the gospel is reduced to the self-help message of Norman Vincent
Peale and Robert Schuller, a self-help message characteristic of much popular
evangelical preaching, e.g., that of Joel Osteen.
The death that humans universally experience is what twentieth century Christian
theologian Paul Tillich described as inauthentic life. The inauthentic life
occurs when a person is no longer faithful to him or herself and is therefore
incapable of having what twentieth century Jewish theologian Martin Buber I-Thou
relationships with other people and with the divine. Instead, in an inauthentic
life a person reduces others and God to objects. With respect to God, this
reduction easily and generally leads to agnosticism or atheism.
During Holy Week, Christians
commemorate on Palm Sunday Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, remember on Maundy Thursday
Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples and his command to them that they love
one another, and on Good Friday recall Jesus’ crucifixion. In sum, Holy Week encourages
Christian self-examination:
·
In what
way(s) am I living an inauthentic life?
·
Who do I
objectify, viewing and treating as an object instead of entering into an I-Thou
relationship with them?
·
In what
way(s) do I objectify God, reducing God to a concept that I can describe,
perhaps even control, instead of daring to enter into an I-Thou relationship
with the Divine, a reality utterly beyond human description or control?
None of us is fully alive, for all are dying if not dead.
In my Easter post, I will explore the concept of resurrection.
Comments