A Theology of the Cross or Why You Gotta Look Good on Wood
Nietzsche called this an anti-human slave morality. Screwtape claims it is only the underworld’s “ceaseless labor” that has prevented this “theology of the cross” from taking root in the Church of England (C. S. Lewis’ church). Here’s his full account.
“We have quite removed from men's minds what that pestilent fellow
Paul used to teach about food and other unessentials—namely, that the human
without scruples should always give in to the human with scruples. You would
think they could not fail to see the application. You would expect to find the
‘low’ churchman genuflecting and crossing himself lest the weak conscience of
his ‘high’ brother should be moved to irreverence, and the ‘high’ one refraining
from these exercises lest he should betray his ‘low’ brother into idolatry. And
so it would have been but for our ceaseless labour. Without that the variety of
usage within the Church of England might have become a positive hotbed of
charity and humility.” (Screwtape Letters, letter XVI)
But most of us do not want to live this way! Some piece of all of us agrees with Nietzsche
that a theology of the cross is not a promising, fulfilling, self-realizing way
to live.
Wasn’t this just Jesus’ thing to do? And after he did it, didn’t he go back to all
his glory and regal splendor, and angels serving him, and all that stuff?
I think the clue to our confusion is found in the first
panel. “This is what a life with purpose
looks like.” Maybe we just don’t get the
purpose of life, Jesus, Christian faith.
What’s it all about?
Let me put it as simply as I can. The life God intended humanity to live from
all eternity is his own life (remember the “Tree of Life” in the Garden of
Eden). We funked out on this, but God
never gave up on his plan to fill his creation with “loathsome little replicas
of himself” (as Screwtape puts it).
Jesus came as he always intended to but now he had to resolve the sin
problem we had created as well as embody and model the life we were supposed to
live (remember, he’s the “second” or “last” Adam). Coming into a world of sin and hostile
opposition to God and his purposes meant that the life God intended us to live
as incarnate in Jesus would be a contested, resisted, opposed, and hated
one. It was the life of God from all
eternity lived under the conditions of fallen humanity and a fallen world (1
Pet.1:19-21).
That’s what the picture is all about! It shows the life God intends for us lived
out: victorious, obedient, blessed, lifted up, glorified, miraculous – saving. That’s why it’s got to be the same for us
too. This life is the life we are saved
for, the only life God has to give us.
When God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, we will live just the same way
– only without the conflict and resistance (check out Luke 12:35-40, esp. v.37,
if you don’t believe me).
So Jesus is not asking us to do anything heroic, over
and above what we would normally do. It
is the normal thing we ought to as followers of Jesus. Basic Humanity 101. Nietzsche might not like it. The underworld certainly doesn’t. But the reality is it is who we truly are and
what we are called to be even amid the continuing falleness and resistance of
the world. To live this way in that
world is not a natural possibility. Only
Jesus’ own life in us through the Spirit enables such a thing.
This theology of the cross, which I summarize as “You
gotta look good on wood,” is God’s life lived out in a fallen world. Victorious, obedient, blessed, lifted up,
glorified, and miraculous. It’s what
Paul says that if we suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified with him
(Rom.8:17). It is salvation! It is
living for the purpose for which we were created. It is living the life of the age to come in
the here and now (what Jesus in John calls “eternal life”). It scares us and we resist it at points. But God will not give up on us. “You gotta look good on wood”! Yeah, baby!
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