Easter Vigil- Atonement as Victory over Evil
Easter Vigil-
atonement as Victory over evil- directed to Evil[1]
For the last couple days we have been exploring the
Atonement. At the very center of our faith stands a cross. What does the cross
mean? What happened on the cross? ‘Atonement’ has been the word used to
describe what happened. The word “atonement” means to bring two things into
unity. We are told that what happened on the cross brought what was divided
(God and humanity), into unity.
There are a variety of ways to understand the Atonement. I
also want to remind you of what C. S. Lewis has said about the atonement- That
understanding how it works is less important than understanding that
it works. He says it is like nutrition. People were eating food and drinking long
before there were any theories of how the body broke down food to nourish
cells. When you are hungry it is enough
to eat, and it works. Jesus’ work on the
cross is like this. We don’t have to dedicate ourselves to one particular
theory about how this works. What we are assured of in Scripture and the
experience of the Church is that it does work.
That being said, the many ways of understanding the Atonement
fall into three basic categories. They answer the question “where was the work
of Christ on the cross directed?” Was it directed to human beings? Was it
directed to God? Or was it directed to Evil?
On Thursday we considered the view that Jesus’ actions on the
cross were directed towards humanity, which resulted in healing humanity,
providing an example for them to follow, and expressing God’s amazing and
unending love that draws alienated humanity back to Himself.
There are two other basic ways to view Atonement. On Friday
we considered the cross as directed to God. Viewed this way the actions of Jesus
can be seen as the actions of a representative or a substitute for humanity
that stands before a profoundly mysterious and holy God that is unable to have
the corruption of sin in His presence. Jesus pays a debt we owe God, or
receives a punishment we deserve as a part of offending a very holy justice.
Overview- Today we will consider the third way to view the
atonement, which is directed towards the Evil powers. In this view the work of Christ on the cross
is about going to battle on our behalf to destroy the powers of Evil and rescue
humanity that has been captured and oppressed. This is the view of the atonement
that dominated the church for the first 1000 years. Through the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus God defeated the devil.
Throughout the Bible we read about an unseen world that is
populated by unseen beings and that have an influence on the people of the
earth. They influence even entire nations. God is at war with His enemies in
the unseen spiritual realm, but it has visible consequences and an effect on
human beings. These evil powers oppose God and threaten the destroy His
creation.
Imagine it like the Exodus story. God’s people are enslaved in
Egypt. God begins a battle to rescue his people. The plagues have even
sometimes been understood as a battle and victory of God over the gods of
Egypt. So, each plague is evidence of victory over an Egyptian god. Some make
it a bit more physical and see God as battling the systemic evil of slavery and
oppression of the poor and powerless by the rich and powerful. This Exodus
model is an example of what God is always doing regarding human beings. Since
the time the first couple ate the forbidden fruit, human beings have
unknowingly given themselves as slaves to an Evil power. In this model of the atonement Jesus fights
against and triumphs over the evil powers of the world under which humanity
suffers and is in bondage.
In our Baptismal vows we “renounce Satan and all the
spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God” and we also “renounce
the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God”. These are the powers of the unseen world and
also the social and systemic powers that hold people in corrupt and oppressive
situations. We also “renounce all sinful desires that draw [us] from the love
of God”. So we recognize that not only is this power out there in the world,
but is also is a power within us. These are the powers Jesus confronts.
Systemic evil- Jesus’ ministry can be seen as warfare with these powers, and
his weapon was primarily the profound self-sacrificial love of God. Jesus
confronted systemic evil by breaking religious and cultural taboos to show love
to those on the margins of society. He spent time with tax-collectors,
prostitutes, and sinners. He fed and healed people even when it broke the
Sabbath rules. He treated Samaritans and Gentiles with compassion. He touched
lepers and others considered unclean. Jesus treated women with remarkable
dignity and respect considering his culture.
He showed mercy to those the culture thought deserved no mercy. The
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was about using the power of God’s
kingdom to overcome the oppressive, destructive, and cruel kingdom of darkness.
Demonic evil- When we read through the gospels we read that many times Jesus
confronts and releases people from the oppression of demonic powers. There were
spiritual entities that possessed people and drove them out of their
communities and caused sicknesses (Luke 13:10-16), and caused them to harm
themselves or others. In the Book of Acts (10:38) Peter describes Jesus’
ministry this way, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed
by the devil, for God was with him”. And we read in John’s first
letter (3:8) that, “The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy
the works of the devil”.
During Jesus’ day there was a belief among many that the
earth was held hostage by evil forces, and this situation could only be fixed
by God invading the earth in a powerful and dramatic way. In the Gospel of John, Jesus suggests that
Satan is the “ruler of the world” (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11)[2].
Obviously, Jesus believed that God was the ultimate ruler of the universe, but
it seemed that Satan was believed to have gained a significant amount of control
over the systems and peoples of the world. The central thing Jesus was doing was
to drive out the “ruler of this world” (Jn 12:31) as he “gave himself for our
sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4) because before he
saved us we “were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world” (Gal
4:3).
Likewise, Paul says that “we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).[3]
These powers are related to and influence a variety of social structures.
Jesus’ ministry was about battling this opposing empire. Jesus is taking back
the world from the hands of Evil, and restoring human beings to their
originally designed state- as stewards of the Earth.
Salvation in the New Testament is often described in terms of
freedom from the devil’s oppression. As we read in the letter to the Colossians
“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame,
by triumphing over them… .” (Col
2:15). So Jesus’ work is often understood as defeating the powers of evil.
Power of sin- We can also be influenced by the
oppressive power of Sin. Jesus has said, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). So it
is almost like being an addict. We might have some level of free will at some
point, but the more and more we participate with the power of Sin the more and
more we become enslaved to it. Like a heroin addict, the first few times you
use it might be a free will choice, but over time it is a kind of slavery and
very little free will is involved. Writing to the Romans about the crucifixion
Paul says that the actions of Jesus were “so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin”… and “now that you have been set free from sin
and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to
sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Rom 6:6, 22)[4].
So Paul sees that there is a power of Sin that exists that is beyond the
individual’s free choices, but that actually seems to enslave and have power
over a person, which is why we often find it so difficult to get out of
habitual patterns of sin.[5]
This power of Sin makes it impossible to really follow the law perfectly, or to
even want to follow the law. That power in us is what convinces us that
sin is actually a lot of fun.
Overview- The ministry of Jesus is about releasing us from these
powers. From the unseen demonic powers, from the systemic evil of cultures that
oppresses people, and from the power of Sin that lives within us. In this view
of the atonement, what we see in the gospels is Jesus rescuing people from the
kingdom of darkness and bringing them into the kingdom of God. These kingdoms are sometimes described in the
New Testament as two separate ‘powers’, or two different ‘laws’ that have the
ability to drive our behavior.[6]
Jesus saves us from the power of Evil, and the inevitable destruction that is
coming to the kingdom of darkness and sin. Being freed from that evil empire we
are freed from the inability to live in right relationship with God, and we
become free to participate in all the joy and abundance that comes with life in
the eternal kingdom of God.
You might be wondering what the cross has to do with this. It
is can be described in a few different ways, but the best way is probably
described by C.S. Lewis in the “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”. In case you
don’t know the story, four children find themselves in the magical land of
Narnia that has been frozen in an everlasting winter and is ruled by an evil
witch. Aslan, who represents Jesus, arrives in Narnia and suddenly the snows
begin to melt. After many many years, Spring is coming. According to prophecy,
the four children were to be the kings and queens of Narnia. The witch,
however, wants to kill the children so she can remain the ruler of Narnia and
keep it in its everlasting winter. One of the children is tricked by the witch,
Edmund, who betrays his brothers and sisters, and is taken captive by the
witch. The army of Aslan succeeds in recuing Edmund, but the witch comes to
Aslan calling for justice. The Old Magic, the Law, says that all traitors
belong to the witch. The Law is not to be broken if justice is to exist. The
witch uses the Law to lay claim to Edmund, knowing that Aslan’s integrity will
not violent the law. … To everyone’s shock, Aslan offers himself in place of
Edmund. … The witch is ecstatic. The Lion is shaved and mocked and eventually
killed on the table of the Old Magic. Aslan is dead and the hope of Narnia has
died with him. … But this is not the end of the story. To everyone’s surprise,
especially the witch’s, Aslan is resurrected from the dead. There is an even
older and deeper magic that says that if an innocent person gives their life
for one who is guilty that it will break the power of the old magic. Aslan goes
to the witch’s castle and releases all her prisoners and then meets her on the
battlefield and is victorious over her, freeing the land of Narnia from her
power. He then places the four children in their place as the kings and queens
of Narnia- as stewards over the land.
We, like Edmund, by our sin have placed ourselves under the
power of evil, which means a life subject to sin, fear, and death. But, God
will not leave us enslaved to evil and comes to us as Jesus. Jesus offers
himself to these powers in exchange for humanity. But they don’t realize the
deeper magic at work. They think they can destroy him. But power of the sinless
and divine Christ bursts from the clutches of evil and death. His humanity was
the tempting bait that drew the evil power to destroy him, but his holy
divinity and his self-sacrificial love was the hook that snagged the devil and
defeated him. The devil’s plan backfired.[7]
When Christ snuck behind enemy lines he rescued humanity from the clutches of
death and took Death itself captive so that it is no longer the slave of evil. Having
entered the kingdom of God we are under a new constitution, and we have a new
power working in us calling us to act out of the kind of self-sacrificial love
we see in Christ. In this way God’s army expands and transforms the word with the
power of His. The Sermon on the Mount, that calls us to love our enemies and do
good to those who hate us, is what it looks like to be warriors in this battle.
AMEN.
[1] Much of this sermon was drawn from “The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views” by Gregory Boyd, Joel Green, BruceReichenbach, Thomas Schreiner
[4] he says “Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to
sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as
those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as
instruments for righteousness” Romans 6:12-13, 18,
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