No symbol is more associated with Christianity than the cross. And for good reason. As we will see, the cross is indeed where God’s salvation is accomplished. But too often the cross has been interpreted mainly in terms of Jesus’s physical suffering – as though the means of salvation is the physical torture of the Messiah. (This can lead to the impression that the chief threat is not sin, but God – a God who demands that sin be purged by means of punishment. A view I think is quite a departure from the larger biblical narrative.)
In this episode – the first of three on the cross and the work of salvation – we look at God’s greatest commandment, the command to love, as it is humanity’s ultimate refusal to obey this command that leaves Jesus the one remaining, truly faithful Israelite.
This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), April 6, 2014. To learn more about Canvas, click here!
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