cross v. glory

a lot of luther's theology of the cross has to do with suffering.  christ redeems us, but christ redeems us from death, not from suffering.  in fact, for luther, suffering is to be expected.  if we as a church are faithful to christ, then we as christ's body will suffer.  jesus came to earth and in his faithfulness to god and his mission, he suffered to the point of death on a cross!  god's relationship with humanity is important enough to god that god is willing to suffer humiliation and death to restore us to right relationship.

in luther's context as well as our context today, the church has become much more accepted and so the church actually has power in our cultures.  this means that it is very easy--and very tempting--for the church to use or abuse that power both now and in luther's time.  the church is tempted to view the world, not through the lens of christ, but through the lens of culture.  instead of seeing christ in the "least" of these, the focus is on the powerful, the ones with the purse strings.

the question becomes: how is the body of christ being faithful to god as made known in christ?  it is when we are faithful to christ that we will suffer in society.  what does it mean to be faithful?  where do we rest as a church when we are faithful to christ?  what is our mission?  how do we live as if the reign of god were already here, because, indeed, it is already a done deal.

the theology of the cross is, as paul stated, "god chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; god chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; god chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of god." (1 cor. 1:27-29)  god flipped our human understanding on its head, totally reorienting what is good and what is evil.  this means that what we see as good (works, acts of kindness, etc.) really are not and what we see as bad (suffering, humbleness/humility, etc.) really are good.

a theology of glory is tempting.  i certainly would like to do enough good to earn my way into heaven, to earn god's approval and love, but then there's the reality that i will never do enough good to earn my way.  so, the theology of the cross is, indeed, the only option with hope.  if i am to be in right relationship with god, i have to rely on god, recognizing that it is god's good and god's way of being that is good, not the surrounding culture's way.