True Meaning of Easter Lies in its Beauty, Not its Violence

Posted Apr 10 2012 by Kay Campbell with 14 Comments

    Springtime bursts on us with a flourish of daffodils, a hallelujah of dogwoods and a vesper of leaf buds. A rainbow materializes to transform an evening commute into a highway of prayer, and irises pop from their cases in a pirouette of spangled praise.

    Oddly, amid all the glory of spring, images of the bloody and beaten Christ proliferate. After Halloween, Easter’s Christian passion plays create the highest demand for fake blood from theatrical supply shops.

    I know there are Christians who find instruction in the violence of the cross, an excruciating sort of inspiration in the pornographic lacerations laid on the shoulders of the carved or painted Christ or the tortured actor in Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ.” These Christians tell me those scenes help them appreciate their own sinfulness more seriously and the deep love of Christ more fully.

    But, now that the crowds and pageants of Easter have subsided, I can’t help but fear that Christians who interpret Christ’s torture as an instrument of salvation can imbibe with that inspiration a kind of theological justification of cruelty. And I wonder if that is why evangelical Christians, as a group, can be tempted to think that other kinds of torture, such as the U.S. used in interrogations in the past few years, can become justifiable instruments of salvation of a different sort.

    A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Organization found that about 10 percent more evangelical Christians than other groups agree that torture can often or sometimes be justified for use by American security forces.

    That’s taking the link between theology and behavior to an extreme conclusion, but perhaps, amid the solemn meditations of these days before Pentecost, it’s worth considering what might be the cost of contemplating violence of any sort or of dissecting wholesale horror into portions deemed palliative – even on Good Friday.

    For many Christians, scenes of crucifixion torture merely diagram the diabolical cruelty we human beings conjure when we betray the image of our loving God in which we were created. God engineered a miraculous Earth cantilevered between day and night, rain and sun, birth and death. God created us to be family to each other in a mutual system of inclusion and care. But we destroy the Earth, dismember each other and, when we get the opportunity, crucify God himself.

    But still the beauty calls. Far beyond the primitive clatter of weirdly pagan interpretations of Christ’s death as placating a law-obsessed God or paying an arcanely unfair penalty, the wrens chirrup, the locust trees hang white lanterns along the roadsides, and a smiling Jesus escapes our pitiful viciousness to walk and talk again with his friends, calling them to dwell together in mutual respect.

    Surely the message of Easter lies not in the fake blood and re-enacted beatings, but in the froth of azaleas and the giggle of children spotting a bunny hopping into green grass. Surely the message of Easter is not that we are forgiven because Jesus was tortured, but that we are forgiven because God loves us no matter what we do to the prophets God sends us – even when that prophet is God’s own son.

    Surely the truest way to find the God of Easter is not through contorted extractions of retribution and atonement, but through joining in the divine work of nurturing the beauty of life, assembling the deep symmetry of true justice, and by remaining alert for the flashes of transforming, regenerative, irrepressibly un-tombable divine love shimmering all around us.

    —-
    Kay Campbell is Faith & Values editor and reporter at The Huntsville (Alabama) Times and an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) because, obviously, they’ll take anyone. Most recently, she was awarded the 2011 Award for Commentary from the Religion Newswriters Association. You can reach her via email at: kay.campbell@htimes.com

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      About the Author

      Kay Campbell

      Kay CampbellKay Campbell reports on religion for The Huntsville Times and al.com. Her commentaries were named best in the country in 2011 by the Religion Newswriters Association. She can be reached at KCampbell@al.com and on Twitter @KayTimes.View all posts by Kay Campbell →

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      • Gabriel

        ”
        Surely the message of Easter lies not in the fake blood and re-enacted beatings, but in the froth of azaleas and the giggle of children spotting a bunny hopping into green grass.” 

        I’m voting: none of the above.

      • CDL

        Some pretty strong words there…but I think I agree with you.

        It’s an interesting mindset. When I bring up the absolute injustice of it, or Pilate’s cowardice, or even–strangely–Christ’s willing submission to that injustice, my friends who believe that way jump on me at once and make sure I understand that this was how God intended it to be.

        For such people, not only is Christ’s death–as you say so well–about “placating a law-obsessed God or paying an arcanely unfair penalty,” it is ONLY that, and any suggesting there might be a bigger picture at work is heresy of the highest order.

        But I’m preaching to the choir, aren’t I?

        • Anonymous

          I understand the injustice from Pilate’s point of view (he did too, that’s why he blamed it on the Sanhedrin), but not from God’s point of view.  If anything, a single death in compared to all the evil mankind has ever done and will ever do?  Most merciful balancing act in the history of the universe.

          • CDL

            That’s an interesting way to think about it, and I suppose I mostly agree in that God knew what he was doing.

            For me, the power of the cross is that Life, Truth, and Beauty himself submitted knowingly and willingly to the lies, betrayal, violence, and death of a broken world.

            Those who hold a penal view of the cross like to point out how unjust it would be for a judge simply to let millions of murderers go scot-free. But if it’s really about punishment, how is it any more just for that judge to do the same but also let own son be killed? If anything, that only makes the whole thing even less fair.

            It makes God out to be a bloodthirsty, vengeful tyrant who cares nothing for justice, only for petty revenge, and he’ll take out his anger on anyone he he can get his hands on–even his own son.

            Doesn’t sound like justice OR mercy to me. “I’ll forgive you, but only because I took out my anger on my Son.” In human terms, “I’ll forgive you honey, but you have to know you don’t deserve my forgiveness–I can only do this because I’m about to go pummel the kids.”

            That’s what I think at present, anyway.

            • Anonymous

              Part of that is that some people see punishment as pointless- I see punishment as repentance.

              Letting the murderer go free isn’t just injustice for the family of the murdered individual, it’s also injustice for the murderer himself; it removes an opportunity for conversion.

              In that light, I’d like to respond to a couple of your lines above.

              ”
              For me, the power of the cross is that Life, Truth, and Beauty himself submitted knowingly and willingly to the lies, betrayal, violence, and death of a broken world.”

              For me the real power of the cross is all of that, PLUS the fact that Life, Truth, and Beauty Himself won out in the end- he faced all the lies, betrayal, violence, and death of a broken world, and came out VICTORIOUS.  In his name his followers went on to conquer the greatest Empire the world had ever seen until that point- AND survive the Dark Ages afterward- AND bring with them enough civilization to end those Dark Ages.

              ”
              It makes God out to be a bloodthirsty, vengeful tyrant who cares nothing for justice, only for petty revenge, and he’ll take out his anger on anyone he he can get his hands on–even his own son.”For a loving father, punishment is NEVER about anger, it’s about education and learning.  As a special needs parent who has been diagnosed with a minor mental illness myself, the hardest part about showing my son discipline is not laughing my head off at the irony when I do it; for every act of discipline may hurt temporarily, but is designed to teach.Those who believe that punishment is mere petty revenge, have failed to understand repentance, and the value of suffering to elicit compassion, empathy, and most importantly changes in behavior.  NOTHING done in the history of the world has prevented more death, than the crucifixion and resurrection of a simple Carpenter from Galilee.

              • CDL

                 Exactly, exactly, exactly!

                So if punishment is about repentance, education, and learning (and I agree that it is), how does Christ taking our punishment matter? If punishment is a good thing (and it is), wouldn’t Christ taking it be depriving us of the opportunity to learn?

      • Drew

        The article you link to mentions that political ideology is more correlated with support of torture than religious beliefs.  Furthermore, the Christian denomination that focuses most on the passion are Catholics, not Evangelicals.  You argument and conclusion are both flawed.

        If the passion of Jesus is not important, not something to think about, why would the Gospel authors mention it at length?  First, it fulfills scripture (Isaiah 52:14).  Second, Jesus was bearing the full weight of mankind’s sin. (1 Peter 2:24).  If the sin of man was trivial, then Jesus would have had an easy death.  The hard death of Jesus shows us how weighty the sin of man is.  Furthermore, I think it reveals the character of Jesus and how much he loves us, to endure what he endured, fully knowing what was going to happen before it happened.

        By the way, the message of Easter is John 3:16.

        • Kay Campbell

           Interesting point — especially about Catholic v. Evangelical emphasis on the Passion…tho Catholic acceptance of torture still outstrips the non-blood-emphasizing mainlines by a bit — and those who don’t attend services even more. But what’s more important: Emphasizing the need for Jesus’ blood atonement to coax God into forgiveness, in fact, goes against Scripture in many ways. For one thing, the Gospel of John goes to great lengths to say that Jesus IS God; that they are the same (Jesus’ “I am” statements). Also, there is abundant OT evidence that, as the Psalmist puts it (40:6) “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” The most important question, of course, is the foundational one: Who is God? And is this universe built on mercy and grace, forgiveness and love, or on transaction? Are we saved by life in the Cross’ triumph over evil or merely bonded from hell by an Iron Age ritualistic violence? And doesn’t requiring the death of Jesus for our own sin atonement, in an odd way, still make human actions responsible for salvation, not the free, un-buyable grace of God?

          • Drew

            Not only is the Passion Play a staple of Catholic Good Friday services, but most Catholic Churches have the “Stations of the Cross” hung up on their walls and are popular to meditate on during Lent.  The “Passion of the Christ” was produced by Mel Gibson, a Catholic, as well.  In contrast, the Evangelical church I attend now did not have a Passion play or any re-enactments.  I think the article’s own research showing that there is more of a correlation between political ideology and support of torture is accurate.

            I understand what you are trying to say – why focus on how we got the gift of eternal life when we can celebrate having the gift of eternal life?  Certainly, it is more uplifting and celebratory.  However, excluding any part of the Bible or wishing to skip over any part of the Bible is a grave mistake.

            As for the rest of your response, are you arguing against Penal Substitution?  I have a hard time seeing where you are coming from.

      • Seth

         

        This article was a bit wordy, in what seemed like an attempt
        to sound more intellectual than actually convey an idea…anyways.

         

        “Surely the message of Easter is not that we are forgiven
        because Jesus was tortured, but that we are forgiven because God loves us no
        matter what we do to the prophets God sends us – even when that prophet is
        God’s own son.”

         

        The message of Easter is exactly that we are forgiven
        because Jesus was tortured, died and rose. That is why God loves us, because of
        Jesus, not some intrinsically goodness we posses or action of “nurturing the
        beauty of life, assembling the deep symmetry of true justice.” (whatever that
        means)

         

        This is the basic fundamental element of the gospel,
        forgiveness because of Jesus, acceptance because of Jesus, everything because
        of Jesus. Precisely because he did fulfill the law, did pay a penalty for our
        debt through torture, death and resurrection (what we recognize at Easter) this
        is exactly the message. This is what happens when people stop looking to the
        Bible and start conjuring up ‘idea’s” about what they think instead. You would
        think a site called “Red Letter” would be apt to include some biblical truth.

        • Kay Campbell

           Doesn’t that view put the law in charge of God?

      • Anonymous

        Arcanely unfair penalty?  If anything, Christ’s death was the most merciful penalty in the history of the Universe, in comparison to the crimes of the human species.

      • Colin Bain

        Interesting to post this article in the same edition as The Hunger Games review. If I read it right we have the choice between considering Easter as mushy or extremely martial. Good to have my thoughts provoked, so well done, I think.

      • Someguy

        “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1 17-19

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