The burden of the cross and blood sacrifice

Christians work very hard at keeping the cross of Christ before the world. It is the dominant symbol of the Christian churches. Churches put it on top of the highest steeples. The interiors of church worship spaces are dominated by a variety of artful crosses. Individuals wear earrings, bracelets, and clothing adorned with crosses. Crosses are a major subject of the present craze for tattooing. Making the sign of the cross is an action that we see every day on the athletic field, the classroom and the work place.

In our hymnals the sections for cross-related hymns is very thick. Communion services focus on the shed blood of Jesus. Sacrifice is the theme and the cross is the symbol.

The tradition of the cross is rooted in the story of Abraham and God’s command that he sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham was willing to do so, but was saved when God changed his mind and gave a goat to Abraham for sacrifice. The part of the story that stuck in tradition was the idea of an innocent son being offered as a sin offering to satisfy an angry God.

As long as there was a temple in Jerusalem, blood sacrifice remained the key element of worship. A segment of the early Christian church embraced the cross as the altar on which an innocent son was sacrificed to satisfy the righteous anger of God.

There is no doubt that some of the Bible writings reflect, develop and embrace such an interpretation of the death of Jesus.

The problem with this interpretation of the Christian tradition is that it opens the door to the idealization of sacrificial death if the cause is righteous. Today thousands of American young people and thousands of Iraqi young people have died and are dying, and people believe that they are an acceptable blood sacrifice for a righteous cause.

This is the dominant interpretation and application of the Bible material in Christian churches. But is this the only or whole Bible story?

The Bible also offers an alternative understanding of God. There are many passages in the Old Testament that present a God who rejects the sacrificial system and instead requires justice and mercy. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea and Micah all speak out against the priority of sacrifice and call for justice to “roll down like waters and righteousness like an overflowing stream.”

The classic expression of the alternative view is expressed by Micah.

“What does the Lord require? With what shall I come before the Lord? Burnt offerings of a year-old calf? Ten thousand rams? A first-born son? The Lord has shown what is good. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.”

The stories that Jesus told, the sayings that he left, the actions that he took all reflect this alternative interpretation of the character and demands of a God, not who was filled with anger, but who was filled with love and compassion for the sick, the poor, the widow and the orphan.

Our nation has embraced the sacrifice of our innocent young people as an ideal. The present so-called war on terror is of such a nature that it will never end. There will never be a peace treaty or a truce. War will become our way of life. UNLESS we take decisive action.

With great difficulty, America has forsaken the Bible tradition of acceptance of slavery. Slavery is gone and will never again return to America as a matter of national policy. America has also broken the Bible tradition of the subordination of women. While equality for women is still not fully achieved, subordination of women will never again be the legal and social standard of the nation.

Both slavery and female subordination are a part of the DNA of the Bible material. For a period of time, they were an accepted part of American life. Americans have had the courage, over an extended time, to rid itself of these abominable traditions.

Is it possible for America to rid itself of the blood sacrifice ideal? The blood sacrifice ideal is also a part of our national DNA. We still live on the cutting edge of a sacrificial commitment that is leading us to unending war.

We have mentors in our midst. We have Quakers, Mennonites and minority voices in every Christian tradition that are quietly asking that we consider a God of love and mercy, who demands the practice of justice for everyone.

Will we ever learn? Will we ever Learn?

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.