ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 13, 2023
The authors of Recovering the Scandal of the Cross referenced a work by David Batstone, who explained that when “the Spanish arrived on Latin American shores, two images of the adult Christ were introduced; the suffering Jesus who remained passive in the midst of his passion as an expression of his submission to his destiny before God; and the royal, conquering Christ who reigns over his kingdom. This suffering Jesus was the image with which the native people were to identify, while the image of the conquering Christ was embodied by those conquistadors who brought Christian faith and Spanish rule to the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas” (Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament & Contemporary Contexts, by Green and Baker, p. 19). Too often, people ascribe the most comfortable and least demanding attributes of Jesus to themselves while imposing all that requires sacrifice and humility on others. It’s these moments in which the upside down, inside out lessons of Jesus should confront us and compel us to accept for ourselves the characteristics of Jesus that cause us the most discomfort. Remember, in Luke 13:29-30, Jesus said, “Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Bring to me that part of you, O God, that will most provoke and transform my ‘easy way out’ attitude. Amen.
