In Jewish tradition salvation never comes through death. When the messiah comes, religious Jews expect him to rebuild the temple, create peace all over the world, bring all Jews to the land of Israel, and at that time non-Jews will flock to Jerusalem seeking the wisdom of Torah. For other Jews, the messiah is symbolically present when Jews study the Torah or stand with the stranger for justice. The notion that a messiah has to die in order for people’s sins to be forgiven is very strange to Jewish ears. And I think it should sound strange to Christian ears as well. Yet, it doesn’t. Quite the contrary. Christians all over the world profess and confess that Jesus died so their sins could be forgiven. This view is ensconced within the traditions of the Christian Church. It is also part and parcel of the way Jesus death is understood in much of the American Christian Church.
I am convinced this tradition about the virtue of the death of Jesus is wrong, unbiblical, and at worst, a kind of self-serving redemptionism. The fact is Jesus did not die for your sins, and thank God he didn't!
My thesis is simple. Much of Western Christianity suffers from a rampant, individualistic, self-serving redemptionism. Self-serving redemptionism is marked by a certain faith that sounds something like this: “ Jesus is my personal savior . He died to save me from my sins. I am a Christian because it benefits me. My sins are forgiven. God loves me and when I die I get to go to heaven.” Essentially, Christians who believe this inherently believe Jesus died to benefit them.
And it's clear to these misunderstanding Christians that Christianity is a religion for which you should sign up. Look at what you get! When people talk about or “witness” to why they are Christian, they say it benefits them and it can also benefit the listener. They say believing in Jesus gives them a “blessed assurance” of eternal life." They say that hearing that their sins are forgiven through the death of Jesus gives them great comfort. And they say that they go to Church on Sundays because the Church “meets their spiritual needs.” They stand up and witness to their faith, to what they get and to what you can also get if you will sign up and believe.
This is precisely the self-serving redemptionist sickness that is alive within many Christian Churches. Most Christians, I suspect, are unconscious about their views of the spiritual life. This is their religion. It serves them well. And this is the Christianity being presented to them most Sunday mornings. It is smarmy and overly maudlin, but people like it. Many clergy, more and more, treat their parishioners as religious consumers with varied spiritual needs. American churches are busy meeting people’s needs, giving people choices and most ominously selling a “Jesus” that plays to individual and consumeristic needs. No wonder so many of my students tell me “Jesus is boring.” So my question is: How did the church manage to take a passionate, courageous, charismatic Jewish prophet and make him boring?
Let’s be honest. The Jesus one finds in most American Christian churches has become a product to be effectively marketed and made palatable to the masses, a bargain that one ought to latch onto if one is a wise spiritual shopper for religious experiences and security. Very few sermons today call Christians to a discipleship which involves self-sacrifice or a radical reassessment of the way they live their lives as Americans. The cross, the flag and the mall are not in contradiction. There is no tension between being a good Christian, being a greedy consumer and being a loyal American. It all blends into one well-mixed self-serving redemptionist philosophy with no contradiction from the Church.
Take the average sermon. On the surface, most sermons either address a biblical text or a topic of concern to the congregation. These sermons seem to be willing to deal with the difficult questions of faith. But they really do not. There is no need for the person in the pew to worry. The problem of the text or subject at hand will be resolved within fifteen to twenty minutes. Most parishioners can barely make it through those few minutes without feeling restless and/or bored. Having reassured the flock that all the dilemmas of the text or of life itself are going to work out just fine, the minister then sends the people on their way with their personal Jesus, one who is committed exclusively to their spiritual happiness and welfare. This Jesus is always with you, gives you “peace in your heart," a strong self-image, empowerment, health, wealth and happiness, relief from pain and suffering, and most importantly your own personal salvation from sin, death and evil. Who wouldn’t want that?
In back of all this smarmy-spiritual consumeristic prattle lies the assertion that God came in Jesus to benefit “you.” He died for “you.” He is always with “you.” He forgives “you.” He loves “you.” He wants “you” to accept him as “your” personal savior. All of this emphasis on “you” and “your” needs sells well in a culture whose members are willing to purchase anything which offers more comfort and less pain. And this self serving redemptionism seems to be rampant in the Christian churches of North America.
Self-serving redemptionism is rampant because it works. It sells well. It fills the pews. It creates a Jesus in our own image. The Jesus many worship wants to make them happy. Redemption has become self serving because it fits American notions of what it means to be religious and happy. Self-serving redemptionism is marketable. Traditional, confessional and doctrinal denominational commitments clearly are not. Present day peddlers of church growth and self-serving redemptionism advise pastors to drop denominational name tags since they “put people off.” A person who is “shopping” for a church home, who may have grown up Methodist, then become Presbyterian, may be puzzled and disturbed by a church called Hope Lutheran Church. The corporate hucksters say, “better not to confuse the spiritual consumer.” Pastors are told if they want the Church to survive in the 21st century they will have to drop the traditional denominational designations. After all, they are told, “it’s Jesus we are selling and not the Church.” And so today we have all sorts of these neutrally named congregations, “Friendship Community Church, Joy Church, and Peace in Your Heart Church.” Following the advice of the religious hucksters and peddlers has resulted not only in a watering down of Jesus message but, in fact, drowning him completely and creating a new American Jesus eager to meet every consumer’s spiritual needs.
So, what is the real problem with self-serving redemptionism? After all, it could be argued, it brings people to God and Jesus. It may fill the pews. People come to Church and to faith. But at what price? As a Jew who has an ongoing interest in Christians understanding what it means to be Christian, I assert that Christianity ought not be about what you get but what you are freed to give. I suspect self serving redemptionism happened because the Jewish Jesus that spoke long ago in the Bible was too disturbing to the way many Christians want to live and manage their lives. Many of my students, whether they are religious or not, know the song, Jesus Love Me. They assume this is central to Jesus message. But it is not. The Jesus of Biblical narrative rarely told people he loved them. In point of fact, he was constantly arguing with religious people (which by the way is very Jewish) who were sure they were right and he was wrong. The Jesus in the New Testament called people to be radically changed, to repent, to be freed from worrying and centering on what they could get for themselves.
The Jesus of biblical texts called into question people who were constantly in pursuit of their own happiness and pleasure. And as I read the scripture, Jesus did not promise that following him meant an escape from pain and suffering. Quite the contrary! The Jesus in the Gospels says that those who follow him should be prepared for the sacrifice and chaos of standing with those in pain. And Jesus himself is not able to evade evil. He is murdered on a cross and with his last words accuses God of abandoning him.
This Jesus of the biblical stories did not come to meet people’s spiritual needs. He was a Jewish prophet who came to free people to serve God and the neighbor. All of Jesus' talk about forgiveness and the kingdom of heaven was intended to comfort a follower, not provide a pitch with which to snare would-be self-serving religious consumers. The way it was supposed to work was this: if people were forgiven by God, they no longer had to worry about whether or not God loved them. They were now free to emulate God’s love and care for the stranger. And, as Jesus stood with the stranger and did what he could for the one who was bleeding, so too should his followers stand with the stranger and do what they can do for the one who is bleeding.
A person who believed that death was not the end but the opening to eternal life was thereby freed from constant obsession about disease, death and dying. Freed from such spiritual self-absorption, the Christian was now redeemed or made new, freed to stand with the neighbor in pain. This is what salvation is all about, being freed to do what you can do to stop craziness, evil and injustice wherever it is happening. The death of Jesus was not a way for people to get their sins forgiven. God forgave people their sins in the Hebrew Bible all the time. Jesus forgave all kinds of people their sins long before he died.
For the past two thousand years the Christian church has tried to explain why Jesus had to die. Since the messiah had been killed, it was thought, it must have been part of God’s plan. Various atonement theories were formulated, explained and debated. And the truth is none of them really work very well. One theory declares that God sent Jesus (or God himself) to die as a substitute for us so that God could take on himself the punishment we all deserved. This substitutionary sacrifice theory assumes that God’s justice needs to have some body’s blood to be shed before he could forgive people. The fact is that God is perfectly capable of forgiving people without resorting to self-murder. There is also the victory theory, the notion that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sin, suffering and evil have been defeated. But they haven’t been! After two thousand years, sin, suffering and evil are doing quite well. After all, more people were killed in the twentieth century than all the other centuries combined. Finally, there is the model theory that says the death of Jesus was a virtuous and moral example for us to follow. The problem with this theory is that it gives the impression that Jesus wanted to die in order to show us what a good person would do. But, the biblical texts are clear. Jesus did not want to die as an example for us. He begged God to change the plan so that he would not have to die.
To tell the simple truth, Jesus was murdered. His death was a scandal and an absurdity. His death had nothing to do with the explanations found in the atonement theories. There was no good reason for him to be killed except that Rome felt threatened by him. And Jesus didn't die for anyone. Salvation never comes through death. Christians needs to stop trying to explain why the death of Jesus was a good thing because it simply was not.
For the past two thousand years, Jews have been persecuted and murdered because they have been seen as a threat. During the Holocaust, six million Jews, a million and a half of which were children. were slaughtered and burned in the ovens just because they were Jewish. To me, as a Jew, Jesus death is tragic and sad, another Jew killed just because he was a Jew and a threat to those in power. The destruction of six million Jews during World War II was a monstrous tragedy which no one who is sane tries to glorify, explain, or proclaim as being the will of God. The same respect should be paid to Jesus himself whose death in some ways anticipates the meaninglessness and madness of the millions killed in the Holocaust.
I say again: Salvation never comes through death! It comes through trusting God and standing with the neighbor in pain. This is the message and transformation that is at the heart of the Gospel and at the center of Jesus death and resurrection.
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