The cross is not simply a past happening; it is caught up in [Christ’s] present, risen life where he remains as the crucified one ... the cross not a station on the way to his final glory, but the esse of that lordship, so that always his lordly power is conditioned by his continuing weakness, obedience, and humility
Martin, R. P., 2 Corinthians, (Dallas: Word,1998), 475.
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7 comments:
continued weakness and humility...hmmm...reminds one of the England national team.
Seriously though, where would we be if we all realized that what Martin says there is also true of us? The "cross" is not a station on the way to glory but the means to said glory and power...I just heard a pastor say a few months ago that "picking up your cross and laying down your life" meant at least seeking J's righteousness instead of your own...wow.
Hey Chris,
How does this affect how we view Christ now that he is in a glorified, resurrected state? I don't quite understand how he is still weak, though I understand his humility and subordination to the Father.
Que? I'm with Rob. If Christ is still the crucified one, can I be sure of my justification? What use is a dead Messiah?
Resurrected Jesus still had holes in hands/feet; and Revelation portrays a Lamb "standing as one slain," perhaps implying a paradox--slain yet still standing.
No one is saying he's still dead, but that he retains something of his cruciform-nature, and that his glory will eternally be related to the manner and means by which he earned it (acc. to Hebrews and Colossians and Philippians).
Continuing my earlier analogy, maybe England can learn something here, by not selecting high-dollar failures like Lampard, so that the three Lions once slain in Zagreb can yet stand...)
Skip too quickly to the resurrection and we forget that the crucifixion is about discipleship and love whatever the cost. My relationship to God is based in the way He knows what it is to suffer and still obey (see Yoder). The resurrection is not a happy ever after or a convenient ending to a difficult story. It is a hope in a life where suffering and difficulty are still real. Peter Rollins talks of true discipleship being that which still follows Christ on Holy Saturday when all is lost and hope is gone. The question to ask being, that without the resurrection, is Christ the one we would still affirm? For me, I hope I would. The life of Christ speaks of the possibility of God, it speaks of hope in the face of suffering. The resurrection can be about a ticket into heaven if we are not careful, rather than a new way to live and find freedom now, not just in death. We need the cross for that sort of understanding. The resurrection doesn't make everything bad go away, it allows us to hope with a crucified Christ who compels us to live well, in discipleship to a grace giving God.
Hi James,
Crikey, I'd better get on with that CZ series!
And as JB mentioned, nobody is claiming a dead Messiah. Perhaps I should have made the quote context clearer. It is rather that the risen Lord remains the one who was crucified, and that this isn't merely something in his past, but relates to the sort of lordship Christ expresses, and whom the church should unite to (cf. e.g. 2 Cor 12:7-10; 13:1-4). Does that make clearer what the quote is driving at?
Thanks for the eloquence JB and Kez.
Hi Rob, as JB said, Christ still carries his scars. I wonder sometimes, given that Christ's resurrected body is like a model of the renewal of the whole creation for which we long for and hope for, if the new creation will carry the scars of our abuse of it too. ALso note Christ's words to Saul in Acts. This is a Christ who feels pain with teh church. Likewise, Paul can speak of fulling up the sufferings of Christ even though that is a text that can easily be misunderstood! Does that make sense to you?
Great quote, Chris. Indeed, the Risen One remains the Crucified One. Too often the evangelical environment in which I grew up had a polemic against images or jewelry which showed Jesus on the cross, because (they would insist) Jesus is resurrected. But this, in my opinion, was exchanging the essence of Jesus' existence and the heart of the gospel for a rather Docetic Christ who is now elevated above the humiliation of the cross. But Paul reminds us that the two images belong together -- humiliation and exaltation, cross and resurrection.
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