I have been assigned pericopal leadership for our study of the lessons for Easter 2004. Since most of us will be leading worship in 3-6 services during the next 10 days and some of the texts are long and/or well-known, I thought it might be more useful to do some kind of general study of the season than to focus on any one day or text.

Lent 2004 will no doubt be remembered as the Gibsonian Lent. Regardless of how history judges “The Passion of the Christ”, it has made us think about what the Passion and the Cross mean. As Christians, the Cross is the focal point of our faith because we believe it is where salvation occurs. But what does that mean? How does Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection occur during the events we observe during Holy Week and how do they “save” us?

The “one holy catholic and apostolic” church had a hard enough time agreeing on who God and Christ are and has never been able to agree on exactly what is meant by salvation and how it is accomplished. Unfortunately, scripture is no more absolute on the nature of atonement than it is explicit about the nature of the Trinity. It is my intent in this study to provide some structure for us to use in examining some of the ways the texts for Holy Week present the idea of atonement, and hopefully to facilitate some thought on putting the resulting understanding to practical use in our ministry.

1 General Presentation of the Categories of Atonement to be used in the discussion.

2 Examination of several representative texts from the lectionary for Holy Week.

	First / OT	Psalm	Second / Epistle	Gospel
Palm Sun		(118.1-3, 19-29)		Lk 19.28-40
Passion Sun	Is 50.4-9a	Ps 31.9-16	Php 2.5-11	Lk 22.14-23.56 or Lk 23.1-49)
Maundy Thurs	Ex 12.1-4 (5-10) 11-14	Ps 116.1-2, 12-19 (LBW .1, 10-17)	1 Cor 11.23-26	Jn 13.1-17, 31b-35
Good Friday	Is 52.13-53.12 (Or Heb 6.1-6)	Ps 22	Heb 10.16-25 (or 4.14-16; 5.7-9)	Jn 18.1-19.42 (LBW alt: Jn 19.17-30)
Easter Sun	Acts 10.34-43 (Is 65.17-25)	Ps 118.1-2, 14-24	1 Cor 15.19-26 (Acts 10.34-43)	John 20.1-18 or Luke 24.1-12

Bold passages will be discussed in Part 2. Stricken out passages are included for informational purposes only.

Christ’s Role	Prominent Proponents	Nature of Sin / Human Problem	Solution to Problem	Solution Deals with	Key Words	Verb on Cross
TK: Teacher of Knowledge wisdom teacher	gnostics	human ignorance	Life & Teachings of Christ show us the way to live	human		teach
ME: Moral Example teach by example	Abelard, liberal theology	human ignorance, weakness	TK + Spirit of Christ compels us in the way to live	human	follow	inspire
VS: Vicarious Satisfaction benefactor	Anselm	God’s honor marred by sin	Expiation: Divine Christ able to satisfy God’s honor AND Human Christ in a position to satisfy God’s honor	God	debt, pay, satisfy, cleanse	pay
HE: Happy Exchange burden bearer	Luther, Calvin	God’s Wrath	Propitiation: Christ takes on our sin and we take on Christ’s righteousness	God	punishment, iniquity, “became sin”	exchange
XV: Christus Victor rescue, champion	patristics, Aulén	slavery to sin, death, & devil	Christ defeats sin, death, & the devil and frees us from their power	power	rescue, ransom	defeat
FS: Final Scapegoat myth buster	Girard, Nuechterlein	futile scapegoating	Christ becomes the final sacrifice, exposing and destroying the sacrificial system	power	sacrifice	debunk

This table is my own compilation, with interpretation and additions, of material drawn from the following sources:

Peters, Ted God—the World’s Future Systematic Theology for a Postmodern Era (Minneapolis: Fortress press 1992) 206-220.

Teselle, Eugene, “Atonement” in Musser, Donald & Price, Joseph, eds, a New Handbook of Christian Theology (Nashville: Abingdon Press 1992) 41-43.

Remember that these are only a few of the better known theories of atonement. I have limited it to these 6 because that is a manageable number and these 6 cover a fairly broad spectrum of atonement thought. I have not included Luther’s theology of the cross because I consider it less an atonement theory than an overarching paradigm for understanding all of theology.

Discuss the understanding of atonement at work in the following passages, especially the verses indicated. Remember that there may not be agreement on many of them and that there will be only indirect or misdirected atonement present in some of them. These may not be the only verses of interest, but I have included them as starters. The Collects / PODs are meant to “collect” the intention of the day and are sometimes easier to get started with.

∙ What is the understanding of salvation / atonement, both explicit and/or implicit?

Collect / POD: Almighty God, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take our flesh upon him and to suffer death on the cross. Grant that we may share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (31)

Collect / POD: Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: To love one another as he had loved them. By your Holy Spirit write this commandment in our hearts; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (37)

Lord God, in a wonderful Sacrament you have left us a memorial of your suffering and death. May this Sacrament of your body and blood so work in us that the way we live will proclaim the redemption you have brought; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (38)

Collect / POD: Almighty God, we ask you to look with mercy on your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and to be given over to the hands of sinners and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. (39)

Lord Jesus, you carried our sins in your own body on the tree so that we might have life. May we and all who remember this day find new life in you now and in the world to come, where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. (40)

Collect / POD: Prayer of the Day o God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Make us die every day to sin, so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (62)

Almighty God, through your only Son you overcame death and opened for us the gate of everlasting life. Give us your continual help; put good desires into our minds and bring them to full effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (63)

Below are three typical scenarios in congregational life. Discuss them from the perspective of how various understandings of atonement might be useful or not. Remember, we are not discussing general pastoral care, but rather how these tools might be used in pastoral care.

You may not necessarily want to discuss atonement explicitly with these parishioners, but you can still use it to inform your work.

Scenario #1: A parent of 2 young children is suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. How is Christ’s saving work active in the death of this family? After this person dies, how do you explain God to the children as they grow up, attend Sunday School, are confirmed, etc?

Scenario #2: A parishioner confesses to you they have committed adultery, and they are clearly uninterested in resolving it in any way you consider reasonably responsible. (Pick your own details.) What will your atonement spin be as you proclaim both Law and Gospel?

Scenario #3: A parishioner tells you that their significant other has a serious drinking problem, denies it, is in trouble at work / school, etc. Your parishioner feels a need to leave to protect themself but also loves and wants to help their loved one. How “did Christ die for your parishioner’s sins?” Assuming appropriate confidentiality issues are dealt with, how do you minister to the significant other?