April 5, 2009: This is Yours, But I’ll Take It; Give It Up, Part 6 – Michael Hidalgo

When Jesus went to the cross he was indeed acting as a sacrifice for the world. However, in this death there was a symbolic act that he underwent for the people of Israel. “On the cross it becomes clear that Israel’s real problem is not external merely, but internal also; he shares the ultimate form of her political and social predicament and hence reveals, in his last great symbolic act, that the nationalist rebellion whose bloody logical outcome he now shared was something for which Israel was being judged by God, and from which she needed to be saved—by him.

Hence, the irony; claiming to represent Israel, he is cast out by those who themselves claim to represent Israel; in urging Israel to forswear rebellion, he is himself executed as a rebel by the Romans. The death he dies is Israel’s death, and the pattern of healings and welcomes which make up so much of the gospel narratives indicates the motive: he dies Israel’s death in order that Israel may not die it. He takes the wrath of Rome upon himself so that, in his vindication, Israel may find herself brought through the judgment and into the true Kingdom, may see at last the way to life and follow it while there is yet time.”

The focus at the end of this series :: In every act then – when we give/sacrifice we look like Jesus.