Kai Stormwalker’s Holocron

Good Friday

I will be planning the Good Friday service at my church this year. As part of it I plan to give a brief talk on The Meaning of the Cross. But there is one slight problem. Through my studies I have come to the conclusion that the cross means something different than what most of the people at my church think it does. I believe it pertains to something much more radical and present than the common view that Jesus died to save us from our personal sin.

I believe that Jesus also came to save us from our complicity with the systems of the world. Crucifixion was a form of death that Rome reserved for those who were viewed as a threat to the power of the emperor and the state. The Bible says that the men crucified on either side of Jesus were thieves. But the original word lestes is better interpreted as insurgent.

The problem is that I feel that I have to balance what I view as the importance of this belief with the need to “not offend anyone.” The Bible says that you need to use gentleness when correcting a brother. I do believe that humility is important, but what if your brother treats you with haughtiness and refuses to listen?

This is something I will be working on over the next few days as I prepare my talk. The reason I am doing this is because our pastor will be away. I can’t imagine that he would be very happy to show up on Easter morning and find that I had driven most of the congregation away.