Exodus 24:3-8; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16,22-26; Psalm 116
June 6, 2021
Maryanne Mutch
Choosing life over death
As Tatiana has noted, today is marked in the worship schedule as ‘body and blood’ Sunday. It has traditionally been a time reflect on the sacrament of Communion and, by extension, Christ’s death upon the cross.
As I read the scriptures for today, I interpret and internalize them within the theological framework in which I was raised. This framework focuses on Jesus’ suffering and death as the key to our salvation and right relationship with God. This belief, known as substitutionary atonement, teaches that when Jesus’ blood was spilled upon the cross it paid the necessary sacrifice to allow us to be forgiven in our state of sin and enabled us to enter into right relationship with God, known as the second covenant.
The practices and words that are often used when sharing communion echo this perspective. We start by acknowledging our personal state of sinfulness and brokenness before God. Then we are provided with the bread and wine with these words - “This is my body given for you” and “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins.”
I suspect that many of you were raised with similar beliefs, even if your theology has transformed over the years.
Sarah Deckert recently reminded me that the theology we were raised with “lives in our bodies”, even if we don’t intellectually accept it. For this reason, it is important to engage and unpack atonement theory and examine how it influences our understanding of God, of ourselves, of others, and of sin.
So how, then, does atonement theory influence our faith?
Writing from the perspective of those on the margins, and with focus on those who have and are experiencing violence due to their race, gender, or position in an oppressive system, Feminist, Womanist, and Black scholars have long challenged the predominance of atonement theory within Christian theology.
By focusing on Christ’s death as the key element of reconciliation between humankind and God, atonement theory glorifies suffering and victimhood at the hand of violent oppressor over the life-giving message of Jesus’ ministry. Suffering and trauma are seen to serve a redemptive and purifying purpose. We teach that being Christ-like means being self-sacrificing and enduring suffering and violence.
Feminist scholars argue that this glorification of suffering not only tarnishes our image and understanding of a loving God, but that it also traps people, particularly women, in abusive relationships as they are told that self-denial is the pathway to godliness and that their sacrifice is necessary for the redemption of others.
For those that have experienced or are experiencing the trauma of violence, the words and symbolism of communion can be retraumatizing or may encourage people to remain in abusive relationships, seeing it as God’s will.
Womanist scholar, Delores S. Williams put it bluntly when she said, “As Christians, black women cannot forget the cross, but neither can they glorify it. To do so is to glorify suffering and to render their exploitation sacred. To do so is to glorify the sin of defilement.”
I believe that Christianity’s embrace of atonement theory has also contributed towards the many times that so-called ‘followers of Christ’ have disregarded, tolerated, or perpetuated the suffering of others, particularly members of oppressed groups. By believing that the salvation of the soul is more important than, and entirely separate from, the sacredness and dignity of the mind and body, we have insulated ourselves from the pain in the world around us.
What, then is the corrective to this view, and how might it change the way we view the sacred meal of communion?
Delores S. Williams sums it up well when she says:
“…it seems more intelligent and more scriptural to understand that redemption had to do with God, through Jesus, giving humankind new vision to see the resources for positive, abundant relational life. Redemption had to do with God, through the ministerial vision, giving humankind the ethical thought and practice upon which to build positive, productive quality of life. Hence, the kingdom of God theme in the ministerial vision of Jesus does not point to death; it is not something one has to die to reach. Rather, the kingdom of God is a metaphor of hope God gives those attempting to right the relations between self and self, between self and others, between self and God as prescribed in the sermon on the mount, in the golden rule and in the commandment to show love above all else.”[1]
Through his life and works, Jesus proclaimed the good news of the arrival of a new covenant – a covenant that is written on our hearts from the least to the greatest – though which we shall know God and enter into right relationships with ourselves and others. He announced that the Kingdom of God had come to earth, and this Kingdom is a place where sin – understood as anything, personal or systemic, that keeps us away from the embrace of divine love - has no place.
“Jesus chose to live his life in opposition to unjust, oppressive cultures. Jesus did not choose the cross, but chose integrity and faithfulness, refusing to change course because of a threat.”[2]
The Kingdom of God announced by Jesus is a place of life and wholeness, a place where we can hold fast to the vision of right relationship between self and self, between self and others, and self and God. Through his life and witness, Jesus asks us to fully live, to resist injustice, radically love ourselves and others, and fight for the liberation of all, because in this we find our redemption.
Communion is sacred because we are asked to share in the new covenant that Jesus proclaimed. Not one that was ushered in through his suffering, but instead one that was demonstrated through his life.
The mystery of communion is that we are one with Christ and all humanity in remembering and affirming his life-giving message and committing ourselves to working towards a world that has been promised, but not yet fully grasped.
[1] Delores S. Williams (1983). Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womenist God-Talk., p. 132
[2] Joanne Carlson Brown and Carole R. Bohn (1989). Christianity, Patriarchy, and Abuse. Pilgrim. Ch. 1.