Though it has in recent years been lampooned as advocating a type of divine child abuse, the doctrine of the atonement stands at the heart of Christian faith and proclamation. The Father sent his Son into godforsakenness, into the morass of sin and death, not because he delighted in seeing his Son suffer, but rather because he wanted his Son to bring the divine light to the darkest place. It is not the agony of the Son in itself that pleases his Father, but rather the Son’s willing obedience in offering his body in sacrifice in order to take away the sin of the world.
