Did God Kill Jesus?: Searching for Love in History's Most Famous Execution

by Tony Jones

God’s power is presence, quiet presence.

Jesus’ life and death challenge our understanding of God. No longer is God a distant fellow with massive amounts of power, waiting to mete out that power to whomever says the right prayer or offers the appropriate sacrifice. Now God is one of us, among us, suffering alongside of us, experiencing our feelings of powerlessness.

what we can see of God in the life of Jesus is the perfect example of self-limitation and humility.

the crucifixion does not valorize victimhood, it redeems the victim.

Only when God felt abandoned, alone in the universe, did God gain total empathy with the human condition.

everything after the crucifixion is meant to ensure that we never again feel forsaken by God.

human beings are free, and guilt is inevitable.

God has forsaken power in order to give creation freedom.

What God did in the crucifixion was to show vividly that violent sacrifice gets us nowhere.

If there’s a message in the crucifixion for the church, it’s that God abdicated power and stood with the powerless. Now the church, formed by the cross, must do the same.

Jesus died on the margins, among the marginalized.