For Franciscans, Jesus did not need to change the mind of God about humanity, but he came to change the mind of humanity about God. Ours was a Cosmic Christ from all eternity who revealed the eternal love of God on the cross, but God did not need any “payment” to love us.
Here is Rohr's mistake in a nutshell. Few believe that God sacrificed Jesus in order to love us. The testimony of Scripture and of many Christians through the ages is that Jesus died on the cross because God loves us.
That the Franciscans don't emphasize the death of Christ as redemptive or a payment for sin would be understandable if the theme were not discussed regularly throughout Scripture.
And to characterize the payment as a means for God to love us, instead of as an evidence that God already loves us is truly mistaken.
The humility and the thankfulness that Rohr describes in the second half of life are made more possible when one contemplates the love poured out by Jesus on the cross.
