Mad as Hell

Christians are still in the season of Eastertide, reflecting on the meaning of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection for the Church. About 10 years ago, I got sick of the Passion story as I had learned it growing up. What I had been taught by Sunday School teachers and by sophisticated theologians alike was this: Jesus came to earth, lived a powerful and transformational life, and had to die in order to save humanity from our sins. That was the party line. Jesus is the Paschal lamb. Child of God given in love, but had to be killed on a cross to stand in for the rest of us.

The "had to die" part -- that is what really threw me. If God not only authorizes the murder of God's only child, but plans it ahead of time as a way to make things right in the universe, then murdering children gets a big Holy blessing.