Episode 108: Wait--What Happened at the Cross?

In a new series for the season of Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at the question, "What happened at the cross?"  From the earliest days of the New Testament community, Christians have made the claim that Jesus' death was somehow not just significant, but unique.  Somehow something happened at the cross of Jesus of Nazareth that is different from all the countless others executed by the Roman Empire, or even every other death in human history.  But... why?  What's it all about?  As it turns out, the Scriptures themselves use a LOT of different ways of talking about what Jesus' death "means," what it "did," and what "happened" at the cross.  The Bible talks about the cross like it is a victory over the powers of evil, the payment or cancellation of an infinite debt, the punishment of an innocent sacrificial victim, and an example of what love looks like.  And all of those are helpful pictures. The way (or ways) we talk about what the cross means is what theologians call your "theory of atonement." And for all of that technical-souding jargon, the core question really comes down to asking, "What do we think Jesus' death DID?" This whole season of Lent, we'll take a look at different ways that the Scriptures and centuries of Christian theology have talked about the death of Jesus and its meaning, and in today's episode, we'll take an overview of where we're headed in this series.  Join us as we journey to the cross of Jesus together.