The Cross in the Midst of Creation

Following Jesus, Engaging the Powers, Transforming the World

Sharon Delgado

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781506471693
• eBook ISBN: 9781506471709
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The Cross in the Midst of Creation: Following Jesus, Engaging the Powers, Transforming the World links Christian understandings of creation, atonement, and the biblical principalities and powers. Sharon Delgado asserts that the crucifixion is ongoing as institutional powers diminish human life and destroy creation, and that the resurrection is ongoing as faith overcomes despair and the Spirit equips people to rise in courage and follow Jesus into the heart of the struggle for a transformed world.

This book explores and critiques traditional doctrines and popular teachings about the cross and draws from various stories of Jesus and biblical metaphors to offer life-enhancing perspectives on this core symbol of Christian faith. It presents the cross as a symbol of God's presence throughout creation and undying love as revealed in Jesus; also explored are the path of discipleship, the moral bankruptcy of the dominating powers, engagement through nonviolent resistance, and above all, God's triumph over the powers, offering hope for the world.

It also challenges followers of Jesus to throw off despair and complacency, exposes disempowering and hate-filled teachings that claim to be Christian, and reclaims the gospel as a force for healing, empowerment, and both personal and social transformation.

By participating in the ongoing story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and experiencing the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit, we discover the creative power at the heart of this and every universe: the all-encompassing, infinite, eternal love of God.

Part I

The Power of the Cross

The Mystery of God

Chapter 1

The Word of the Cross

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

—1 Corinthians 1:17

We begin here with part 1, “The Power of the Cross: The Mystery of God,” which presents the cross as a powerful symbol that can be used for good or for harm. This first chapter presents the scriptural foundation for the book and describes how early Christians understood and preached the gospel, which Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 1:18 as “the word of the cross” (RSV). Chapter 2 exposes some of today’s distortions of the gospel and their historical precedents while pointing toward life-giving ways to understand the good news of God’s love.

If we are to discern the meaning of the gospel for today’s world, we must be grounded in Scripture. This chapter focuses on 1 Corinthians 1:17–2:16, the primary scriptural source for developing the following arguments of this book: The cross symbolizes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that took place two thousand years ago, but it also represents an ongoing dynamic that exists at the heart of reality. The contemporary wisdom and worldly power of the domination system are at odds with the true wisdom and spiritual power of God. God is intimately present in the suffering of creation and in solidarity with all who suffer abuse by the powers, which crucified Jesus and continue to perpetuate harm. At the same time, God is at work in creation’s redemption as people awaken to the Spirit’s transformative power.

These early passages from 1 Corinthians offer a glimpse into some key features of Paul’s Gospel, which he calls the “word of the cross.” For Paul, this means the proclamation of the whole gospel—that is, the good news of the power of God working through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives to bring about transformation. A true understanding of the gospel cannot separate the death and resurrection of Jesus from the way he lived his life and the content of the message he proclaimed.

The Hebrew Scriptures and the traditions of Judaism informed Jesus’s message and way of life. This is demonstrated in the story of Jesus introducing his mission in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:16–30). He did so by reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because [God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. [God] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). After reading this passage, Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Following in the prophetic tradition, with these words Jesus identified the people toward whom his message was especially directed: those who were poor, captive, blind, oppressed, and without hope. In proclaiming “the year of the Lord’s favor,” many scholars believe that Jesus was referring to Leviticus 25, which calls for a Jubilee for the Israelites every fifty years, during which debts were to be canceled, enslaved people released, and land returned to its original owners (Lev 25:8–17). This announcement by Jesus initiated his ministry and ongoing preaching about the coming of the kingdom of God.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus consistently showed concern for those who were poor, weak, sick, hurting, and oppressed, and he challenged the leaders, laws, and social structures that led to such conditions. He called people to live according to a new and inclusive vision of the compassionate reign of God, and he created a community based on that vision. In these ways, he revealed what God is like and what human life can be when lived in the presence of God.

Not everyone appreciated Jesus’s message or the vision of the reign of God that he proclaimed and demonstrated. His mission statement was a direct affront to people of high status, the wealthy, and those who had worldly power. Good news to the poor may sound like bad news to some who are rich. Those who keep people captive may not want captives to be released. Those who are invested in systems of oppression may not want those who are oppressed to be set free. People who benefit from the structures of society as they are may not be happy with the social redress and economic redistribution indicated by a call for Jubilee. Jesus’s message about the imminent coming of the kingdom of God is especially important to understand in the context of the word of the cross because it was his passion for the kingdom of God and his actions to support its coming, including his resistance to the religious and political authorities, that led them to oppose him fiercely and conspire to have him crucified.

In the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, after a brief introduction, Paul challenges the divided congregation to find unity in Christ: “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Cor 1:10). In calling for unity, Paul is referring to life in the Spirit and “the mind of Christ,” themes to which he returns in the second chapter.

Paul then describes his calling: “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power” (1 Cor 1:17). The term gospel (Greek: euangélion) that Paul uses here is the same term Jesus uses to describe the good news that he has come to bring in the passage above from Luke 4. In both cases, the Greek word euaggeliz means “to announce good news,” “to declare glad tidings,” or “to preach the gospel.”1 Paul’s Gospel is also grounded in the Scriptures and traditions of Judaism and is based on the good news that Jesus proclaimed. Paul affirms, expands, and highlights its universal significance by incorporating the story of God working through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection and by emphasizing the power of the Holy Spirit to transform lives.

A Gospel That Is Hard to Hear

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

—1 Corinthians 1:18

Paul makes clear that the gospel is a message that saves but can be hard to hear, especially for people whose ideas are shaped and lives are built upon social constructs, superficial values, and prevailing assumptions. The gospel sets up a stumbling block for those who depend on their own wisdom, intellectual ability, cleverness, or expertise and frustrates those who seek to attain success based on the values of the dominant culture, such as status, wealth, and worldly power. They cannot comprehend how the values Jesus taught, his passion for the reign of God, or the story of his life, death, and resurrection could enhance their goals. Paul continues:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Cor 1:20–25)

The Greek word translated here as “wisdom” is Sophia,2 which Paul uses to indicate the vast difference between the so-called wisdom of the world and the true wisdom that comes from God. Paul discounts professional debaters and orators who use logic and rhetoric to convince their hearers through philosophical persuasion. He insists that they are all foolish and that they miss the true wisdom of the gospel of “Christ crucified.”

Paul makes clear that his critique of intellectual and religious argument points to a deeper power at work, the power of the Spirit, which validates the truth of the gospel regardless of the intellectual prowess of the preacher. He even claims that using eloquent rhetorical devices to explain the gospel through logical argument empties the cross of its power (1:17). Ironically, at the same time, Paul uses all the tools of rhetoric and persuasion in which he was trained as a Pharisee to reveal the truth of the gospel. Paul is using language creatively here to make the case that it is only by the Spirit that people recognize the truth of the gospel, regardless of the eloquence of the preacher. For those who are immersed in the conventional wisdom, Paul’s creative use of language, including his play on words such as wisdom, foolishness, weakness, and strength, will fall on deaf ears.

There are two paradigms at play here—the paradigm of “civilization’s normalcy”3 and the paradigm of the Spirit. What is important in the eyes of the dominant culture is not the same as what is important to God. The reality of the Spirit is often hidden from those who build their lives on attaining worldly success. But, says Paul, for those who are “being saved” and are “called,” God’s power and wisdom are revealed in Jesus Christ.

The Weakness and Foolishness of God

Jesus’s message provided the first Christians with the background, the key, and the field of vision they needed in order to understand his passion, his cross, and his post resurrection appearances.

—Richard Horsley, New Testament Commentaries

Here we return to the story of Jesus, whose life and teachings, death and resurrection provide the content of the gospel message. His story exemplifies what Paul means when he speaks of the weakness and foolishness of God. Jesus of Nazareth was a lowly Jewish preacher, teacher, prophet, and healer from Galilee who was despised by most of the religious elite and executed as a subversive by the Roman Empire. No one, according to the world’s standards, can say that Jesus died a noble death. He died a shameful death, beaten, tortured, degraded, cursed, and crucified.

Although the cross is a common symbol today and rarely, if ever, shocks anyone who is familiar with Christianity, those who initially heard the gospel were familiar with the Roman cross and the horrors of crucifixion. The Roman Empire used crucifixion frequently, especially against rebellious slaves and subversives. The cross was not even supposed to be mentioned in polite Roman society. For the Jews, being crucified was synonymous with being cursed by God: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal 3:13; see also Deut 21:23). Paul calls this message a “stumbling block,” which can also be translated as “scandal,” “offense,” “occasion for stumbling,” and “the thing that offends.” The idea of a crucified messiah was offensive, scandalous, pure folly. No wonder this message was one that most people in first-century Rome could not hear.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3–4, Paul summarizes the gospel: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” The idea that Jesus, a carpenter and lowly prophet from Nazareth who had undergone crucifixion, had risen from the dead was unthinkable. A crucified messiah was an extreme contrast to the Jewish hope for a messiah along the lines of David and other earthly rulers. After his crucifixion, his disciples expressed deep disappointment because they had believed Jesus to be “the one to redeem Israel” from Roman rule (Luke 24:21). Even after they realized that he had risen and was still present with them, they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Yet they came to understand that Jesus’s vision was of a different kind of kingdom, an “upside-down kingdom”4 that upended the values of the dominant culture and revealed the reality of life in the Spirit. People who experienced the Spirit’s transforming power in their lives and communities became convinced that Jesus was, indeed, the long-awaited Messiah. The deep humiliation undergone by one who embodied the very presence of God is what the early church proclaimed. The basis of the early Christian proclamation that “Jesus is Lord” was that the long-awaited Messiah, God’s own son, had undergone suffering and death and had risen to new life “in accordance with the Scriptures” to save the people from sin, to overcome the powers, and to initiate a new creation. These ideas, which started circulating after Jesus appeared to his disciples, became the foundation for the Christian message.

If the story of Jesus had ended with his death, it would have simply been a tragic story about a godly man. It was only after his postdeath appearances that his Jewish followers remembered his words and actions in this new context and discovered that their Scriptures provided a rich source of metaphor, poetry, history, and prophecy that pointed to a different kind of messiah, one who would “suffer these things an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: Called to Preach Christ Crucified
• Introduction: The Cross in the Midst of Creation
• Part I: The Power of the Cross: The Mystery of God
• Part II: God Weeps: Following Jesus in a Suffering World
• Part III: Engaging the Powers: A Clash of Kingdoms
• Part IV: Transforming the World: Practicing Resurrection
• Suggested Reading
• Index