The Cursed Jesus: A Shared Idea

Today I want to share an idea for a book: the cursed Jesus. I think it could be marvelous! Not only could it explore the terms for curse in Scripture, tracing out so much in the Old Testament that illustrates how Jesus took our curse(s) upon Himself upon the tree, but it could go face to face with Scripture often shied away from.

We don’t often talk about the cursed Jesus (Gal. 3:13), just as we don’t often talk about how God “made Him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). But these teachings are also given to us as a gift that “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name” (John 20:31). Right? Isn’t it worth teaching, even if its a struggle to understand?

I think it’d be a great attention getter with a bit of shock value that could really plumb the depths of Law and Gospel, attention to the Word, and the consistent completeness of God’s actions on our behalf. It’s also timely since our world’s idea of cursing is . . . heaven knows what.

Am I crazy? Am I unorthodox? I pray not. At least to the latter. 😉 Mostly it occurred to me that sometimes our human piety actually runs counter to Scripture. While we would try to avoid degrading Jesus in any way, we may overlook or even deny what He has revealed about Himself. When would Jesus say to us, “Get behind me, Satan?” <sigh>

But He has taken our curse from us—our well-deserved curses! He bore them all upon the Tree. It may be a topic more outside our comfort zone than talking about sin, abstract or otherwise, but it certainly relevant to each and every one of us!

Anyway. It’s interesting to me to think about. 🙂

Write it up if you want it! I’d love to read it!

Happy reading & writing!

Leave a Comment

Filed under Shared Writing Ideas, Theological reflection

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *