This Moltmann Monday, here are some wise words from our German friend about Jesus’ suffering and death. They come from p.178 from The Way of Jesus Christ:
The theology of surrender is misunderstood and perverted into the very opposite unless it is grasped as being the theology of the pain of God, which means the theology of the divine co-suffering or compassion…If we abide by our conviction that Jesus is the messiah and the Son of God to the point of his death on the cross, then he brought the messianic hope and the fellowship of God to all those who have to live in the shadow of the cross, the mean and women who suffer injustice, and the unjust…But God does not cause Christ’s suffering, nor is Christ the meek and helpless victim of suffering. Through his surrender God seeks out the lost beings he has created, and enters into their forsakenness, bringing them his fellowship, which can never be lost.”
Jesus was not cast out into suffering by an angry God. He entered into suffering as God and with God, that all might be brought in. This is the com-passion and fellowship of Christ, our brother. And it creates the kind of community which can never be lost. If there is something for us to ponder this Holy Week, it is this great com-passion made manifest in the journey of Jesus to the cross and to the tomb.
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