The phrase “Jesus died for our sins” has been used so much through the years that it has almost become a cliché. But did Jesus truly die solely for the reason of absolving sin from the world? The three authors that we have read from—Gerard Luttenberger, Brian McDermott, and Edward Schillebeeckx—make it a key point for us to know that we cannot truly understand the crucifixion without understanding the preaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus was not sent by God just to heal people or perform other wonders, but primarily to preach the gospel of God. And unfortunately, “within an evil world any commitment to justice and love is deadly dangerous.” Jesus’ time on Earth was predominantly spent preaching about love and justice, also known as the reign of …show more content…
“For . . . there is a depth and fullness to Jesus’ experience which accounts for the way Jesus speaks of God and for the striking uniqueness of the kingdom reflected in Jesus’ preaching and ministry.” The synoptic gospels are filled with stories of Jesus engrossed in multiple experiences of God. Many of them mention Jesus’ frequent movement to prayer, where He found strength and light for His own ministry. Likewise, another event that holds equal importance regarding Jesus’ experience with God and for the discernment of His ministry follows the account of His baptism. “Each of the synoptic Gospels relates that Jesus . . . was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. There, engaged in reflection and prayer, Jesus struggles with Satan several times, each time opting for fidelity to God, each time choosing a renewed and deeper trust in God always.” Here, Jesus was provided with the strength that He needed to defeat the temptations that Satan put forward. He was able to emerge from all of these experiences with God to engage in ministry of His own. As Luke writes in his own Gospel, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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.” The ministry of Jesus flows directly from Jesus’ experiences with God, and the ministry itself was summed up in one proclamation from Jesus: “‘the reign of God is here, repent and believe the good