Self-described agnostic atheist Bart Ehrman writes, “I came to think that there is not a God who is actively involved with this world of pain and misery—if he is, why doesn’t he do something about it?”
But what if God did do something about it? What if what He did was so great and unprecedented that it shook the angelic realm’s foundation, and ripped in half, from the top down, not only the temple curtain but the fabric of the universe itself?
A powerful moment in the movie The Passion of the Christ occurs when Jesus, overwhelmed with pain and exhaustion, lies on the ground as guards kick, mock, and spit on him. A horrified woman, her hand outstretched, pleads, “Someone, stop this!”
The great irony is that “Someone,” God’s Son, was doing something unspeakably great that required it not be stopped.
Had someone delivered Jesus from His suffering that day, He could not have delivered us from ours.
Sometimes our familiarity with the gospel story prevents us from understanding its breathtaking nature. That’s one benefit of reading other redemptive stories that give us glimpses of the greatest one. To me, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe offers particular help in understanding Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
Aslan, the all-powerful lion, created Narnia and all worlds. After Lucy hears that her brother has to die for his treachery, she asks Aslan, “Can anything be done to save Edmund?”
“All shall be done,” Aslan responds. “But it may be harder than you think.” Knowing the terrible suffering and death that await him, Aslan becomes very sad. But he can save Edmund only through his self-sacrifice.
Those serving Aslan’s foe, the White Witch, roll Aslan onto his back and tie his paws together. “Had the Lion chosen, one of those paws could have been the death of them all,” Lewis writes. Finally, the witch orders that Aslan, their rightful king, be shaved. They cut off his beautiful mane and ridicule him. Aslan surrenders to his enemies, trading his life for Edmund’s.
Likewise, Jesus felt overwhelming sadness in the Garden of Gethsemane. He told His disciples, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38, NLT). The soldiers who guarded Jesus mocked Him and hit Him (see Luke 22:63). And in actual history, Jesus went to the cross to die for us. That’s how much He loves us.
The drama of evil and suffering in Christ’s sacrifice addresses the very heart of the problem of evil and suffering. One day it will prove to have been the final answer.
