In this Easter Sunday message, Greg shared with us how on the cross, God lured the rulers of this age into thinking that God could be defeated. However, what looked like defeat was ultimately the path to divine victory. Therefore, we can declare that what looks like Good Friday death is actually a precursor to resurrection victory.
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Checkmate
• Greg Boyd
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In 1956, thirteen-year-old Bobby Fisher played the United State’s Chess Master, Donald Byrne, in what was called “The Game of the Century.” At the eighteenth move, Fisher left his queen vulnerable. Even though Byrne knew this was a trap, he could not see how. As a result, he took the bait and captured the queen. With every subsequent move, Fisher had Byrne on his heels and ultimately won the match. What looked like an obvious path to Byrne’s victory was actually the path to his defeat. Fisher was the only one who could see it.
Something similar to this occurred when God sacrificed his Son on Calvary, which is the point of the focus scripture quoted above. The “rulers of this age” could not understand the wisdom of God. They could not see it because “like” can only understand “like,” and they could not comprehend love. When one has no love within them, they cannot grasp the power of love that leads to victory. Satan saw the cross as an opportunity to defeat God and ascend to God’s throne, but as with the game of the century, Satan’s move backfired. What Satan saw as a way to defeat God, God saw it as a way save the world.
In Colossians 2:13-15, we read that the “charge of our legal indebtedness” was nailed to the cross in the spiritual realm. All that the Accuser possessed to condemn us was annihilated. The entire legal economy which keeps track of sin has been destroyed. All have died to their legal indebtedness to Satan and his regime, which means that all trespasses have been forgiven. Satan and the powers have nothing to hold over us. God’s wisdom was so effective that Satan and the powers ended up checkmating themselves. This is why Paul says they were made “a public spectacle,” a laughing stock.
On Good Friday, it looked to everybody like Jesus had failed. The would-be Messiah who would liberate the Jews from under Roman oppression and restore them to a sovereign nation which would be a light to the nations was dead. He lost, and all who put their hope in him returned home defeated. But on Easter morning, Jesus rose from the dead.
At this point, the analogy of the game of the century breaks down. When Fisher sacrificed his queen, it became increasingly apparent that Byrne was destined to lose. After the resurrection of Jesus, it does not become increasingly obvious that Satan and the powers of evil are destined to lose. This is a central theme in the book of Revelation. Even after the victory of the resurrection, it still looks like evil is winning. The life of the church replicates the slain lamb, and thus they appear to be losing. Their mimicry of the cruciform actions of Jesus are their path to victory because they are the acts of love rooted in the wisdom of God. This demonstrates that God’s loving wisdom is at work even in the world’s worst atrocities to bring maximal good out of maximal evil. God works to bring about a specular victory out of what seemed like certain defeat.
This leads us to two things. First, there is hope. We can shift our vision away from the circumstances that appear like we are stuck in a perpetual cycle of defeat and death, to seeing the promise that God is at work in all things. It might look like the death of Good Friday is going to win, but God’s resurrection of Jesus was the first rising that will be demonstrated at the final resurrection of all things. We can place our hope in him and trust in the reality of his resurrection victory. Secondly, we can meet with God in the midst of the pain that we feel while we wait for this ultimate victory. God is at work in the midst of the struggle to bring about good. We can invite Jesus into our mess and allow God to train us to see how God is even at work through the mess.
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The MuseCast: April 22
Focus Scripture:
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1 Corinthians 2:6-9
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, And what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him.
