Okay, the false scandal of the cross
is the misguided (really obscene)
notion that God made Jesus suffer
humiliation, torture and an agonizing

death as a God-head substitute for
us in our depravity so that we can
just accept and go to heaven when
we die. Okay, that makes God a sadist/

masochist hurting self and a separate
Trinitarian self/person simultaneously
and it makes us more than happy to
accept divine intervention for what it is —

cheap grace. On the other hand, the
scandal of the cross is that God cared
so much for the creation that God emp-
tied self in a sacrificial act of suffering

humiliation, torture and an agonizing
death to identify with the creation’s
suffering and to call a grateful humanity
to do the same for all suffering humanity

with the truly scandalous notion that
such sacrificial suffering unto death
for the sake of the creation is the way
to life. Seriously? You want to take a

chance on that, make a bet on that?
Really? Is it any wonder that we keep
choosing cheap for a heaven that looks
a hell of a lot more like hell?