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I'd certainly agree with you that there is nothing at all necessary about the crucifixion. Of course, an omnipotent deity could - if he so wished - compel people to love him with fire and thunder. But Christianity generally doesn't think that there is much value in love that isn't given freely. Kierkegaard wrote a famous theological fairy tale about a king who falls in love with a lowly maiden, but would rather would rather lose her than force her to love him. And so the only option is for the king to become a servant - not just in appearance but in reality- so that he can win her love without condescension or fear. Kierkegaard concludes: And the cause of all this suffering is love, precisely because the God is not jealous for himself, but desires in love to be the equal of the humblest. When the seed of the oak is planted in earthen vessels, they break asunder; when new wine is poured in old leathern bottles, they burst; what must happen when the God implants himself in human weakness, unless man becomes a new vessel and a new creature! But this becoming, what labors will attend the change, how convulsed with birth-pangs! And the understanding — how precarious, and how close each moment to misunderstanding, when the anguish of guilt seeks to disturb the peace of love! And how rapt in fear; for it is indeed less terrible to fall to the ground when the mountains tremble at the voice of the God, than to sit at table with him as an equal; and yet it is the God’s concern precisely to have it so. |