Maybe we’d got it all backwards. Maybe the sacrificial system wasn’t God’s invention but ours. A kind of theological security blanket to convince ourselves we were still in God’s good books.

But all it really did was create victims.

In fact, that’s where the word “victim” comes from—literally, "a creature killed as a religious offering."

The cross was violent. It was sacrificial. But the violence wasn’t God’s. It was ours. And God didn’t demand it. God endured it—to show us that love was never something we had to earn.

Cycles don't break themselves.
They need to be seen.
They need someone brave enough to name them.
To step outside the ritual and say: "No more."

That's what Jesus did.
He didn't just step into the cycle of violence —
He exposed it, absorbed it, and undid it from within.

He showed us:
The price was always too high.
The God we thought needed sacrifice was never in the audience.
And once you see that...
you are free to choose a different way.
The way of mercy.
The way of peace.
The way of forgiveness that doesn't wait for someone else to make it safe first.

For many of us, the dominant story we inherited was this:

We are sinful. God is holy and just. Sin must be punished. Jesus took our punishment. Now we can be forgiven - if we believe the right things about Jesus.

This is often called penal substitutionary atonement—though no one called it that in Sunday school. And to be honest, it has its appeal. It gives a clear problem and a clear solution. It uses Scripture. It makes grace feel costly.

It’s also not without biblical support. There are courtroom metaphors in Paul. Hebrews talks about sacrifice. You can make that case.
But over time, we began to notice the cracks. This version of the story made God sound like a judge who can’t forgive without blood. A father who won’t let it go until someone gets hurt. It made Jesus the nice one who steps in to protect us from the angry one.

And maybe worst of all—it made love sound like a legal loophole.

The music at the end of this episode is called “Light of your Grace”. It is an expression of the Gayatri Mantra or “Universal Prayer”.

Written in Sanskrit, in English it translates as:

"May we meditate upon the divine light of the Supreme Creator. May this divine light enlighten our minds and guide us on the right path."

Lent traditionally follows Jesus into the wilderness. This is because of the suspicion that there lies certain wisdom and insights at the edges of things, that the centre just can’t hold.

As a Mohawk Elder said after one of John Phillip Newell’s talks:

During Lent 2025, inspired by John Philip Newell’s "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul", we’ll explore the voices of Pelagius, Brigid of Kildare, Alexander John Scott and others, rediscovering a Celtic spirituality that has always been present - even if often overlooked.

Lent traditionally follows Jesus into the wilderness. This is because of the suspicion that there lies certain wisdom and insights at the edges of things, that the centre just can’t hold.

As a Mohawk Elder said after one of John Phillip Newell’s talks:

During Lent 2025, inspired by John Philip Newell’s "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul", we’ll explore the voices of Pelagius, Brigid of Kildare, Alexander John Scott and others, rediscovering a Celtic spirituality that has always been present - even if often overlooked.

Lent traditionally follows Jesus into the wilderness. This is because of the suspicion that there lies certain wisdom and insights at the edges of things, that the centre just can’t hold.

As a Mohawk Elder said after one of John Phillip Newell’s talks:

During Lent 2025, inspired by John Philip Newell’s "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul", we’ll explore the voices of Pelagius, Brigid of Kildare, Alexander John Scott and others, rediscovering a Celtic spirituality that has always been present - even if often overlooked.