Patrick Comerford
Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing through Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday next Sunday (8 June 2025). Yesterday is the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Easter VII).
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
John 16: 29-33 (NRSVA):
29 His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ 31 Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? 32 The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. 33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’
Today’s Reflection:
As I was saying in my reflections yesterday, we are, in some ways, caught in the church calendar in an in-between time, between Ascension Day, last Thursday [29 May 2025], and the Day of Pentecost next Sunday [8 June 2025].
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (John 16: 29-33), we continue reading from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ when Jesus talks with the Disciples at the Last Supper about their future and the future of the Church after he leaves them.
The disciples now claim to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about, although it seems they really do not. It is not until later that they grasp the meaning of his words fully.
In the coming days, they will be scattered in all directions and leave Jesus alone as he faces death. In the years ahead, they will be scattered abroad, and they too will face persecution and death. But they are to take courage, for Christ has conquered the world and overcome evil in the world. The disciples and we can share in his peace and in his victory: ‘I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (verse 33).
The term ‘Christus Victor’ has become an influential phrase through Christus Victor by the Swedish bishop and theologian Gustaf Aulén (1879-1977), first published in Swedish as Den kristna försoningstanken (The Christian Idea of the Atonement) in 1930, and in English as Christus Victor in 1931.
Aulén reinterpreted the classic ransom theory of atonement, which says that Christ’s death is a ransom to the powers of evil that had held humankind in captivity. It is an understanding of the atonement until the time of Anselm of Canterbury. What became the satisfaction theory of atonement or penal substitutionary atonement sees Christ’s suffering as paying the penalty for human sin, and continues to dominate western theological thinking, particularly among ‘conservative’ evangelicals.
The concept of Christus Victor (‘Christ the Victor’) as a description of Christ’s triumph over evil and death through his death and resurrection, emphasises God’s victory over the forces of sin and darkness and highlights Christ’s role as the cosmic liberator, rescuing humanity from the bondage of evil and restoring a relationship with God.
The Christus Victor view has its roots in early Patristic teachings, and the Eastern Orthodox Church still holds to the view of the atonement put forward by Irenaeus and that is called ‘recapitulation’, in which Jesus became what we are so that we could become what he is.
For Irenaeus, the ultimate goal of Christ’s work of solidarity with humanity is to make humankind divine. Of Jesus he says, he ‘became what we are, that he might bring us to be even what he is himself.’ These ideas were shared by many other Church Fathers, including Sainr Athanasius, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Augustine and Saint Maximus the Confessor. They have been most influential within the Eastern Orthodox Church, and this Eastern Orthodox theological development out of the recapitulation view of the atonement is called theosis (‘deification’).
Aulén argues that theologians have incorrectly concluded that the early Church Fathers held a ransom theory of atonement. Aulén argues that the Church Fathers’ theory was not that the crucifixion is the payment of a ransom to the devil, but rather that it represents the liberation of humanity from the bondage of sin, death and the devil. As the term Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) indicates, the idea of ‘ransom’ should not be seen as some sort of business transaction, but more in the terms of a rescue or liberation of humanity from the slavery of sin.
He sees the concept of Christus Victor as uniting Christ and his Father at the Crucifixion in a subversive condemnation of the unjust powers of darkness, a drama and a passion story in which God conquers the Powers and liberates humanity from the bondage of sin: ‘The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.’
The Christus Victor theory is becoming increasingly popular with both paleo-orthodox evangelicals because of its connection to the early Church Fathers, and with liberal Christians and peace churches because of its subversive nature, seeing the death of Jesus as an exposure of the cruelty and evil present in the worldly powers, and the resurrection as a triumph over these powers.
The Christus Victor theory has also influenced liberation theology in Latin South America, as well as feminist and black theologies of liberation.
‘I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33).
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Today’s Prayers (Monday 2 June 2025):
The new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), covers the period from 1 July to 20 November 2025. The theme in the prayer diary this week (1-7 June) is ‘Volunteers’ Week’ and was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.
The USPG prayer diary invites us to prayer today (Monday 2 June 2025):
Gracious God, thank you for calling us in your mercy to be your saints. Set us apart for a life filled with your Spirit, that we may be a blessing to others.
The Collect:
O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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