Psalm 139
I Peter 3:15b-22
Rollins Chapel
October 14, 2004
Richard R. Crocker, Ph.D.
Those of you who have been to chapel this term will know that I am talking about that early summary of Christian belief that we call the Apostles' Creed. Today we have reached the point at which the creed says, speaking of Jesus, "He descended into hell."
This phrase has always been problematic. Some reciters of the creed even today omit this phrase. Other versions say "he descended to the dead" - a phrase that seems a bit redundant seeing as how we just confessed "… he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried." No, I think the real reason this phrase is problematic for many Christians is that, in their belief, Jesus could have nothing to do with hell. The scriptural basis for asserting it is usually thought to be this rather obscure passage from 1 Peter, which says that "he was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison…." (I Peter 3:19)
I intend to argue for the next few minutes that the assertion that Jesus descended into hell is one of the most hopeful assertions in the creed. Far from being an after thought, it is, I think, the essential to our hope. I have served in congregations that left this sentence out of their recitations of the creed. I have urged them to include it. And I will tell you why.
First of all, one of the secrets of polite Christianity is that we do not talk about hell. It is not mentioned in polite society, is it? I find it very uncomfortable to be around people who think they are going to heaven and I am going to hell. Many people, some Christians included, do not believe in hell, they say, so how could Jesus have descended into it? Others, even those who say they believe in hell, would rather not talk about it.
From my point of view, hell is one of those doctrines in the church that we have thoroughly misunderstood, but the solution for that problem is not to ignore the teaching, but to get it right.
Now I can understand why the topic is generally avoided. Let's be honest. For many Christians, faith boils down to what happens when we die. It is a popular wide-spread reduction of Christianity to argue and teach that, at death, some people are going to heaven, and others are going to hell. For many people, all religious practice is devoted to insuring that they are among those going to heaven. Heaven is a place of eternal bliss; hell is a place of eternal punishment. It's a simple message. And many people like that simplicity. But such a division of people into two categories - those bound for heaven and those bound for hell, the saved and the unsaved, the righteous and the evil doers - is not true to our experience of the complexity of persons nor is it true to the deeper teachings of scripture.
"What do you mean?" you ask. Isn't it true that Jesus talked about hell? Isn't it true that he talked about judgment, about separating the sheep from the goats - one destined for paradise and the other for eternal hell-fire? Didn't he advise us not to be afraid of anything or anyone on earth who can only harm our body, but to fear God, who can cast us into hell? Yes, those teachings are part of scripture. "Are you trying to explain them away?" my interlocutor (who might well be sitting in this room) might well ask. And I answer, "No, I am not trying to explain them away, but I am trying to place them in a context." And the context is this. Anything that we say about God must proceed from the first assertion, that God is love. Anything that we Christians say about God proceeds from our belief that Jesus Christ, in his teachings and actions, showed us who God truly is. And what Jesus shows us is that God's love will not finally be defeated by anything- not by evil designs, not by injustice, not by indifference, not even by death. That is why it is so important to say that Jesus descended into hell. If that is true, if Jesus descended into hell, then there is hope for everyone. Everyone, because truly, then, nothing - nothing at all - can separate us from the love of God. Hell itself must be redeemed by God's love.
Now, when I speak like this, those people whose religion requires dividing the world into the saved and the lost become confused or dismissive or angry, accusing me of denying the existence of hell. I reply that hell is very real. It is part of God's loving, righteous judgment. What do I mean? Simply this. According to the clear witness of scripture, God is not indifferent to the world. We are here to enjoy God, to practice love and compassion and peace. But we do not. Some of us more than others, but all of us in some way, contribute to the disorder and violence and hatred and injustice that mar the world with suffering. It makes sense that a just God would judge those actions that contribute to the world's hurt. But as scripture and experience teach us, if God judged us according to our sins, there is not one of us who could stand. So the only hope for any of us is forgiveness. But forgiveness does not mean relativism, it does not mean indifference, it does not mean overlooking what has happened. Forgiveness, for victims of the Holocaust, does not mean just pretending that the reign of hatred and death did not occur, or that it did not matter. There must be judgment. And judgment does not mean just inflicting pain on people. Rather, judgment means having people realize what they have done. Now this is a scary thing. Does this ever happen to you: do you ever think back on something you have said or done and realize how horrible it was? I do, and it makes me tremble, sometimes. Indeed, it makes me gnash my teeth. I think that hell is like that. It is when we face, some of us reluctantly, bitterly, against all resistance, the truth of who we are and what we have done. It is a kind of realization that can only be described with the metaphor of fire. It is a burning realization. And all of us, facing such realizations, finally realize that our only hope of wholeness is grace and forgiveness. And only then do we really know how little we deserve it.
Judgment is real. Hell is real. But to confuse the metaphor of burning with literal fire, to think of God as one who subjects anyone to eternal torment - how can anyone say that such a God is a God of love or that such a God is shown to us in the teaching of the Christ?
Well, plenty of people do say it. And it is an ugly fact that in this time of great hatred in the world, we are all too ready to consign our enemies to the fires of hell, not remembering Jesus' teaching that we ourselves will be judged as we judge others.
I take great comfort in the teaching that Jesus descended into hell, for it assures me that, in the words of Psalm 139, even if I make my bed in hell, God is there. And if God is there, then there is hope, and love, and ultimate forgiveness, for you, for me, for us all. Amen.
Sermon © 2004 Richard R. Crocker. All rights reserved.
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