Time to Tear Down | Lent Devotional Day 27

Exploring the Meaning of Jesus’ Death
March 16, 2026
Written by Sarah Rugenstone

Time to Tear Down

Scripture:

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Reflection:

The feminist theory of atonement would say that the sin of man killed Jesus, and that God through the power of Sophia (another name for the Holy Spirit or Wisdom of God), brought about God’s love and justice and redeemed what man did. That God resurrected Jesus because not only does God not put us to death, God does not leave us in death. God resurrected because of divine love for Christ, and for us, that God frees us from any system that attempts to define us, minimize us, confine us, erase us, or even kill us, God will not leave it there. God will never let oppression, loss, darkness, or death have the last word. God will make all things right, and we will all be free and together in the kindom of God.

I like how theologian Elizabeth Johnson explains what God does through the cross in her book She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse, “...the story of the cross, rejected as passive, penal victimization, is reappropriated as heartbreaking empowerment. The suffering accompanying such a life as Jesus led is neither passive, useless, nor divinely ordained, but is linked to the ways of Sophia (Holy Spirit) forging justice and peace in an antagonistic world. As such, the cross is part of the larger mystery of pain-to-life, of that struggle for the new creation evocative of the rhythm of pregnancy, delivery, and birth so familiar to women of all times,” (Johnson 159).

How does God save within the Feminist understanding of the cross? Well, God saves us from ourselves. Like Johnson said, this world can often be antagonistic. There are things in this world that have grown like weeds, their strong roots of sin, division and evil spreading rapidly. We, as people, are so prone to fall into broken sinful systems that oppress others and make them less than in our skewed and off kilter world. God saves us in this by straight up undoing evil, reversing the inevitability of death, and reminding us that every scar we bear, every wound we try to heal, every hurt woven into our bones, God experienced it too.

And one day, maybe not while we’re on this side of heaven, but one day, God will make it right again. God will reverse the pain, will undo the suffering, reclaim the loss, because that is how much God loves us. Not only does God know and feel the depth of our hurt, but through the resurrection we see that God is actively tearing down all that hurts us in this world, and is building back God’s perfect kindom for God’s family in its place.

Prayer:

God who saves us, we ask that you be with us this week. As we go out into this world that can be so antagonistic and also so full of hope. May you bring up reminders of your hope, your works in this world, remind us that there is good out there, and that we are connected to it. May we have the strength, the protection, and the courage to go out into this world and help bring about your good. Amen.

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