Switching seats: A story of Propitiation.
“…one of the most unpopular doctrines of our faith.”
It’s 1993. Hot on the heels of his Oscar-worthy portrayal of the sociopathic cannibal turned FBI aid Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins takes on a different role: C.S. Lewis, best known for writing the Chronicles of Narnia and widely known as a brilliant Christian thinker, in the critically acclaimed Shadowlands. Hopkins goes on to win awards for the portrayal.
Ok, now fast forward to 2023. Hopkins again encounters C.S. Lewis on set, only this time he’s switched seats with the character. Anthony Hopkins now portrays Dr Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session, a film based on a fictional interaction between the famed Psychiatrist and… C.S. Lewis.
So, what’s this all got to do with Propitiation?
Glad you asked. In Shadowlands, we’re presented with C.S. Lewis as an intellectual defender of the Christian faith. In Freud’s Last Session, Freud, the militant atheist, probes Lewis with what he feels will be the question that punches the hole in his faith: how can God be loving, and still demand blood for the sins of those He claims to love?
And Freud’s not alone. Many ask the same question today.
In fact, before C.S. Lewis came to faith he was an atheist, one who’d even used the same question as a foundation for why he couldn’t believe in a loving Father. In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, he writes that he used this Latin motto as his foundation in his teens:
Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam
Had God designed the world, it would not be
Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa
A world so frail and faulty as we see.
This is the dilemma for many unbelievers, and it comes back to Propitiation. Why? Well, because it starts the conversation about the wrath of God. Both Mark and Michael presented Propitiation as the “turning away of God’s wrath” last Sunday. And as Mark said, “This is one of the most unpopular doctrines in our faith”. Because the idea of wrath means reckoning with a God Whose very nature, His holiness, demands a penalty for sin. And according to the entire story of the Bible, the penalty of sin is death. How do we balance this with a God we call loving?
It’s all a question of who’s on the throne, and who’s in your seat.
Let’s start by asking who’s on the throne. Freud, like so many others, struggled with the idea of God’s wrath because Freud sat on the throne of his life. Do yourself a favour and read up on Freud’s lifestyle (carefully if you’re squeamish). This was not a man who wanted to deal with the concept of sin. And so, naturally, he’d oppose the concept of Propitiation. That’s the starting point. We must face our condition, our naturally sinful state. Freud was very much lord of his life. Even in his sad death. But believers know the throne in our lives was never meant for us, it was meant for Christ. Jesus is to be Lord of our lives (Romans 14:8-9). And Jesus sits enthroned at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12: 22-24).
Moving on to seats. For many, the big problem with Propitiation is that it means that because God’s wrath needs to be turned away, our sins result in Jesus switching seats with us and taking our punishment. And not just any punishment, a brutal crucifixion that led to the spilling of His blood and extreme suffering we’ll never fully understand. That’s why many call God unfair, tyrannical, blood-thirsty, and cruel.
Unless, read this next bit carefully, it’s God Who’s switching seats with us.
The Bible tells us Jesus is a Person of the Godhead (the Trinity). So, suddenly, this becomes the act of the Lover of our souls, not some unsuspecting victim. Suddenly, it’s as John Stott wrote in his book The Cross of Christ, “Sin is you substituting yourself for God, putting yourself where only He deserves to be. But salvation is God substituting Himself for you, putting Himself where only you deserve to be.”
Propitiation is this: Because of Christ’s sacrifice, God’s wrath towards our sin is turned away, and His justice is satisfied. Blood had to be paid because a holy God can’t abide sin. But a loving God switches seats with us to pay the cost for that sin.
Christ on the cross is the picture of perfect holiness, and perfect love.
Freud’s Last Session is a sad film for two reasons. First, it’s just not very good. Second, it’s based on conversations that never happened. If only they had, the great psychotherapist may have had himself dethroned by the Lord of C.S. Lewis’s life. The Jesus of Whom Lewis wrote, “Christ died for you individually, as if you’d been the only [person] in the world” (Mere Christianity). What a sense of love!
Let’s climb off the throne of our lives, dropping to our knees, where we pray:
Jesus, Lord, thank You for Your goodness. Thank You for Your love. But most of all, thank You for taking our place on the cross so that we could see one act that demonstrates both so perfectly. It’s something beyond our understanding, and so we pray, Holy Spirit, well up faith that helps us see our Saviour on the Cross not as cruelty, but the heart of God for us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
*Freud’s Last Session is based on a lecture by Dr Armand Nicholi called The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life.