Death for forgiveness

Jesus was killed because He forgave, not to gain our forgiveness, says Gerhard Forde.

I don’t agree with the second part of that, but the first part intrigues. It sounds like the typical liberal nostrum that Jesus was put to death for being too nice, and we don’t like niceness. Is a Jesus who forgives “crucifiable”?

I think so: Fallen human beings, fallen human societies, are defined by their retention of grievances. We want payback; we want revenge. Anyone who has been a pastor more than a week knows what an offense forgiveness is.

We crucified Jesus in the name of justice.