As Sydney churches prepare for their Easter services, could they be in danger of watering down the unpopular message of the cross? What should congregations be hearing over the Easter weekend?

According to chair of the Mission Board strategy group, Claire Smith, the theology of substitutionary atonement " which she says is essential to a balanced view of the meaning of the cross " is being undermined, even in evangelical circles.

What’s to offend?

In her article, Why Easter is so offensive, Claire explains that several concepts behind the cross are unpopular in a secular society " and indeed with some Christians.

Among these are the sinful nature of human beings in general, the judgement of an "angry" God, and the inability of humans to earn their own salvation. 

"This is the ultimate offence of the cross. It is the public historical event that declares we are utterly dependent on the self-sacrifice of the Son of God in our place to escape the wrath of God," she writes.

At the heart of the issue, says Claire, is the difficulty of making the message of the cross palatable to a secular society in which the concept of a wrathful God is "unsophisticated".

"We've tried to rehabilitate God," she says. "We've tried to make God nice and make the cross relevant."

"That there might be eternal consequences for our actions is not popular," she continues. "The fact that we needed Jesus to die for us is offensive to our human pride."

Claire says messages that focus on Jesus' death as an example of love or serving others, rather than his atoning death for sinners, are missing the point.

"I actually think this is an issue where Christians have taken their eye off the ball," she says.

"If we lose God's wrath, and if we lose substitutionary atonement, we lose the cross."

"It's a question of having "Jesus died instead of us' as your central grid to understand what happened on the cross," she says.

These ideas that play down substitutionary atonement are finding their way into the libraries " and minds " of everyday Christians, who could be misled by books written by some popular writers.

"The attack on the atonement is not limited to academic circles," she says. "Academic thought filters down anyway."

Are churches the main offenders?

St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St Michael's Cathedral, Wollongong are holding Easter Conventions simultaneously on Good Friday on the same topic: The Cross " Private and Public.

Archbishop Peter Jensen and the Rev David Jones will speak in Wollongong, and Dean Phillip Jensen of St Andrew's Cathedral and the Rev Simon Manchester will give the talks in Sydney.

Archbishop Jensen indicates that the view that all people are sinful is unpopular, but necessary.

"The New Testament describes our human sin as a slavery to sin, and it says that Jesus’ death frees us from that slavery. None of us like to be told that we are sinful people, but we are well aware that we, each one of us, fail in our own life to live up to God's standards for life and relationships."

The Rev Sandy Grant and the Rev Chris Moroney agree that the cross is a message which should be offensive.

"It's offensive to many people who want to say that all religions are the same and that the differences don't matter," says Chris.

Sandy says the bare statement of Jesus dying on the cross is not where the offence lies.

"If I just say in my Easter preaching, "Jesus died for your sins', people agree," he says.

"If I spell out that there's no other way we can be right with God, that people can't be justified in their own right, this is offensive."

Sandy hints that the unflinching message of the cross can be hard to grasp in a society geared around choice.

"Would God have let his only Son go through what he did on the cross if there was any other way? No!" he says.

"If there were any other option, it would be cruel for the Father not to have answered Jesus in Gethsemane."

The stakes are high, says Sandy, considering Jesus' words to Peter in Matthew 16:23.

"Anything that gets in the way of the cross is satanic, even a well-intentioned desire for Jesus to avoid suffering."

Find out more about the Sydney and Wollongong easter conventions.