Power is at the heart of this Sunday’s gospel lesson. Jesus’ message about the Good News of the kingdom of God/God’s Reign/God’s way threatened the powers of his day. You cannot call out the powers of the world, the ways of sin and death, and not expect the powers to react. Especially when those powers think they are on God’s side (or the gods), but you are contending they are not. There are many ways to talk about Jesus death on the cross, but any discussion without noting the power dynamics is incomplete.