What Was it About
As we approach Good Friday and Easter I am reminded of how I thought and behaved during this season when I was much younger. I can remember going to church on Good Friday and looking at the cross in the front of the church. As I sat and the piano or organ played very somber music, I tried to feel really sad. I would kind of squint my eyes trying to somehow conjure up a tear or two (which I never did). It sort of felt like going to a funeral of someone I had helped to kill.
These many years later I see how childish and even primitive my thinking was. Now the whole subject of Jesus death and resurrection raises far more questions than answers for me.
But what has become somewhat clear to me is that the crucifixion of Jesus was in fact the most cataclysmic clash between two world systems we could ever imagine. All the might and power of our world system and social order combined to silence and kill the heart of God, the voice of Love.
Two social orders that could not be more different came to blows, and Jesus won. I know I know, it doesn’t look like Jesus won. He’s the one bleeding, hanging naked and tortured in a horribly grotesque form of torture and death. But, trust me, He won.
So, what were these world orders and how did Jesus win?
The first, and the one best known to us is the social order of earthly empires. These are the empires that have existed and dominated cultures since Cain killed his brother and then established the first city. That city and all empires since have been organized around the principles of Cain killing his brother to get what he wanted.
This basis of the world order is the acquisition and preservation of possessions, power, and prestige through force. Every war, every rape, every murder, every theft every act of selfishness and dishonesty can be traced right back to these core values of the world order. Violence, compromise, lies, objectification of people are accepted and necessary to keep the social order going. Violence is necessary and lauded as the only way to preserve the life to which we are accustomed.
The other social order is the one Jesus taught, demonstrated and lived. He called it the Kingdom of God. In this social order the poor are first, those who mourn will be comforted, the persecuted will inherit God’s kingdom. Maybe the easiest way to say it is that the underlying principle of this kingdom is love. No one is excluded. All are invited and welcomed. There is no meritorious nature to life here. Grace is given freely. Love is extended to all. The highest prize of God’s kingdom is the preservation of our souls in love with God.
Jesus teaches us that to live by His social order while here on this earth will mean we are misunderstood, sometimes hated, and by worldly terms often unsuccessful.
“If this world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you”. John 15: 18-20
Whew, that’s pretty strong stuff. Think of Martin Luther King, or Ghandi, or the Freedom Riders, or Erin Brockovich. They all stood up to the world social order and they all were hated. It cost some of them their lives. Threatening the world order is not a “safe” thing to do. It is not practical.
If we are thinking in worldly terms Jesus made a very big mistake. Jesus entered the world system, but He lived by completely different principles and values. In so doing He challenged the religious and political power structures. He did not challenge them by violence, but simply by doing things very very differently.
He violated religious law by healing on the sabbath and by eating with the prostitutes and tax collectors. He allowed his disciples to pick wheat and eat it on the sabbath. That made a lot of religious elites very very angry and threatened. After all, how could they maintain their seats of power and prestige if people were allowed to freely break their rules? They, not God’s love, were the ultimate authority.
He also threatened the political powerhouse of Rome. He assembled large crowds. He said He was the king of the Jews. He said He and God were one. All of these declarations were reserved for Caesar the mighty ruler of Rome who was treated as a deity. To say He was a king was to threaten the power of Rome.
So, in short we have two parallel kingdoms existing side by side.
One, is the preservation of power, possessions, and prestige protected by violence.
The other is Kingdom of forgiveness, inclusion and truth defended by nothing but love.
As Brian Zahnd says in his book “The Wood Between two Worlds”,
“The cross is where Jesus does nothing less than re-found the world. Instead of being organized around an axis of power enforced by violence, the world is reorganized around the axis of love expressed in forgiveness.”
Psalm 136 says twenty six consecutive times
“His steadfast love endures forever”
“His steadfast love endures forever”
“His steadfast love endures forever”
The most powerful forces of earth combined their hideous strength to silence Jesus. They used the worst and most barbaric torture they could imagine, and they lost. The steadfast love of God endured forever. They could not kill that love. They could not tempt that love to fight. They could not bend that love to their wishes.
His steadfast love endured forever.
A convicted thief and criminal hung next to Jesus. He asked to be included in Jesus kingdom that day. Jesus turned to him and assured him that he would be included.
His steadfast love endured forever.
His dearest friends and disciples betrayed Him and ran away to save themselves. He did not desert them or condemn them.
His steadfast love endured forever.
The crowd like a pack of hyenas jeered and challenged Him to come down from the cross if He was the Son of God. Soldiers played dice games at the foot of the cross to win his clothes. People He had healed, people He had dined with, people He had loved all remained stone cold silent. And Jesus’ response was “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
His steadfast love endured forever.
He never resorted to violence. He never resorted to condemnation. He never resorted to vengeance. He chose to suffer this ugly painful humiliating death rather than bend to the principles of the world’s social order.
The very worst that the world system of empire could exert did not win that day.
Reflection:
Rather than this being an intellectual truth I’d like to invite you to pause and be quiet for a bit. Imagine yourself sitting at the foot of this cross. Imagine your eyes meeting the loving eyes of Jesus.
In that place you know there is nothing you have done or can do to make God ever stop loving you. His outstretched arms welcome you to come into the embrace of His undying love.
You are loved with an enduring love. And you are called to live in this world of power and violence as children of love and light.
May this season remind us that we are the beloved of God and we are the hands and feet of Christ in a world longing to see and know a different way