What if Jesus actually meant what he said?
It’s Good Friday—evidently a mistranslation from Old English for those of us who wonder about the term “good” referring to the day Jesus was executed. Could be a better word is “holy.”
How about some context?
The Romans build a world based upon power relationships. People sought power and, once attained, keeping it. This worldview, or mindset that we might call it today, filtered from the Emperor to family relationships. It was all about power.
The Jewish people had not lived under their own government for hundreds of years. Despite occasional revolts, the first Century dawned with them still under foreign rule. They longed for a leader who would lead a successful revolt and throw out the foreigners.
They thought Jesus might be the real deal, unlike the many before him whose naked corpses on short crosses (the pictures we see are not historically accurate, the reality was to demean the prisoner as much as possible) were often found along the roadways.
Therefore as I wrote a couple of days ago, the gospel writers point out that he had the equivalent of a Roman legion of followers ready to make him king. He entered Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday to those expectations that he came to the capital to overthrow the Romans.
What did Jesus actually teach? And live?
The inverse of power—love. He taught that our relationships should be come from a love based on God’s grace. He repeated frequently the need for a new way of living—the way of the Kingdom of Heaven. He said that his followers would be known by their love. He said that the greatest love was to give up our life for the sake of helping other people.
I’ve heard sermons and read books where the author was shocked that the crowd turned against Jesus on that Thursday. I am not shocked. Their expectations were crushed.
They didn’t listen to what Jesus said. They put their hopes and dreams on him instead of incorporating Jesus’s hopes and dreams for them into their lives.
Even his closest disciples hid on execution day and the following day. Even when Sunday came with the empty tomb and then his appearances, they could not comprehend. I don’t blame them. They also tried to put their interpretation on the movement (see James and John asking for places of power in the new kingdom).
Sometimes it takes me a period of time to digest new situations. I don’t blame them. They are us.
Then they understood that Jesus meant what he said and then proceeded to model it. It changed the world.
If Jesus actually meant what he said, maybe we should also believe it. And live it. Maybe we can change the world.
[Sorry, I usually try to keep these meditations to about 200 words. This one is like a sermon. I just had to figure out my logic. Based on 50+ years of study, this is as succinct as I can think today. I wish you all a happy Easter.]
Faith Venture 