Jesus' Death and Revolution

We often spend time interpreting Jesus death on the cross by analyzing Paul, John or the book of Hebrews.  But we should spend time looking at what Jesus said about his death, understanding how he interpreted his death.

1.       Free the abused
“The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.”
Jesus looked around him and he saw masses of people who were suffering.  People who were running around insane, desperately poor, horribly sick, blind, and imprisoned for their debts.  Instead of helping these needy people, the leaders of his people punished them more.  Preachers spoke to the abused, claiming it was their fault they suffered.  Priests kept them from God because their suffering was seen as a punishment.  Elders passed laws that made their plight more difficult.  Jesus saw the oppressed as “sheep without a shepherd”, a people without a leader, and the leaders as “whitewashed sepultures”—containers of death with a fresh coat of paint on them.  So Jesus had a plan to deliver these people—to give them a new exodus, a deliverance from slavery.  And that deliverance plan included his own death.

2.       Martyrdom
“Blessed are you when men hate you… be glad in that day… for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way the fathers treated the prophets.”
The first deliverer of Jesus’ people, Moses, was a shepherd who had a deep connection with God, and God enacted the deliverance of the oppressed using Moses as a conduit.  There were many like Moses offering deliverance through the years: Deborah, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Esther. These were prophets, people whom God used to deliver his people from oppression.  However, these people, every one, suffered horribly.  Their lives were miserable.  But the misery of their lives was worth the deliverance they brought, and also because they were given the opportunity to live at peace with God after this life was over. Jesus knew that he was to live like these: be led by God to deliver people, suffer horribly, to be resurrected to be at peace in the end.

3.       Demonstrate Love
“Greater love has no one than this: that one lay his life down for his brothers.”

Jesus declared that the law is all about love.  Not just any love, but love for all people, love which helps those in need and love that sacrifices oneself.  Jesus lived out this love every day.  He healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, fed the hungry, raised the dead, delivered the mentally ill, and gave to the poor.  This was good, but he needed to provide a final demonstration of how one should live.  When Jesus died on the cross, he showed what real sacrifice was, and the kind of love we all should share with one another.

4.       Jesus On the Campaign Trail
“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”
At the moment Jesus was baptized, he had a vision of God the Father quoting Psalm 2 to him, declaring him to be the Son of God, the new king of the Jewish people, the leader of the people of God, and the next emperor of the world.  From this point on, Jesus was campaigning to be this king, to prove himself as more worthy than the current rulers.  But Jesus was never campaigning to the people of God, but campaigning for God himself.  He was showing himself to be more compassionate than Moses, more obedient than David, and having more faith than Elijah.  His death was the ultimate expression of all of these characteristics.

5.       Principle of Humility
“If anyone exalts himself, he will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
There was one principle, however, that Jesus needed to demonstrate above all.  If a person was to rule under God’s power, the one aspect they had to demonstrate above all is humility.    Jesus understood humility to not be an inner sense of unworthiness or lowliness, because he considered himself the next emperor of the world.  Rather, humility is accepting a low standing and allowing God to give you a higher one.  Jesus had to accept the lowest place, the station of ultimate shame and rejection, and then God would establish him on high.  In Jesus’ time, the lowest station he could take on is to be hung in shame on a cross.

6.       Kick the Bums Out
“The vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir, come let us kill him…”
Like David before him, there were already God-appointed rulers over God’s people: the Sanhedrin and the priests of the temple. Jesus couldn’t establish a revolution and kill them, for that would prove him to be unworthy of rule.  Instead, Jesus had to demonstrate the unworthiness of these rulers, and then God himself would take them out of power.  So he established a situation in which they would kill someone making a claim that was true.  That despite their laws and focus on justice, they would kill God’s representative because they didn’t like his claims.  Jesus, of course, put himself in that situation.  He declared himself king by riding on a colt into Jerusalem with followers honoring him as a great conqueror.  He undermined the high priest’s rules by kicking businessmen out of the temple.  He publicly declared them killers of the innocent.  And then, only to them, he admitted that he was king and would be judging them in God’s name.  That was enough for them to crucify him, causing them to be set aside as rulers.

7.       Establishing a new nation
“This is the new covenant in my blood.”

After delivering the people of Israel from slavery and giving them a new law, God asked for an eternal agreement between him and his people.  On the day of ratification, Moses had a number of bulls sacrificed.  Moses read the law of God and said, “God wants to be your king and you will be his nation.  Do you agree to these terms?”  All the people agreed.  So Moses had a number of bulls killed and the blood was put in a basin.  Moses then sprinkled the blood on God’s altar and then on all the people.  He said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you.”  Jesus used the same words, speaking of his own blood which was to be spilled on the cross.  Jesus made it clear that he was re-establishing the kingdom of God, a new nation established on the dust of the old, with Jesus as the king.  This is a kingdom whose law is love, who gives an opportunity for repentance, who gives the Spirit to empower one to love.  And Jesus’ blood is the ink with which the constitution is written.

8.       Risen
“He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things… and be killed and after three days rise again.”
All of this was contingent on God’s response.  Jesus had said all along that his death was significant only if God raised him from the dead.
If God raised him from the dead, then Jesus was truly the King, as he claimed.
If God raised him from the dead, then the many scriptures that said God would raise the humble would be fulfilled.
If God raised him from the dead, then the path for the oppressed to live a new life in God is established.
If God raised him from the dead, then the sentence of death upon Jesus is reversed.
If God raised him from the dead, then the old system of temple, priests and elders are declared unworthy and set aside.
If God raised him from the dead, then the law of love is established.
If God raised him from the dead then the new covenant is accepted and the new kingdom of God is established.

God did raise him from the dead.  There is a new nation without abuse or oppression.  It is not led by the church, but by Jesus himself.  And anyone who follows Jesus’ path of humility and mercy to the needy can be a part of it.  All nations are set aside, rejected by anyone who lives in this new kingdom.

The Second Chance

He sat them down and began to lecture them about the necessity of the suffering of the Son of Man of Daniel. That the Son of Man would be declared guilty by the judges and bishops and the seminary professors and he would be sentenced to death, killed, and after a three day appeal would be resurrected. He spoke to them without metaphor, but straightforwardly. After he was done, Peter gently took him aside and told him that such things could not happen to him, the Messiah. Jesus turned toward all his disciples and raised his voice for all to hear, “Get away from me! You are not Peter, but Satan! Stop tempting me to take the easy route! You are speaking of God’s plan, but of human achievement!”

Then Jesus called the crowd to gather around him, beside his disciples, then he addressed them all: “Do you think that I have the way to life, the way to enter into God’s kingdom? Then listen here: If you want to be a part of my school, you must give up on all the things that make up your life, accept that you will be killed as a revolutionary and go where I go. Since I am going to die, you must accept that for yourself as well. If you want to preserve your life, then you will lose it. If you lose your life for Me and my school, then you will retain your life. If you surrender your life, you will obtain resurrection. Sure, you could gain everything in the world you want—happiness, security, wealth, fame—but what good is any of that if you lose your life in the long run? Suppose someone had a gun to your head and wanted all you had for your life? Isn’t it better to give all of that up, so you could live and obtain your stuff and happiness another day? If anyone is fearful of speaking about Me before this sinning and faithless people, then the Messiah will dare not speak his name on the final day when he comes to rule the Father’s kingdom with all of God’s power behind him. Mark 8:31-38

Eternal Life
Jesus’ goal was not to die, although it may seem like it in the above passages. Rather, Jesus’ goal was what is called “eternal life”. This eternal life is not life in heaven, as spirits floating around singing. It is a second chance on life.

In our current life, we are compromised from doing all we could for God. We live in a corrupted world which strives to encourage us to do evil, to disobey God. We have corrupted bodies which have corrupted desires and illnesses and weaknesses that the body encourages us to sidestep by doing more evil. We live in a context of temptation and injustice and weakness.

God is offering resurrection. This means that we will come back after death into bodies that are uncorrupted and incorruptible. We will be living in a context without injustice, and temptation is kept to a minimum. We will be given an opportunity to live for God without weakness, in full strength and spiritual authority.

And some will be chosen to rule over this utopia. The Messiah will be chosen among people to rule over God’s kingdom and He will chose many to rule with Him. The ones whom He will chose will create justice for all, provide the context of life for everyone. This is the dream of the New Testament. It is the goal of Jesus.

God’s Justice
But God doesn’t give this kind of resurrection, this opportunity to everyone. Not everyone deserves to rule, not everyone can handle the power that will be given to people to rule. Not everyone is prepared to deal with people as they are. God is careful to choose the people who will create His utopia, and these will be given a second chance on life.

Who are these people that God chooses? God’s selection process begins first of all with those who didn’t really have a life to begin with. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a chance of a good life. Perhaps they surrendered the chance of a good life. But God is looking for those who suffered injustice in their lives. They did good for themselves, for their neighbors, for God’s kingdom, but they received shame and punishment for the good they did. God will not look for the rich and powerful, the famous and lauded. They have already had their life. God will be looking for those who gave up their life and give them another chance.

Jesus’ Example
Jesus is the one who surrendered his chance at life for others. He could have lived a quiet, but happy existence as a carpenter in Nazareth. But he chose to give up on the good life so that a better life could be granted to everyone. Jesus gave up on life, on happiness, on a good retirement, on hope of a peaceful death. Jesus surrendered all the great possibilities to live in shalom. He did this, not because he couldn’t have lived in peace, but because he saw so many who didn’t have the chance. So he gave up on life to give others a chance.

And this is exactly what Jesus is calling us to. If we want to have a better life, we have to give up on the one the world offers us. Yes, for some of us, perhaps we could have a solid job, a quiet existence, a good family, the American dream. But for many, this life is out of reach. Jesus is asking us to give up the good life, so we could give an opportunity for a better life for others.

• Just like Jesus, we are called to give up the pursuit of the “good life”, the American Dream.

• Just like Jesus, we are called to live in rebellion against the world political system which denies peace and justice for so many.

• Just like Jesus, we are to allow ourselves to be persecuted, to be punished for doing good.

• Just like Jesus, we are called to even die in our innocence, to die because of our life in God’s compassion.

These who give up their shots at the good life to live and die for others, they will be given the second chance.  They will be God’s rulers in the coming revolution.

As It Was Prophecied
This is also nothing new. There are only a few places in the Old Testament that talks about the resurrection of God’s people, and every passage speaks of God giving a second chance to those who didn’t have a life to begin with:

o Psalm 22—The author of this Psalm is surrounded by enemies and killed, but he relies on God for deliverance. God then gives him a second chance at life, which is happy and good.

o Psalm 37—The people of God suffer under oppression because the wealthy wicked are causing them to live in poverty. The point of the psalm is that God will give the poor who wait for God a second chance at life without such oppression.

o Daniel 12—The people of God are under a terrible trial and oppression. They are surrounded and destroyed and killed by their enemies. God destroys their enemies and resurrects the killed, giving them a second chance to live under God’s rule.

Jesus sees the fulfillment of these prophecies, but he adds one more factor. There are some who will choose to suffer, who will chose to die for the sake of God’s kingdom and righteousness. These will also gain resurrection with those who had no choice to suffer. And some of them will rule in God’s kingdom.

Who get resurrected? The rejected by the world.