The Victory of the King
The following is an article that I just wrote for my church's next newsletter. Read it and let me know what you think.
As we approach the Easter season, it is important for us to remember why we celebrate. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection cannot be extracted from its context. Why was He crucified? What did He do that was so controversial? Often, we don’t worry about understanding the historical aspects of the crucifixion, and resort to only looking at it theologically. But if we do this, then we miss out on the full understanding of the importance of this event. For this reason I wish to explore the historical context of the crucifixion, and see if it ends up leading us to a richer theological understanding of it.
When Jesus showed up on the scene as recorded in the gospels, there had long been a hope that God would vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries as He had promised through the prophets. And it was also understood that the means whereby God would do this was through the King, the Anointed One, the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to come and vindicate Israel by means of two major acts: First, he would rebuild the temple, and second, he would overthrow the adversaries of God and His people, and sit upon the everlasting throne of David.
Many (if not most) Jews during the time of Jesus’ life likely understood the promises of the prophets as we would expect: They had been in exile for hundreds of years, living under the tyrannical rule of Rome; and although the temple had been rebuilt by Herod, it was far from being the glorious temple that had been originally designed by David and built by Solomon. And so naturally, they had in their minds an expectation for someone who would come in as a warrior and literally rebuild the temple in all its glory, and overthrow Rome with military might, thus vindicating Israel and ushering in the Kingdom of God.
Now we must ask ourselves, “What did Jesus do to fulfill the role of Messiah?” The gospels record Jesus coming and announcing that the Kingdom of heaven was coming in and through Himself, and he described it at length: turning the other cheek, taking up your cross, being the light of the world, losing your life in order to save it. The kingdom Jesus announced did not look at all like what the Jews had expected. His message was not that we should use the world’s ideas and weapons to overthrow it, rather that the Kingdom of heaven is completely different from the world, and thus would overthrow the world with something much more potent than swords. The world and its principalities and powers would be overthrown through sacrifice.
And so we must now compare Jesus’ actions with Israel’s expectation of the Messiah. The Messiah was to rebuild the temple, and Jesus announced that through His sacrifice, through the turning of His cheek, the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. The Messiah was to vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries, and Jesus did so by taking up the Roman cross, His cross, and dying upon it. The Messiah was to rule the nations on the throne of David, and Jesus did so by passing through death and out the other side, by losing His life in order to save it, along with ours. And “For this reason God highly exalted Him, and gave him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).
Jesus was crucified for claiming that He was the King of the Jews while not acting anything like what the Jews expected of their King. He conquered death through death and resurrection, thus proving that He was indeed the Messiah, and that the Kingdom of heaven really was as He had announced it. Through sacrifice, Jesus had accomplished the salvation of the world. It didn’t look at all like what everyone expected, and yet Jesus clearly fulfilled the role of Messiah.
Therefore, as we approach that glorious day of celebration which we call Easter, may we look at Christ, his words, and His actions, and reflect them as citizens of heaven. If we are Kingdom people, then we are the ones who turn the other cheek, who take up our cross and follow Him. We are the light of the world, we must be willing to lose our lives in order to gain them. We are, after all, Christians.
As we approach the Easter season, it is important for us to remember why we celebrate. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection cannot be extracted from its context. Why was He crucified? What did He do that was so controversial? Often, we don’t worry about understanding the historical aspects of the crucifixion, and resort to only looking at it theologically. But if we do this, then we miss out on the full understanding of the importance of this event. For this reason I wish to explore the historical context of the crucifixion, and see if it ends up leading us to a richer theological understanding of it.
When Jesus showed up on the scene as recorded in the gospels, there had long been a hope that God would vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries as He had promised through the prophets. And it was also understood that the means whereby God would do this was through the King, the Anointed One, the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to come and vindicate Israel by means of two major acts: First, he would rebuild the temple, and second, he would overthrow the adversaries of God and His people, and sit upon the everlasting throne of David.
Many (if not most) Jews during the time of Jesus’ life likely understood the promises of the prophets as we would expect: They had been in exile for hundreds of years, living under the tyrannical rule of Rome; and although the temple had been rebuilt by Herod, it was far from being the glorious temple that had been originally designed by David and built by Solomon. And so naturally, they had in their minds an expectation for someone who would come in as a warrior and literally rebuild the temple in all its glory, and overthrow Rome with military might, thus vindicating Israel and ushering in the Kingdom of God.
Now we must ask ourselves, “What did Jesus do to fulfill the role of Messiah?” The gospels record Jesus coming and announcing that the Kingdom of heaven was coming in and through Himself, and he described it at length: turning the other cheek, taking up your cross, being the light of the world, losing your life in order to save it. The kingdom Jesus announced did not look at all like what the Jews had expected. His message was not that we should use the world’s ideas and weapons to overthrow it, rather that the Kingdom of heaven is completely different from the world, and thus would overthrow the world with something much more potent than swords. The world and its principalities and powers would be overthrown through sacrifice.
And so we must now compare Jesus’ actions with Israel’s expectation of the Messiah. The Messiah was to rebuild the temple, and Jesus announced that through His sacrifice, through the turning of His cheek, the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. The Messiah was to vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries, and Jesus did so by taking up the Roman cross, His cross, and dying upon it. The Messiah was to rule the nations on the throne of David, and Jesus did so by passing through death and out the other side, by losing His life in order to save it, along with ours. And “For this reason God highly exalted Him, and gave him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).
Jesus was crucified for claiming that He was the King of the Jews while not acting anything like what the Jews expected of their King. He conquered death through death and resurrection, thus proving that He was indeed the Messiah, and that the Kingdom of heaven really was as He had announced it. Through sacrifice, Jesus had accomplished the salvation of the world. It didn’t look at all like what everyone expected, and yet Jesus clearly fulfilled the role of Messiah.
Therefore, as we approach that glorious day of celebration which we call Easter, may we look at Christ, his words, and His actions, and reflect them as citizens of heaven. If we are Kingdom people, then we are the ones who turn the other cheek, who take up our cross and follow Him. We are the light of the world, we must be willing to lose our lives in order to gain them. We are, after all, Christians.
posted by DrewDog at 3:54 PM
4 Comments:
Drewdog,
Good job. I like your comparison of Israel's expectations and Jesus' fulfillment. I had not thought of all the ones you mentioned.
It seems like there were a lot of misplaced expectations. I wonder if there were Jews (prior to Jesus) who anticipated the Messiah to come in the way actually did.
Thanks, Vijay.
I owe much of these thoughts to my studies of N.T. Wright's works (although this is a mish-mash of his thoughts and mine, and probably others; so I wasn't sure how I would properly cite him- since this article came off the top of my head).
I seriously doubt that there were any Jews (or those familiar with Judaism) who anticipated He would come in this way. I suppose that one could make the argument that John the Baptist likely had the closest idea to that which corresponded with reality, or maybe Isaiah (though less likely). Interesting thought.
this is really great. i can't wait to read it again.
Paul,
Let me know if your opinion changes the second time around...
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