A Jewish “king” had been brutely beaten and crucified between two other criminals, a seemingly meaningless act on the provincial docket of just another execution in Jerusalem. Most went home that night with no idea what they had witnessed.
Former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s foremost biblical theologians, N.T. Wright, writes of the day Christ was crucified,
“As Jesus’ followers looked back on that day in the light of what happened soon afterward, they came up with the shocking, scandalous, nonsensical claim that [Jesus] had launched a revolution. That something had happened that afternoon that had changed the world.”[1]
Everything had changed. The early church would soon discover that a movement began that day that would transform their world. Like the assassination of Julius Caesar around seventy years earlier, it marks the end of one era and the start of another.
The Kingdom of God Revolution had been launched. The world was different.
Jesus Christ was executed 2,000 years ago by the Romans. But Christians believe He didn’t stay dead—that Jesus beat down death and rose again on the third day. That’s interesting, isn’t it? That means the cross is not a sign of death, but a sign of the end of death. A sign of hope, not despair. A sign of possibilities not frustration. A sign of power, not powerlessness.
That’s why almost everyone wears a cross. Rock stars, athletes, drug dealers, bishops, and pastors. Everyone is enamored with the cross. Is there any such symbol that carries so much meaning?
Why does the cross of Jesus have such impact? J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is a portrayal of the story Jesus’s death with Bach’s interpretation. Still immensely popular and orchestrated all over the world to sellout audiences. Why?
Jewish novelist Chaim Potok, whose artistic hero Asher Lev “searches for imagery to express the pain of modern Judaism. The only thing he can find that will do—to the predictable horror of his community—is the crucifixion scene.”[2]
The death of Christ still carries the power and sacrifice of all we long for. And even as all world history carries the image in many different forms, on that day on a “hill far away,” outside the gates of Jerusalem, the greatest movement of all time was launched.
Pastor Steve
[1] N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began, page 3, Harper One, 2018.
[2] Ibid, page 10.
