Jesus Is a Threat

AM Psalm 55 • PM Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23)
Job 38:1-17 • Acts 15:22-35 • John 11:45-54

“If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

Jesus and his ministry represented a definitive threat to religious leadership, the economy, the empire, and the way of life people had come to know. Not only did he come to earth proclaimed as the Son of God, he also showed miraculous healing, and he often broke the rules (spoken and unspoken). Jesus gave teachings that questioned the social and cultural norms people lived under. Religious leaders and government officials knew that this kind of ministry was enough to topple their delicate social stratification, unjust codes, and tightly held grasp on authority. 

In response to the threat Jesus represented, he was killed because “it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” However, they did not anticipate his resurrection, which was perhaps even more threatening than his earthly ministry. Jesus called into question social powers and destroyed the power of death! 

Officials killed Jesus in an attempt to save a nation. Jesus came back from the dead and showed his Godly nature and that his power is far beyond the powers of earthly nations. If we follow this Jesus, Christianity is inherently not nationalist. Rather, our belief in Jesus is a threat to the world as we know it and a promise of a world beyond our imagination. The threat Jesus poses to the empire is also the hope we hold for the Kin-dom of God. 

Hold fast to this hope, dear ones.

Written by Adelyn Tyler-Williams

...who spends a lot of time imagining the heavenly banquet we hope for in God’s kin-dom. How glorious that day will be!