From my friends at Jesus Radicals, this reminder of what Easter is and what the Church, as the presence of Christ in the world and not as an institution in service of power, is:
Jesus’ life was one of resistance to the civilized, religious world. Jesus’ life demonstrated a completely alternate way of living called “the Kingdom of Heaven” in which the poor, the oppressed, the forgotten, the neglected, the widow, the orphan, the child, the prostitute, the sick, the lame, the blind, and the dead were treated as kings, and the kings were treated as outcasts. The poor fisherman is royalty in this Kingdom, yet the rich man cannot get there any more than a camel can pass through the eye of a needle. This Kingdom mockingly tells us to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, simultaneously rejecting the imperial currency system and reminding us all that “the Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” – what is left for Caesar anyway? This Kingdom lays claim to those who have been possessed by demons, who have been blind from birth, who have been spat on and walked over by the most pious religious leaders, and restores them to abundant life. This Kingdom preaches repentance and the forgiveness of sins, not by works or by following rules, but by the grace of the King. Jesus embodied and inaugurated this Kingdom; He preached this Kingdom; He brought disciples in to further this Kingdom.
What do you think the existing kingdom (the Roman empire, including its subservient rulers and citizens in Judea) thought of this alternate Kingdom? They thought of it as a threat. They thought of it as an affront to their “King”, their “Savior”, the man they called “the Son of God”. And they were right! Jesus’ Kingdom stands proudly and boldly in direct opposition to the kingdoms of this world.
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