Happy Resurrection Sunday! I am thinking about how we often characterize Jesus. For some, He is the Risen Savior who reconciles us with God the Father. For others, Jesus is a moral figure who speaks truth to power. For others, Jesus is a myth. I read a few posts today before I watched my church’s service via YouTube. One post in particular struck me because I saw in it an error many people make- we reduce Jesus to a man of color who was the victim of a police state because he spoke truth to power. This characterization of Jesus sounds good. I’ve fallen into it myself. However, I keep having to revisit who Jesus is. Jesus is no victim. In John 10:18, He says, “No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Jesus was in on his own assassination. His death was the purpose for why He came into the world and He used the world’s authority to achieve that goal.

I wonder whether it is more comfortable to reduce Jesus to a political victim instead of King of Kings and Lord of Lords because He’s more understandable this way. As human beings, our egos won’t let us think we’re that terrible. After all, so many of us have overcome adversity, are educated, talented, volunteer, advocate for marginalized communities and do so much more. But, there’s a reason why we have to train young children. Even as young children, we are selfish. Selfishness and the desire to make ourselves the center of attention (our own gods) is at the core of every human being.

Perhaps we reduce Jesus to political victim because His assertion that He is Lord demands nothing but submission instead of admiration and invocation. Contrary to what many of us learned in church, submission has nothing to do with unthinking loyalty. Jesus laid out the cost of following Him and He did so while revealing His character and the heart of God. Many of us give our loyalty to lovers, friends, family and institutions without fully understanding who and what we’re dealing with. Jesus never promised an easy life or one filled with blessing after blessing. He never begged or manipulated people into following HIm. He never forced people to understand Him. When I investigate scripture, I see Jesus welcome the questions of people who were genuinely confused and needed clarification. When religious leaders asked Jesus questions in order to trick Him, He answered with silence or with a cutting rebuke because He knew their questions were disingenuous.

In the Christian tradition, Jesus appears to his disciples before He ascends to heaven. He tells them to wait and pray in Jerusalem until the power of the Holy Spirit falls. I believe in voting, advocacy, reading to be informed, signing petitions, forming committees and the like. However, the evil we see in ourselves and in the world has spiritual roots. If we don’t realize this, we’ll continue to lose our collective mind over the pendulum swing of political power in this nation and its ramifications.