Jesus did not 'move fast and break things'
This Easter, which message is the watching world hearing about Jesus?
‘a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.’
(Isaiah 42:3-4)
I preached this Sunday gone – Palm Sunday – on the triumphal entry. It might as well be called the slow, low-key, anticlimactic entry. By every metric it should have been forgotten by history. Contrasted with King Charles’ coronation with its pomp and circumstance, Jesus’ riding into the city that would kill him, was meagre and motley.
The way Christianity is perceived in the modern world is often not the picture the Bible presents. The Old Testament view of the coming Messiah is the direct opposite of the Silicon Valley mantra we see traces of everywhere: ‘move fast and break things’.
Take the Old Testament figure Isaiah. As the Puritan Richard Sibbes put it, Isaiah ‘being lifted up and carried with the wing of a prophetical spirit, passes over all the time between him and the appearing of Jesus Christ in the flesh’. And what did he see those centuries years ahead? He saw the Messiah as a gentle person, bringing justice on the earth. He saw Christ coming ‘modestly, without making a noise, or raising dust by any pompous coming, as princes are accustomed to do’. In his wake would not be a trail of destruction and mayhem. Instead, the Messiah would not break a ‘bruised reed’ or a ‘faintly burning wick’. It is worth considering how precise and light-footed one needs to be to avoid knocking over drooping reeds or extinguishing a low burning candle. Lighter than we can be on our best days.
There is a plenty of boastful, brash, and brazen ‘Christianity’ around. Yet I wonder which Christ it represents? There is plenty of greedy, gossipy, and gluttonous ‘Christian’ culture in the world. Yet I don’t know which Jesus it is following?
It is difficult to see how so-called Christian celebrities in private jets, and Lamborghinis, and with brand deals, are keeping the faint wicks burning and the broken reeds upright. Yet are the keyboard-warrior pastors lighting up the internet with furious political hot takes helping droopy reeds, either?
One of the things I appreciate about having done pastoral work for a while, is seeing the fragility of the human condition. Behind the general facade of togetherness we all present, is the reality of life outside of the world God first intended us to live in. For most of us, that reality is just barely beneath the surface. Suffering, sickness, and moral poverty are not the exceptions, but just normal life ‘in the valley of the shadow of death’ (Psalm 23).
It’s vital to look again at Jesus this Holy Week. The world needs to hear and see what he is actually like. Especially as he contrasts the temperature of frenzied, contemporary discourse:
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zechariah 9:9)
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
(Hebrews 2:18)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matt 11:28-30)
The ‘move fast, break things’ mantra mixed into Christianity, works like oil added to water. The method is at odds with Jesus’ method and message.
What is the headline the world is getting on the church, Christianity and Jesus right now?
I suspect it continues to be the wrong one. Jesus did not move fast and break things. He moved deliberately towards the world in love, as he planned to do from eternity, to be broken physically and spiritually on our behalf to save us from sin, death, and the day of judgment. When we bring our debts owed to God, to him, he pays them in full, free of charge, with no questions asked. And in response, Christians have given their lives, to the most humble person
“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Mark 10:42-45)
Rhetorical question: will you condemn the orange man ?