The Eternal Revolution

Sometimes we forget that Jesus was a rebel.  In our often-placid, often-comfortable everyday religious lives, we too easily fail to remember that what He calls us to is nothing short of a world-upside-down revolution.  A revolution that has been going from the day He walked the earth to this day – this very day that you and I are currently living – and that probably will go on until the heavens and earth are melted and reborn.  A kind of eternal revolution.

Of course, Jesus did not call us to fight in a war; and He Himself turned down human power when it was offered to him.  No; Jesus calls us to rebel against far older and more dangerous powers than mere governments or human armies.  And it is worth briefly remembering what those are, these harbingers of our eternal revolution.

Jesus Against the World

What did Jesus rebel against?  He rebelled against the world.  He rebelled against the evil inside all of us.  He rebelled against corruption.  He rebelled against all dark parts of all worldly cultures everywhere and at all times.  He rebelled against Roman arrogance; He rebelled against Greek lust; He rebelled against European worldliness.  But the revolution is still ongoing.  It doesn’t just apply to Romans or Greeks or French or Germans.  It applies to us. He calls us to rebel today against the dark parts of our own culture, just as He called His sheep in His day to revolt against the dark parts of their culture.  That is why He roamed the streets and cried “Repent!”  He is still roaming; He is still crying; on our American streets.  To join Him is to permanently stake your place in the ground and say, NO MORE! No more will I let the lustful guise of Hollywood drag me down.  No more will I let the greed of Wall Street be my guide.  No more will I allow my own personal pleasure and comfort and pride, the hope of the American dream, lure me away from goodness and innocence and light.  I do not deserve a break today – I am not the greatest thing ever – I will rebel forever against the lies that my culture sells.

In calling us to rebel against our culture, Jesus is of course calling us to rebel against our own inner sin nature, our own demons.  Our culture is simply…us.  And Jesus generally didn’t talk to the culture – He talked to individuals.  One of the most striking things I find in the New Testament is the degree that Jesus doesn’t tell me to focus on other people’s sins – He instead tells me to repent of my own.  If you join His revolution, your own sin will be the primary thing on the chopping block.  You will have to sacrifice your own greed when you enter in the door of the Cross.

Jesus Against Religion

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As a result, if we can say Jesus rebelled against any group in society, we can say quite confidently that He was leading a rebellion against religion.  It is not recorded that Jesus turned over any tables in Pilate’s house.  There are no records to indicate that Jesus angrily marched into Rome and threw out the emperor.  No; when Jesus turned over tables, it was in church; when He threw people out, He was throwing religious people out of the Temple of God.  It is a lesson for all of us.  Being religious is not enough; indeed, being religious can be dangerous if it is a proud religion.

Of course, I am a religious person and I want you to be, too.  I don’t mean that Jesus was against the idea of worship or God or church anything like that.  Jesus said He came to found a church.  But what I mean is this: It is easy to forget that our life in Christ is not about religion.  Quite paradoxically if you will, our own religion – and for a certainty the Founder of our religion – teaches quite the opposite.  It is not the rituals, or the church building, or the ceremonies, that truly matter.  It is the very real door that Christ has opened that any woman or man can walk through at any moment – that is what matters.  The salvation of each individual soul – that is what matters.  Loving God and your neighbor – that is what matters.  It is a relationship with our Creator; it is being a part of a family that God Himself is in.  And these ideas that matter often appear quite anti-religious, because it really isn’t about religion per se.   Sometimes we have to rebel against religion with Jesus in order to find the very truths our religion keeps going on about.

A Revolutionary Vision

I sometimes imagine that everywhere I go, everywhere I look on every horizon, I see a vision blazing eternally against the sky.  It is the vision of a single cross, forever standing, forever offering a door that can never be closed.  This door cannot be closed by hell; it cannot be closed by sin; it cannot be closed by irreligion; it cannot be closed by religion.  Pontius Pilate could not stop it; Bill Clinton could not stop it; George Bush could not stop it; Barack Obama could not stop it; Reverend Phelps could not stop it; Donald Trump cannot stop it; Putin cannot stop it; Richard Dawkins cannot stop it; Bill Maher cannot stop it; Pat Robertson cannot stop it.  The human powers that be in this universe think themselves grand; but it is beyond them. This door comes from somewhere far deeper, somewhere far older; from a power that they cannot understand and can never, ever contain.  It rises above religion – it rises above our secular world – above the din and the rattle of our sad and lonely little blue ball hanging in space, it stands waiting for anyone who will, to enter.

And I sometimes forget that, in my vision, what we are entering into through that door is not only home, not only family, not only salvation, but it is also…an eternal revolution.