Jesus Failed

This week I was thinking about Jesus and His ministry. After reading a few of the Gospel accounts I came to the conclusion that by all accounts, if we look at Jesus’ ministry through the eyes of the world, He failed.

Jesus was a guy who could have had it all. The fact is at the height of His ministry He had thousands of followers most of whom would have, with just one word, joined Him in an uprising against the Roman oppressors; they followed Him wholeheartedly. But what happened?

Jesus rode into Jerusalem being hailed as a king, then a few hours later this same people were screaming out for His blood? Why? They expected more from Him. In their minds He failed. There was no bloody uprising, no rebellion, no establishing of the promised kingdom… nothing, as far as they could see. Even when Peter, in his zeal, tried to protect Jesus from being arrested, Jesus said no (Matt.26:47-54).

Instead of rising against the “enemy”, Jesus gave Himself over willingly to the arresting authorities. Instead of setting himself up as king, He allowed the religious leaders in an illegal meeting to accuse Him of crimes he had not committed. Instead of destroying those who stood against him, he was beaten by the Roman oppressors to within an inch of His life. Instead of taking his rightful place upon a throne, He was marched up a hill carrying the very implement of His execution.

Instead of inciting the masses to bloody war against the oppressing forces, He gave Himself over to the enemy and was crucified. He could have had it all, instead He gave it all away. Jesus failed… by the world’s standards, perhaps.

However, Jesus failed only in their expectations of Him, because as He told His followers time and again, He came only to do the Father’s will, and the Father’s will was for Jesus to lose at this point in history.

But, Jesus Himself said that to lose is gain. (Luke 9:24)

Jesus chose to come to this world, to give Himself freely, to lose His very life, so that we could know life. By faith we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and claimed the ultimate victory; He took back His life, conquering death and hell once and for all.

Recent history shows us that people use the word “failed” far too easily. Martin Luther King Jr. was said to have failed when he was shot dead, and yet look at what his teaching and martyrdom has accomplished for civil rights since his death.

Many of the early Bible translators who were martyred were said to have failed and yet their sacrifice made it possible for us to freely hold a Bible in our hands.

Many of the church fathers were said to have failed, let’s face it many of them were fed to lions, killed by the sword, and burned to death as human candles. However, the churches that we go to on a weekly basis exist in no small part to the sacrifice of these brave men and women, those who carried the torch of truth and hope to a dying world.

All these people, and many more, were said to have failed, and yet they succeeded doing things that were not humanly possible, but 100% divinely possible. Jesus may have failed the people’s expectations of Him, but ultimately He succeeded in opening up Heaven and the promise of eternal life to each and every one of us, if only we would reach out to Him and accept His free gift of salvation.

So what are you waiting for, lose your life, so that you may gain it back and then some!

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
October, 2008

Image by Yonice (Photo Bucket)