“Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head.” – Matthew 27:30
This is Jesus. The Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God. Our Lord and Savior. Humiliated, spit on, beaten. The One present at creation, through Whom all things were made, and Who even then held all things together. Take a good look…
At times in recent years (and in fact, across centuries) a toxic, distorted, and even demonic approach to Christianity fixated on strength and power has had far too much influence. Centered on powerful people or the need to make the church more powerful, such an approach, while perhaps well-intentioned, has turned people’s attention away from this Jesus and toward human leaders and structures.
Yes, Christ will return in absolute victorious triumph over every evil. However, He doesn’t call us to style ourselves, our churches, or our movement around that kind of dominance. That belongs to Him alone. Jesus calls us to follow Him in humility and humiliation. Just as He came to serve, suffer, and die to save the lost of the world, He calls His followers today to serve, suffer, and even die to save those who remain separated from God by sin.
We must move away from our fixation on celebrity Christians with big personalities and big ministries. Over and over we see what a disaster that is as those individuals plunge into sin, taking the faith of their followers with them. We must focus our eyes and the efforts of our ministries on lovingly and gently pointing people to the only personality Who matters and Who will never fail us – our Savior, Who went to every length to save us, suffering, dying, and rising from the dead, so that all who believe in Him will likewise rise to eternal life.