If the life of Jesus were written as a modern-day novel or made into a movie, Jesus would be portrayed as the classic tragic hero. He was a simple man whose insights confounded the wisest scholars of the day. He was a man of the people, associating with the poor, the needy and the outcasts. Yet His popularity threatened the political powerbrokers who guided society.
Jesus taught that love for God was to “love your brother as yourself,” but those closest to Him wanted to know when He would establish an earthly kingdom.
Jesus experienced the euphoria of adulation as thousands crowded His path, even laying palm branches in His way as He entered Jerusalem. But less than a week later the cheering crowds bellowed “crucify Him” as Jesus stood before the chief judge of the land. A trusted friend with whom He had spent about three years betrayed Him, and even though the law found Him innocent of all wrong, Jesus was executed to satisfy the whims of a bloodthirsty crowd.
At that point in the story, Jesus is a classic tragic figure. But three days after His death, Jesus rises from the grave. He is seen by His closest followers over a period of several weeks. Their lives are transformed and their hope for life renewed. Jesus is no longer a tragic victim. He is a superhero.
In addition to a hero, every story must have a villain. In this story some portray the powerbrokers of Jesus’ day as villains. Others point to the chief judge who caved in to manipulation in ordering Jesus put to death as the chief villain.
For many the real villain is God. After all, it was God who caused all those dreadful things to happen to Jesus. God, in this story, is portrayed as an angry, vengeful Being who would not relent until Jesus had been bruised, battered, humiliated, tortured, nailed to a cross and pierced with a spear. God’s vindictiveness had to be satisfied by the suffering of the tragic hero Jesus and that makes God the villain.
How sad that for some, this is the understanding of the Easter story — Jesus the hero and God the villain.
Such a story should grate on the spiritual sensitivities of every Christian because that is a false telling of what happened at Easter. The key to the story is the fact that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Not only do Christians understand that “God was in Christ,” we understand that God was “reconciling the world to Himself.”
When the apostle Paul wrote these words he reflected a truth coming from the mouth of Jesus Himself. It was Jesus who declared, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). It was Jesus who said His deeds of power were done to demonstrate “that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father” (John 10:38).
To the apostle Philip, Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Later Jesus added, “The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father living in Me who is doing this work.”
That is why the first Christians believed and taught “for God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus)” (Col. 1:19).
Theologians call the fact of God dwelling in Jesus the incarnation. The apostle John expressed it in the teaching that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God made Himself known in Jesus.
That truth has been called the “very heart of Christianity.”
Not only was God in Christ, He was “reconciling the world to Himself.” It was God who took the initiative to restore the relationship between Himself and humankind that had been broken by sin. Mankind did not seek reconciliation. He had no plan for it and had no means to bridge the breach. It was God’s love that sent His one and only Son to save the world (John 3:16).
Not to be missed is the fact that God’s act of reconciling is not an isolated event in time but a process. The participle “reconciling” shows continuous action. It points toward God’s intended purpose, even before the beginning of time, to reconcile mankind to Himself. God made the plan. He decided the method. God not only made the demands for reconciliation but He freely gave all that He demanded. After all, only God can forgive sin (Luke 5:21).
In Christ, God Himself took on the sin of the world. He became the sin bearer. Again, Colossians 1:19–20 says, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus), and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.” First John 2:2 adds, “He (Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Sin is a dreadful thing. Amends could not be made by some good-natured indulgence. Only out of suffering could come true forgiveness and reconciliation that would change human character. Because “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” God became both the Priest and the Victim.
God made the demand. God paid the price. God gave hope when He raised Jesus from the dead. It is that same hope that empowers believers today. The apostle Paul wrote, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you” (Rom. 8:11).
That is why when early Christians looked back and pondered the dreadful things that happened around Easter, it made them think of the redeeming love of God. They did not think just about the love of a tragic figure called Jesus. In Him they saw the love of God and that is where one finds the real Hero of Easter.
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