Injustice in the Gospel

Injustice in the Gospel

By Justin Ziolkowski

After having just celebrated Palm Sunday at church and with Easter (or to some, Resurrection Sunday) around the corner, it is only natural to reflect on the focal point of what makes our faith different than everyone else.  What makes Christianity different than other religions?  Why is it that this time of the year is so special?

I will start with the basic difference before I go any further.  Christianity is unique compared to the other religions of the world.  A lot of people will claim that all religions are very similar; humanity has fallen short of morality, then a figure head (or prophet) rises and explains how to live a good life.  This is true in cases such as Buddhism, Islam, and Mormonism.  These faiths, and a multitude of others, claim that it is up to the individual to work his way to God or perfection.  Christianity takes a different approach.  Yes, man has fallen short of morality; and yes, a prophet has come to teach us right from wrong.  But there are two key differences; one, our prophet claimed to be God (John 1:1; 20:28); and two, we cannot work our way to Him (Eph 2:8-9).  What makes Christianity unique is that God came to save the lost knowing that they have the inability to come to Him (Rom 3:10-19).  This is achieved by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:3-8).  So, where is the injustice?

One of the poignant facts of the events that led to the Crucifixion is that there is an unmeasurable amount of injustice behind it.  When Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, it is a joyous occasion because the Messiah has come to establish His Kingdom.  Here is an instance in which expectation did not meet reality.  At that time, there where many groups within Judaism with different philosophies.  The most popular group among them were the pharisees.  In that point in history, Israel was subject to the Roman Empire, and Caesar had placed a king over them.  The Jewish people wanted independence from Rome, this is where theology meets political philosophy.  The pharisees believed that the Messiah that God promised them would deliver Israel from Roman rule; and that God would send the Messiah because His Laws were being obeyed.  But Jesus was not here at that time to overthrow a government, He came to save the lost.  Not only was His mission not political, but He was always in constant tension with the pharisees, who would eventually plot to kill Him (John 11:45-57).

After Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, it was the beginning of what seemed to be the end.  Shortly after His arrival, He chased out those selling animals for sacrifices out of the temple.  This within itself is not wrong, but they were profiting from the people by inflating the prices.  Later, after the Last Supper, one of His disciples (Judas) turned Him in to the pharisees for thirty pieces of silver.  Also, another disciple (Peter) denies knowing Him after being confronted by three different people.  Once the pharisees have Him, they hold a court at night (which was against their own laws) and had people give false testimonies (today we would call this perjury).  Once they found Him guilty of blasphemy, they were not allowed to kill Him under Roman law, so they had the government do the dirty work.  They appealed to local authorities claiming that Jesus was trying to overthrow the government (treason).  Pilate, the local official trying to keep the peace, had Jesus beaten and whipped with a cat of nine tails 39 times (because 40 was supposed to kill a man) in hopes that would satisfy the demand for bloodshed.  When it was not, Pilate tried an alternative approach.  According to custom, a prisoner could be pardoned during Passover.  So, the people were given a choice; Jesus or Barabbas (a convicted terrorist).  The people chose to kill an innocent man.  After Jesus was sentenced to death, He was mocked by being forced to wear a crown of thorns, and carry His own cross (which He was unable to do after all the physical trauma that He sustained).  Once He arrived to the place of His execution, He endured the most torturous punishment known to man.  He was nailed to a cross, a punishment that the Romans would not even do to their own citizens due to its brutality.  The people that were hung on crosses had an immense pressure on the nerves in their wrists and they would start to suffocate by the way they would slouch.  This would cause carbon dioxide to build up in the lungs and blood.  This is where we get the word excruciating, it literally means from the cross.  To add insult to injury, He was mocked by those who were witnessing this travesty and soldiers were gambling over His clothes.  What were thought to be the last days of Jesus were riddled with injustice.

In reality, the injustice started in the Garden.  When Adam and Eve decided to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they brought sin and death into the world.  But God, being full of grace and mercy, promised reconciliation in what theologians call the proto-evangelium, the first proclamation of the Gospel (Gen 3:15).  What is being foretold is that God will send a sacrifice on the behalf of His people in order to save them.  In other words, Jesus gets the brunt of what we deserve and we reap the benefit.  In order to understand the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice is to understand that we are responsible for His death.  It was my sin that caused the need for an atonement.  It was my sin was the reason for a perfect Jesus to leave a perfect home to come to an imperfect world.  It was my sin that put Him on the cross to die.  He did nothing wrong; I deserve what He went through. 

The suffering that Jesus went through was different than any other.  Why; because He was perfect and became sin (2 Cor 5:21) and therefore forsaken by the Father (Matt 27:46).  Martin Luther calls this the Great Exchange; we give Jesus our sin and He gives us His righteousness.  So, when God looks at any of His children, He sees the righteousness of the Son, not the reason why we needed His righteousness.  But the story does not end with Jesus dying.  The Sunday that followed an unthinkable event, God in the flesh dying, came great victory.  Jesus rose from the grave, thus defeating death (2 Tim 1:10).  Now we are made new (2 Cor 5:17) and are given a new heart (Ezek 36:26).    This is why the Gospel is not a message of justice, it is a message of grace.