Jesus is the Ultimate Subversive
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Mark 15:1-15
1 Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. 3 The chief priests accused him of many things. 4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. 13 “Crucify him!” they shouted. 14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
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Christians in the World
Today is Graduate Sunday, and we welcome and honor those graduates here today. Congratulations! You’re at the beginning of an exciting new chapter in your lives. When I was working on this sermon, I thought I’d leave you with some practical advice about Christianity.
You’re about to go out into the world, to truly begin to think and act on your own, to make crucial decisions that will have real results. And Christianity can be – and should be – your ultimate, helpful guide for how to be in the world.
So I want to consider three questions with you today. One is about how we read the Bible here in this church. The second is about the relationship of Christianity to politics. And the third is about the SUBVERSIVE, REVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF OUR FAITH.
Was Jesus here among us to change the world? You bet. The church, however, hasn’t historically done the best job of that. We can all think of times the church has made news for doing something wrong. But let’s not use that to conclude Christianity itself is flawed.
There is a difference between how the church has acted and who Jesus is. There is a difference between the church and the Gospels. Here in this church, we follow the Gospels as closely as we can. Because the example of Jesus shows us nothing short of how to truly live.
Which brings us to our first question: how does this church read the Bible? When I was thinking about what to say to you newly minted graduates, I settled on the topic of “HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE IN THE WORLD?” And this passage from Mark came to mind.
You see, in this church there are a few ways we like to read the Bible. The first, of course, is to read it at all! To pick it up in the mornings or at night, and take some of it in. Be prayerful. Stop whenever you feel moved and ask for God’s help applying what you read to your daily life.
The second is to collect together several passages that have to do with the same topic. Forgiveness, for example. Read those passages together, with and against one another, and see what emerges. When you find two passages that seem to contradict, pay special attention.
The third is to read over and over again the same passage, very closely, and pray about what you find there. This is especially helpful to do with passages you’ve read or heard before. Read the verses just before and just after the parts you know. Meditate on the context.
That’s what we’re doing today. Because when I thought about what to leave you with today, about the question “how should Christians be in the world?” I thought, let’s start with that passage from Mark, the first time that Jesus is found in the Gospels before the state.
Why use this passage and not, say, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5-7, which is a two-chapter manifesto on how Christians should be in the world? First, I encourage you to read that on your own. You should. It’s fairly straight-forward, and it’s life-changing.
The Sermon on the Mount is beautiful, and perfect in every way. Seriously. Go and read it and you’ll see what I mean. Matthew chapters 5-7. To me, this passage is simply the most helpful section of the Bible in terms of what Jesus TEACHES us to do.
But when we want to know “how should Christians be in the world,” we need to also pay attention to what Jesus DOES, in addition to what He TEACHES. What are his actions? Because Jesus tells us in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
The WAY first, THEN the truth, then the life. “Follow me,” Jesus tells us. “Do as I do, and you will understand the truth and gain the life.” Did Jesus pray? Did Jesus study scripture? Yes. Of course. But he also IS. He is IN THE WORLD. So we must learn to FOLLOW as well as STUDY.
You see, Christianity is a faith of WHO WE ARE as people. HOW WE ACT. Not only what we think, or say. It’s about what’s in our heart. And if we have Jesus in our heart, we want to work to change the world. We want to make the world better.
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Jesus is Beyond the State
This is why I selected this passage from Mark to provide some answers to the question “how should Christians be in the world?” Because in this passage from the passion – the crucifixion story – we see very clearly JESUS IN RELATION TO THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT.
Let’s start by identifying the characters here. THERE ARE FIVE MAIN CHARACTERS. We have JESUS, of course. Jesus has been brought before PILATE. Pilate is a governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from around years 26/27 to 36/37.
You also have a CROWD of people. The crowd is being stirred up by the chief priests – the SANHEDRIN. This is a group of powerful priests who also served as legal judges in that time and place. There is also a man named BARABBAS. We’ll come back to these characters later.
So in this passage from Mark 15, Jesus has been brought before Pilate. Jesus has been brought before the political state. As we’re reading this together, the first question we might ask yourselves is “why is Jesus being brought before the political establishment? And by whom?”
We flip back in our Bibles a little bit and read the end of Mark, 14:60-64. “Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’
The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned him as worthy of death.” Notice both when Jesus DOES ANSWER, and when Jesus DOES NOT ANSWER.
Jesus has been brought before the chief priests, because they were “looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death,” as we’re told in Mark 14:55. And the verse goes on, they were looking for evidence “but they did not find any.”
The Sanhedrin level accusation after accusation at Jesus, and he remains silent. He says nothing. Then, finally they ask Jesus directly “are you the Messiah,” and finally Jesus speaks. He says unequivocally “I am.”
This is important when we see Jesus in front of Pilate in today’s passage from Mark 15. Pilate asks Jesus “are you king of the Jews?” Now, what Pilate means by that is NOT “are you the Messiah?” Pilate doesn’t really care about that one way or the other.
Pilate is a political figure, a man of the world, a man of power. So when he asks Jesus “are you king of the Jews,” Pilate is asking “are you a political figure? Are you going to cause me political problems? Are you a political threat to me?” And what does Jesus answer?
“You have said so.” Now, WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT? When the Sanhedrin level accusations at him, Jesus says nothing. When they do the same in front of Pilate, he says nothing. When they ask him in Mark 14 “are you the Messiah” he says directly “yes.”
But now when Pilate asks Jesus “are you king of the Jews,” are you a political figure, Jesus? Jesus speaks – he doesn’t remain silent – and yet Jesus doesn’t really answer. It’s perfectly ambiguous. “Are you the Messiah?” YES. Are you a political figure? YES AND NO.
“You have said so” is a deeply strange answer for Jesus to give here. If we were to ask Budda, “are you a political figure,” the answer would be clear: “no.” If we were to ask Muhammed, “are you a political figure,” the answer would be clear: “yes.”
Here Pilate asks Jesus are you a political figure and the answer is again very clear: YES, AND NO. Are you the Messiah? YES. Are you a political figure? YES, AND NO. About all else Jesus remains silent. You see, Jesus is about to start a revolution that is absolutely beyond politics.
WHAT IS THE MESSIAH? A BRIDGE BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY. HUMANITY IS IN THE WORLD. BUT GOD IS BEYOND IT. So is Jesus a worldly, political figure? YES, because ONE SIDE OF THAT BRIDGE IS HUMANITY. AND NO, because THE OTHER SIDE IS GOD.
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Promiscuous Grace
There is a terrific book by an author named Rodney Stark entitled “The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries.”
In it, Stark explains that on that first Easter morning in the year 33, Christianity was little more than a fringe Jewish movement consisting of 12 guys huddled in a room in Jerusalem. By the year 350, however, there were almost 34 million Christians in the world.
What was the reason for this explosive growth? Stark tells us it was about early Christians’ compassionate treatment of the poor. In the Roman world, all religious groups took care of their own. They were generous toward their families and toward members of their own religion.
Christians, however, were revolutionary. EARLY CHRISTIANS EXTENDED THEIR HELP AND GENEROSITY TO ALL THE POOR, REGARDLESS OF RACE OR CREED. In so doing, they attracted massive throngs of people to their way of life.
In fact, early Christians’ compassionate treatment of the poor was so effective in recruiting new adherents that even pagans sought to emulate them to help revitalize their own churches. We know this for sure, because of a letter that survives from the Emperor Julian.
Julian was Roman emperor from 361 to 363. He rejected Christianity, which he saw as challenging to the empire. He promoted more traditional paganism in its place. Julian led a campaign to revive paganism in the recently Christianized Roman Empire.
But in this letter, written to a pagan priest, Julian recommends that the pagan church start to… act more like the Christians. Julian writes this letter to a pagan priest telling the pagans to be more generous to those in need. Emperor Julian writes: “We ought then to share our money,
with all people, but more generously with the good, and with the helpless and poor so as to suffice for their need… It is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the Christians support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see our people lack aid from us.”
Julian is saying these Christians are making us look bad, fellow pagans! How are we pagans going to attract new followers when the Christians are out there taking care of our own poor? These Christians are being revolutionaries in the way they care for others!
Everyone else takes care of their own poor – Greeks take care of the Greek poor, Africans the African poor, we pagans only take care of other pagan poor – but THE CHRISTIANS TAKE CARE OF EVERYONE, EQUALLY. In his letter, Julian continues:
“It would be a pious act to share our clothes and food even with the wicked. For it is to the humanity in a person that we give, and not to their moral character. Even those who are shut up in prison have a right to the same sort of care, as care will not hinder justice.”
Here is Julian trying to emulate the Christians, and he writes IT IS TO THE HUMANITY IN A PERSON THAT WE GIVE, not to their moral character. Because THIS IS WHAT THE CHRISTIANS ARE DOING in ancient Rome, and it’s working.
Do you see how radical this is? CHRISTIANS WERE PROMISCUOUS ABOUT SERVICE. IS JESUS THE MESSIAH, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN HUMANITY IN THE WORLD AND GOD? YES. DOES THAT MAKE JESUS A POLITICAL FIGURE? YES, AND NO.
YES, BECAUSE WE ARE HERE IN THE WORLD as humans, to serve – that is how we are to interact with the world while we are here in it. AND NO, BECAUSE WE FOLLOW A HIGHER LAW as we do so. Jesus calls us to be PROMISCUOUS ABOUT SERVICE.
You see, JESUS CALLS US TO SERVICE THAT GOES RADICALLY BEYOND EARTHLY DIVISIONS LIKE RACE. LIKE CLASS. LIKE POLITICAL AFFILIATION. LIKE SEXUAL ORIENTATION. LIKE CITIZENSHIP STATUS. WE ARE CALLED TO SERVICE FOR ALL.
Here is another example of how the early Christians experienced such explosive growth in their faith. Stark tells us in his book that in ancient Rome, the ratio of men to women was about 140 men to every 100 women. Why? Because of female infanticide.
You see, in ancient Rome some people had a baby and if it was a girl they thought “oh, great. I have to feed her, and she can’t work as well, she can’t be a soldier, she can’t be a politician, I’ll just get rid of her.” And people killed them, female babies. It was legal.
Christians would have none of that. They took care of these small children who would otherwise be orphans, so they weren’t killed. This is part of the reason women came in droves to early Christianity. Because early Christianity was PROMISCUOUS ABOUT SERVICE.
And by the way: is this conservative, or liberal? All this mixing of the races and taking care of the poor – THAT SEEMS PRETTY LIBERAL, right? But what about taking care of unwanted babies – THAT MIGHT COME ACROSS AS SORT OF CONSERVATIVE.
SO IS CHRISTIANITY LIBERAL? YES, AND NO. IS CHRISTIANITY CONSERVATIVE? YES, AND NO. Do you see how radical – and how radically revolutionary – this is? JESUS, ARE YOU THE MESSIAH? YES. DOES THAT MAKE YOU POLITICAL? YES, AND NO.
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Called to a Higher Law
There is another book I find highly relevant to the question of “how should Christians be in the world?” It was written by Craig Greenfield, and it’s titled “Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World.”
In this book, Greenfield has some beautiful passages about how as Christians we are called to do more than simply follow basic, Earthly Law. EARTHLY LAW TELLS US “DO NO WRONG.” JESUS TEACHES US “DO MORE RIGHT.”
Greenfield writes: “The law cannot be our ultimate moral guide. SLAVERY WAS LAWFUL. THE HOLOCAUST WAS LEGAL. SEGREGATION WAS LEGALLY SANCTIONED… Simply put, the law does not dictate our ethics. God does.”
Earthly Law tells us “don’t steal from people and you’re alright.” But Jesus teaches us “GIVE to others.” Earthly Law tells us “don’t commit adultery.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches “have LOVE, not lust in your heart.”
Earthly Law tells us “those who have wronged you deserve to be punished – and we, the state, are here to do that for you.” But Jesus teaches us “FORGIVE your enemies, and LOVE them like yourself.”
Quick quiz: who does the Bible tell us is created in God’s image? For whom did Jesus die on the cross? All people deserve our service, our charity, our love, and our forgiveness. Why? Because WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SERVED, LOVED, AND FORGIVEN BY GOD.
Everyone was made by God, in God’s own image. Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image.” We’re all created in God’s image. We all have something Holy inside us. We are called to follow the example of Jesus, to recognize the fundamental sanctity of all people.
We must recognize the fundamental sanctity of ALL people. Not only people who attend church like we do. Not just people who agree with us politically, or who work respectably hard at what we think are respectable jobs. ALL people.
I like to say this as “DON’T HANDLE SNAKES.” SNAKES, “Sanctity-Nullifying Activities that Kill Enthusiasm for Service.” Once again: SNAKES, “Sanctity-Nullifying Activities that Kill Enthusiasm for Service.”
Don’t handle SNAKES. “Sanctity-Nullifying.” Sanctity, meaning “the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly.” Nullifying, meaning “negating.” “Sanctity-Nullifying Activities” STOP DOING THINGS THAT REDUCE YOUR ABILITY TO SEE THE HOLINESS IN OTHER PEOPLE.
Why are Sanctity-Nullifying Activities bad? Because they Kill your Enthusiasm for Service. How can you follow the example of Jesus and be kind, or forgive, or love, if you think there are groups of people who don’t deserve such grace?
GOD GIVES ALL OF HIS CREATION GRACE. HE CREATED US ALL IN HIS IMAGE. HE SENT HIS SON TO DIE ON THE CROSS FOR ALL OUR SINS. NOT ONLY PEOPLE WHO TALK LIKE YOU, OR LOOK LIKE YOU, OR VOTE THE WAY YOU DO. EVERYONE.
Personally, I don’t want to find myself at the pearly gates trying to explain why I thought I knew better than God in terms of who is holy, or better than Jesus in terms of who deserves grace. “I know you told us that, God, but really? That guy? Her? Surely you didn’t mean that person.”
Grace comes in many forms. Love. Kindness. Charity. Forgiveness. And all grace is beyond Earthly Law. Let me give you an example of how grace is beyond earthly laws. If I have this pen, it’s because you don’t. But if I give you love, you have more to give yourself.
You see, GRACE IS BEYOND THE EXCHANGE SYSTEM OF ALL EARTHLY LAW. IT REPLACES “AN EYE FOR AN EYE” WITH “TURN THE OTHER CHEEK.” Because THE STRUCTURE OF EARTHLY LAW IS “I AVOID DOING BAD, THEREFORE I AM GOOD.”
BUT THE LAW OF GRACE IS “I TRY TO DO GOOD, THUS I AM LESS BAD." After Jesus, WE DON’T JUST FOLLOW THE LAW OUT OF A FEAR OF DOING WRONG. INSTEAD, WE FOLLOW JESUS OUT OF A DESIRE TO DO RIGHT.
When we “follow Earthly Law,” what we mean is something more like “obey.” It’s a sense of simply not doing wrong. When we “follow Jesus and the Law of Grace,” it’s about what we ACTUALLY DO, NOT ONLY WHAT WE DO NOT DO.
THE LAW OF GRACE IS SO BEAUTIFUL BECAUSE IT IS LIMITLESS. THERE IS NO COUNTING ALL THE WAYS WE CAN BE KIND, OR LOVING, OR CHARITABLE. IT IS A PRINCIPLE OF CREATIVE ACTION, NOT PROHIBITION.
You see: the Law of Grace does not fall into the same limitations as Earthly Law. Because it doesn’t attempt to catalog all the potential things we should NOT be doing, Jesus’ Law of Grace instead points us in the direction of “right,” and tells us to go bonkers doing it.
We are called to DO AS MUCH RIGHT AS WE ARE ABLE. NOT TO DO JUST ENOUGH WRONG to stay on this side of Earthly Law. THERE IS A RADICAL DIFFERENCE. We are called to a radical way of life in this faith. If that doesn’t move you, I don’t know what will.
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A New Attitude to Power
So, Christianity is political, and it isn’t. It is conservative, and it isn’t. It is liberal, and it isn’t. Christianity follows Earthly Law, but also goes beyond it. What are we to conclude from all this about HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE IN THE WORLD?
So we, as Christians, are called to be beyond politics. And we’re called to do more than Earthly Law requires of us. Does this mean we should withdraw from worldly things? Should we simply retreat, and treat the world as impure, or something like that?
The answer also comes from Mark 12:13-17. You’ve heard this passage before, but hear it again now, and consider it in the context of our question for today: HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE IN THE WORLD?
“Some of the Pharisees… were trying to catch Jesus. They came to him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’ he asked. ‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ They brought the coin, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’
‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.” Now. One thing I only just recently noticed in this passage is that Jesus asks both “whose image” and “whose inscription” is on the coin.
The image is the part most of us remember from this passage. The image is of Emperor Tiberius, who was Caesar after Augustus. Thus Jesus says “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Sure: go ahead and pay your taxes. DON’T FULLY RETREAT FROM THE WORLD.
That’s pretty straightforward. But why does Jesus add “give to God what is God’s?” And why does Jesus ALSO ask “whose inscription” is on the coin, rather than simply “whose image?” What was the inscription on a denarius coin?
What the coin would have read at the time was “Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus.” This detail makes all the difference in this passage. Should we pay our taxes? Should we participate in the world? Absolutely! Caesar’s face is on the coin, go ahead and give it to him.
BUT WHAT WE SHOULDN’T DO – WHAT WE CANNOT DO – IS PLEDGE OUR ALLEGIANCE TO ANYTHING OVER AND ABOVE GOD. Follow Earthly Law. Of course! Participate politically. Of course! But NEVER, EVER PUT ANYTHING, OR ANYONE, ABOVE GOD.
The word “subversion” is defined as “the undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution.” Are we here as Christians to just coast along, go with the flow, get ourselves saved and just wait to go to heaven?
HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE IN THE WORLD? ARE WE CALLED TO UPHOLD “THE POWER AND AUTHORITY OF AN ESTABLISHED SYSTEM OR INSTITUTION?” OR ARE WE CALLED TO CHANGE IT? TO MAKE IT BETTER?
Christianity is fundamentally, by definition, a faith of subversive revolution. In order to “make the power and authority of an established system or institution” better, we must operate from inside the system itself.
This means engaging with the world, with Earthly Law and politics. IF WE WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD, WE MUST BE OUT IN THE WORLD. But we must be beyond Earthly Law, and we must be beyond Earthly Politics. Those are the basics. We’re called to more.
So, HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE IN THE WORLD? Are we political? Yes. And no. Are we liberal? Yes. And no. Are we conservative? Yes. And no. Do you see how revolutionary this is? How utterly beyond, and above, and in all ways more pure than the world this is?
By the way, let’s come back to the one character in today’s passage from Mark we haven’t yet discussed: Barabbas. What do we know about Barabbas? He was one of the numerous insurrections against the Roman state. He had committed murder.
BARABBAS, IN OTHER WORDS, WAS TRYING TO LEAD A VIOLENT POLITICAL UPRISING. ONE OF EARTHLY POWER ATTEMPTING TO OVER-POWER ANOTHER EARTHLY POWER. THE SORT OF POLITICAL ACTION THAT IS ULTIMATELY DOOMED TO FAILURE.
JESUS ALSO STARTED A REVOLUTION – the revolution we are here to continue – BUT NOT BY CONQUERING HIS ENEMIES. Jesus is a subversive revolutionary. Make no mistake about that. But his revolution wasn’t brought about by silencing, killing or imprisoning his enemies.
JESUS STARTED A REVOLUTION BY SHOWING LOVE, COMPASSION, AND KINDNESS TO HIS ENEMIES. NOT BY CONQUERING THEM WITH A SHOW OF POWER. You see, because our revolution isn’t like all others.
OUR REVOLUTION IS NOT ABOUT REPLACING ONE POWER WITH ANOTHER. OUR REVOLUTION CALLS FOR A NEW ATTITUDE TO POWER. We aren’t interested in taking power per se. We’re interested in empowering a new outlook on power.
Because we answer to a higher law, the Law of Grace. The Grace God has freely given to us, in the form of His love and His generosity in creating us. And by sending his Son Jesus to die for our sins. Not just ours, but everyone else, too.
