Tyler Johnson, MDiv
Tyler is a pastor, a teacher, and a former NASA engineer. He loves to explore truth through God’s word and God’s works. He lives in Kansas with his wife and four children and spends what little free-time he has practicing tae kwon do and pondering the mysteries of light.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day the church remembers the celebratory entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. In the churches I’ve been a part of, it often involves the children walking in and waving palm branches while the adults smile and watch. I have sometimes wondered why the whole congregation does not so enter as it is clear that adults were a major portion of the crowd that originally welcomed Jesus.
The crowds welcomed Jesus as their King, as their long-awaited Messiah. He was the realization of a hope they had been dreaming of for ages. This was the moment the whole Jewish nation had been waiting for. The Messiah had finally returned to Jerusalem and would take his throne and lead Israel to greatness again.
It is hard to avoid the blending of religion and politics that is evident in the stories of Jesus’ last days. The crowds made no distinction between Jesus as political leader and Jesus as religious leader. Which I suppose is why the crowds ultimately turned against him. He failed to be the political leader they were looking for. (Can we pause just a moment to recognize that at his trial the politically-motivated crowd exuberantly chose an insurrectionist - Barabbas - over Jesus? Things aren’t so different today, perhaps.)
By the standards of the people watching, including his own disciples, Jesus was a failure.
I’m not sure that we have truly reckoned with this fact. Today’s church seems to be caught up in the drive to succeed as much as any other business around. And success looks the same: more money, more people, more influence, more likes… you get the idea. A “successful” church doesn’t look much different than a successful business. A “successful” pastor doesn’t look much different than a successful CEO. The goals are essentially the same.
Today’s church has been profoundly shaped by successful people: mega-church leaders, award-winning musicians, populist theologians, compelling speakers, prolific authors. I’m not sure that there is anything inherently wrong about this, but succeeding in the church and succeeding in the world don’t look all that different to me. We’ve all heard the objections to churches and denominations that are led solely by groups of white males. I endorse such objections. But are we really getting closer to the character of Christ with leadership teams that are composed of primarily upper middle-class men and women with high business acumen? Are we really so confident that those who have learned to succeed in this world are the ones who should be shepherding our souls towards the next?
Jesus died a failure. At his death, his movement had collapsed, his followers had abandoned him, and his closest friends were embarrassed to be associated with him. Had it not been for the resurrection, we would have never heard of Jesus. He would have died along with numerous other purported messiahs and his memory would have quickly faded. (And just to be clear, Jesus did not rise from the grave in the same way that you or I rise from bed in the morning. Jesus was raised by God. At his death, Jesus abandoned all of his own power to save himself, and fully placed his life in God’s faithful hands. Had God not acted, Jesus would have stayed dead.)
Jesus was a failure by the world’s standards, but not by God’s. It would seem that by God’s standards, Jesus was a success. Which indicates that God measures success differently than our world does. In his last few days, just like during his ministry, Jesus demonstrated courageous obedience to God - willingly submitting his own will to the Father’s (Mark 14:35-36). Jesus demonstrated deep humility, not claiming to be God (Matthew 27:37-44) and continuing to care for others (John 19:25-27), even as he died. And Jesus still extended grace (Luke 23:39-43) and radical forgiveness (Luke 23:32-34) even to the people who were killing him.
I suspect that these are the kinds of things that indicate success to God. And I suspect that despite all the puffed up rhetoric from popular Christian leaders, it is these qualities that truly make a difference in God’s Kingdom. The church will only become something more like Christ by acting more like Christ, which may mean failing in everything that our world values. It may even mean death. But then, God can only resurrect that which has already died.