Wanting All of Jesus: Embracing More than the Cross

One time I went to see a barber shop Quartet sing in a rural town in northern Minnesota.  The quartet was fabulous…  other than the baritone who sang 20 decibels louder than the others.  The songs were beautiful but they did not blend together the way they ought since one part (the baritone’s) was stressed more than the others.  The louder singer had been drowning out the others at times so that one could only hear his part.  The over-emphasized part caused the entire piece of music to lose it’s charisma and left listeners confused.  When I look back on the story of Jesus in the bible, I get the same feeling.  The wonderful event of the cross in 21 century Evangelicalism is emphasized over anything else Jesus did.  If the incarnation, the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension all made up a barber shop quartet, the cross in most churches today would ostensibly drown out the other harmonies while deafening those within an earshot.  But is the message of the New Testament that Jesus merely “lived to die,” as a famous Christian song purports?

Paul seems to disagree.  In 1 Corinthians 15:17, the apostle says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

If Jesus did not step out of the tomb, according to Paul, the cross has done nothing.  No wrath appeased.  No debt satisfied.  No transformation of life.  No new creation.  Nothing.  The cross was just another tragic event in ancient Palestine.  The resurrection stood as the central doctrine of early Christianity, and the atonement of the church father’s (Christus Victor) highlighted Jesus’ victory over Satan and death.

What about the ascension?  The book of Hebrews makes Jesus “passing through the heavens” the primary doctrine of the text:  ”Now the main point in what we are saying is this:  we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb 8:1).  Again, the book of Ephesians is all about the ascended Jesus.  Also, the most quoted and alluded verse in the New Testament is Psalm 110 (Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool).  All this to say, the ascension in early Christianity was massively important.

What about the life and ministry of Jesus?  Was the life and ministry of Jesus the “appetizer” of the gospels apparently occurring before the “main course” (the cross)?  Did the gospel writers waste over 60 chapters scribing a mere backstory for the crucifixion?  Ought Christians know more than “Christ and Him crucified?”  Does the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus’ inaugurated mean nothing in the shadow of the cross?  Do the parables of Jesus fall to the wayside or upon stony ground and thus produce little since we now only trust in the “finished work of the cross?”

Now I by no means want to diminish the cross.  The cross is a beautiful part of God’s salvation for the cosmos.  But it is only part.  In fact, standing alone the cross is more tragic than victorious and more gruesome than beautiful.  I bet John and Mary at the foot of the cross wouldn’t say that what they were witnessing was beautiful, rather, despicable. However, in light of the resurrection and ascension, they may have reconsidered the beauty of that event.  Nevertheless, embracing the person of Jesus must include embracing the incarnation, life and ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming.  Jesus will certainly be misrepresented if one event takes supremacy over the others.  And like the barber shop quartet, the Jesus events, in sync with one another, harmonizing in dissonance and resolution, will weave together the magnificent song of YHWH, the way the musical notes on the pages of Holy Writ intended.  The melody of Jesus is best sung in proportion to the whole of His life, including all of the major themes in His life, not simply one event cut out of the story.

Advertisement