Through the greatest injustice known in all human history, God brings justice to the world. This is a testimony to his sovereignty and transcendence.
Approaching Good Friday, I’m reminded of how we are so accustomed to fallen human reality that we have little to no frame of reference (outside of Jesus and the Scriptures) to get even a decent grasp on the Life of the Trinity. It is so utterly different from fallen human life that we don’t have intelligent language to begin to articulate it. This is the transcendence of God, the otherness of God, the holiness of God.
As we watch Judas betray Jesus, we think, “Yep, that’s life. That’s the way it goes. Betrayal, abuse, corruption, injustice…it’s the way of the world.” We can feel in our depths the pain of this, yet we’re so accustomed to it. The familiarity of the brokenness of this world doesn’t stop the pain.
Now that we’re going on 8000 + years of fallen civilization, we still feel the pain of the everyday brokeness of the world. We never get used to it. We’re used to the pain. We are used to being disappointed. We are used to the tragedy of life. We’re use to Judas Iscariot, Bernie Madoff, Enron, GermanWings, ISIS, and the list goes on. It pains us, yet we’re accustomed to it. It is human life.
Jesus walks right into it, takes it on himself, and redeems it.
In the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the life of God bursts into human brokeness like an earthquake. Jesus walking out of the tomb shakes what it is to be human to its core. The scales fall from our eyes as he breaks our hurting world wide open with the message of “things don’t have to be this way.” Through the great act-speach of the resurrection, Jesus says, “There’s another reality out there that isn’t defined by brokeness and pain nor enslaved by death.”
This is why the disciples were so utterly surprised when learning of the resurrection. After all, didn’t he tell them on several occasions that he would come back to life? They even put Roman soldiers by the tomb because of the claim! They weren’t expecting this because they just couldn’t comprehend it. This wasn’t a possibility within the framework of human existence. This. Just. Doesn’t. Happen.
And this is what God does, doesn’t he? He offers something entirely different, entirely new, entirely transcendent, entirely redeeming, entirely good. He presents a new reality.
Let us not define ourselves any longer by the fallenness of man, but rather by the risen-ness of Christ.
