Life and Death

Which is more important regarding salvation, Jesus’ life or death? Many Christians want to answer, “both”. But in their heart of hearts many Christians actually lean towards Jesus’ death. Why? Because we have been made to understand that the cross is where Jesus died for our sins and we can now be forgiven through his blood. While this is true, we have put too much emphasis on salvation coming from his death rather than his abundant life.

What was Jesus’ proclamation? Repent, (literally means to turn around) for the kingdom of God is near (at hand, present, now). The trajectory of the New Testament is aimed at “a new kind of life” that Jesus was exhibiting. The disciple John tells us that Jesus came so that we may have this amazingly new over abundant life (John 10:10). It wasn’t Jesus death that attracted his early followers. It was his life! This new life was an amazingly more than enough kind of life that comes with living in the kingdom of God. All Jesus’ death did was to prove that not even death could stop it. Who doesn’t want that kind of life?

“The resurrection was a cosmic event only because it validated the reality and the indestructibility of what Jesus had preached and exemplified before his death – the enduring reality and openness of God’s Kingdom. (Spirit of the Disciplines, 37)