Messiah

The encounter between Jesus and Mary Magdalene in John 20 contains an urgency that is easy to overlook. Mary has just recognized Jesus. Her despair instantly turns into overwhelming relief, and naturally she clings to him. Yet Jesus does not allow the reunion to continue. He interrupts it almost immediately:

“Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

Then he sends her to the disciples with a message about precisely that ascent.

There is an apparent contradiction in the Gospel portrayal of Satan.

At one point, through Peter, Jesus is urged not to go toward suffering and crucifixion. Jesus reacts with extraordinary severity: “Get behind me, Satan.”

Later, through Judas, the process leading directly to the crucifixion is set in motion.

At first glance the two actions seem opposite.

First Satan appears to resist the cross.

Then Satan appears to produce it.

The saying of Jesus about his coming being like lightning seen from east to west has, for generations, been read through an imagination shaped more by spectacle than by substance, more by fear than by truth. The dominant image—of a vertical thunderbolt crashing down from the heavens, overwhelming the world in a single moment—may appear majestic, but it subtly reintroduces a theology of domination that stands at odds with both the language Jesus uses and the way he actually lived.

People often imagine worship as an act of lowering oneself before visible greatness. One bows before a throne, prostrates before majesty, trembles before power. That model works easily with the image of a mighty king. But it becomes deeply problematic when applied to Jesus, because whenever one goes looking for him in that mode, one finds not a monarch demanding ceremony, but a servant washing the feet of others.

For two thousand years, the figure of Jesus has generated something unusual in human history: a stable stalemate. There is enough evidence to persuade billions that he lived, taught, was crucified, and rose again. Yet there is also enough ambiguity to sustain serious doubt. Entire civilizations have formed around affirming him. Entire intellectual traditions have formed around questioning him. And neither side has eliminated the other.