Why Jesus?

You would think that among those who call themselves "Christ-ians" the question, "Why did Jesus come to earth?" would be fairly simple. Stop a moment and ask yourself how you would answer this. Surprisingly, I find a huge amount of confusion and downright bad theology among evangelicals when it comes to answering such a foundational question.

Read what Brian Fikkert concluded in his research: "We have asked thousands of evangelical Christians in numerous contexts this most basic question -- why did Jesus come to earth? -- and fewer than 1 percent of respondents say anything even remotely close to the answer that Jesus himself gave. Instead, the vast majority of people say something like 'Jesus came to die on the cross to save us from our sins so that we can go to heaven.' While this answer is true, saving souls in only a subset of the comprehensive healing of the entire cosmos that Jesus' kingdom brings and that was the centerpiece of his message" (When Helping Hurts 33).

In high school, I remember seeing a fellow evangelical wearing a t-shirt that said, "Born to Die" in reference to Christ's mission. And at the time I thought there was nothing wrong with that theology. But think of the ramifications of this view for a moment. What significance would there have been to any of Jesus' ministry? Why did he spend time healing, casting out demons, speaking prophetically to the religious power structure, and training disciples in his ways? Why did the gospel writers use so many words to write about such events? And, more importantly, does the resurrection even matter? I once heard a Sunday School teacher in a rural Free Methodist church say, "Jesus came to die for our sins. That was the only thing he did that mattered. Even if he hadn't been resurrected it wouldn't have mattered because what needed to be done was accomplished through his death." Our truncated theology has led us into unorthodoxy.

Perhaps we ought to allow Jesus himself to answer the question. Why did he come? Jesus believed his own mission could be summarized by the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

Objection, your honor! Jesus, that doesn't make any sense! Didn't you come to make an ETERNAL difference rather than a TEMPORARY difference? I mean, in the grand scheme of things, isn't it more important that you go about saving people's souls rather than making blind people see? What good is it for a blind person to see if he doesn't confess you as Savior and Lord and have a personal relationship with you and thereby avoid hell? Pardon my boldness, but isn't this "releasing inmates from jail" and "introducing the year of Jubilee" stuff LESS important than paying the price for our sins on the cross so that we can all go to heaven? Why didn't you say that THAT was your mission?

To put this another way, when Jesus encountered the blind man of Luke 18 who cried out for mercy why didn't Jesus say to him, "I am the fulfillment of all prophecy. I am the King of kings and Lord of lords. I have all the power in heaven and earth. I could heal you today of your blindness, but I only care about your soul. Believe in me." (Fikkert 35)?

I get the impression from some of my conservative evangelical friends who look from afar at my ministry in the inner city that they think much of what I do is a waste of time. I get questions like, "Why do you spend so much energy talking about things like healthcare? What does economics have to do with the gospel message (by which they mean the inculcation of information about Jesus' vicarious atonement)?" Some have even asked, "Why do you spend so much money giving people physical food when what they really need is spiritual food?" All this time I spend being a "do-gooder" is wasteful in their minds because the ONLY thing that matters in light of eternity, according to them, is the salvation of a soul which is accomplished by saying the sinner's prayer. Anything else is a distraction. Some are a bit more open-minded and are willing to tolerate social justice, but only as a means to an end. That is, yes, sometimes you have to feed people, but you do that only so that they'll listen to you when you share the real gospel with them.

Well, if such thinking is correct, then Jesus was off his rocker. Jesus should have been doing Billy Graham crusades instead of eating with tax collectors, giving sight to blind men, debating with the Pharisees about the Sabbath, and feeding a crowd of 5000 (with apparently more concern for their stomachs than for their souls).

This is the big gaping hole in most evangelical theology: they have become so obsessed with the King that they've completely forgotten about the kingdom. In fact, one pastor whom I deeply respect and want to emulate in many ways, shocked me by asking, "What exactly do you mean by always talking about 'the kingdom of God'? What is 'the kingdom of God'?" I wanted to scream! You mean to tell me you've been a pastor for how long and you don't know what the kingdom of God is!?! Well, it's only the central message that Jesus came to preach! It's only the reconciliation of all of creation including humanity into right relationship with the Creator! It's only the entire agenda of the the early church!

But I need to back up. For those who may not be aware, the kingdom of God, simply stated, is "the renewal of the whole world through the entrance of supernatural forces such that things are brought back under Christ's rule and authority and are restored to health, beauty, and freedom." (Timothy Keller, an evangelical who gets it).

Explaining why evangelicals have abandoned kingdom theology would take far too long and this entry is long enough already. Suffice it to say that they have bought into a false dichotomy between body and soul which was foreign to the Jews of Jesus' day (see my note called "What Does It Mean to Be Human?"). Furthermore, they have so emphasized their nice, neat "road to salvation" that they've completely forgotten about what Jesus did when he was on earth.

Why did Jesus come? It was more than just to die. It was to inaugurate a new kingdom breaking into the world in which all of creation -- humanity included -- would be liberated from decay in both physical and spiritual ways. It was to show humanity a glimpse of what the future kingdom will look like and to invite a new community called the church to participate in it ahead of time. It was to meet a blind man on the road, heal him, and leave it at that.