But I trust in you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
 My times are in your hands…”

Psalm 31:14-15a

• The song “Amazing Love, how can it be?” (Billy James Foote) came to mind while I was preparing to teach this morning and so we used it as our devotion at the beginning of Bible study.

This morning in our men’s Bible study group we jumped out of sequence to spend an hour talking about Holy Week and the Passion of Jesus.

I started off by asking the question, “Why did Jesus die?” There are explanations couched in theological terms, answers designed to advance doctrinal dogma, and beliefs that come less from the Bible and more from the lines of well-known hymns or praise songs.

But the most important answer, to my mind, is the personal response. In other words, “What has the death of Jesus got to do with me?” And it’s companion question, “How does the life of Jesus speak into – or maybe through – mine?”

I often find myself thinking about something my friend Marv offered during a class I was teaching in Wake Forest. My lesson had likely been too academic, and while my attempt to explain some of the problems I have with some random doctrine may have been sound it was, Marv implied, much ado about nothing and nowhere near the point.

“Why did Jesus die?” Marv asked, rhetorically. “Well, it was inevitable.”

What my friend means is that Jesus was – that Jesus is – good. And the power structures of this world, particularly those that are rooted in fear and control and greed and dominance, always feel threatened by goodness – the more genuine and authentic, the more threatening.

Love is the biggest threat to oppression:

Interestingly, Jesus never played an oppositional political card. Jesus simply invited people to live in love, to love out loud in ways that promote peace, grace, mercy, forgiveness, healing, justice, goodness, light and selflessness. In other words, applied love.

I do not mean to knock the enthusiasm or the efforts of those who feel called to political action, I merely intend to point out that it was not the way of Jesus and it is not what got him killed.

What was effective for Jesus as a change agent – and it still is – was his invitation to live love out loud. It was not thousands of people yelling, “Down with the administration!” that made the difference so much as people beginning to live in the way of love.

Jesus came to invite humankind into a new and living way. Holy Week brings the contrast between Jesus and those who promote a kingdom based on fear and control into clear focus.

Christ’s death and resurrection are the inflection point of history. The decision to follow Jesus can be ours.

In love and because of love – DEREK