A Torturous Easter

AK-47 or Cross Pendant?

Every Christmas time we are confronted with those particular individuals who take great joy in reminding us, “Christ is the reason for the season.” Regrettably, those same folks are silent when it comes Easter time simply because they don’t know how to address the torturous reality of a rabbit passing out decorated eggs. It might be quite possible that their silence is also an indictment of the church pursuing a hypocritical social justice narrative for all these years. If that shakes you, good. It should. Yet it does require an explanation.

For most of the life of the western church the meaning of Easter has been lost to a variety of man-made religious traditions imported from the vast clans of humanity which celebrated the spring solstice. The desert fathers of the church attempting to stay true the origins of Jesus commemorated the Jewish event of Passover and associated Jesus in the role of the lamb slain before the foundations of the world.

The desert fathers were unfortunately declared heretics for their teaching and the truth was relegated to the backwaters of distant monastic traditions swept clean through the sands of time. A narrative was adopted by the mainline church which offered a better control mechanism over the masses: The Cross.

The cross became the vehicle where all sinners died in the trial of Jesus. The cross became the mantra for the burdens of the world. The cross became the symbol for conquest over the enemy, spiritual as well as human. The cross became the accessory which adorned the rich, the poor, the believers, and the unbelievers alike. In the rush to make an idol out of two sticks no one wanted to remember the truth of it purpose: Torture by death.

Simply put, the cross was the supreme tool of torture employed by Rome to guarantee order and control of THEIR realm. It wasn’t a one-off device which western religion has sanitized to being used on a day in history when everything changed, even the calendar (BC/AD). Historians of the era record massive crucifixions before, during, and after the life of Jesus. The only thing unique about the cross was that everyone knew what its purpose was and what led to being placed upon it.

However, the church figured that the cross needed to be re-branded. Well, not all of the crosses, just the one which Jesus hung on. Even the two thieves which were crucified nest to Jesus weren’t afforded the same luxury of the corporate trademark having their platform diminished in stature and appearance whenever displayed as the propaganda required.

Let me ask you a question: How would you feel if say a hundred generations from today people hung a pendant around their neck or a sticker on their vehicle which resembled an AK-47 and quipped, “Jesus saves?” I assure you, there is absolutely no difference in the meaning of the emblem! Even harder to swallow is the truth that Jesus does not save you from torture! According to the propaganda of the cross, Jesus only saves you in mortal death, not from it.

Spiritual Truth Missed

The church will tell you that Jesus died for the “sins” of the world. Interpreted correctly, Jesus died because the world “fell short and missed the mark of the target they were aiming for.” This is the failure of the church – they missed the spiritual to pursue the power of the world. No one likes to hear this, but truth doesn’t pander to feelings. So, what is truth, Pilate asks Jesus.

I have briefly written on this here and here, but it needs to brought out in better fashion in order to soothe the ruffled feathers you’re displaying. The doctrine of the church has focused its crosshairs on the wrong symbol. It is not death – it is life! The following are what Jesus had to say on the subject:

Joh 3:14-16
(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
(15) That whoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Joh 11:25-26
(25) Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
(26) And whoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?

Joh 10:10
(10) The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Joh 2:19
(19) Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Life is the mission of Jesus toward humanity, not death. If you doubt this, then allow me to explain the reason for the crucifixion occurring on Passover and not on Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement.

The church would have you believe that Jesus is the lamb slain for the sins of the world. This goes completely against the Jewish customs. First a lamb was never to be used for a sin offering – it was always a goat. The wild randy character of the goat is a depiction of the nature of a fallen human. The offering of a goat for sins was specifically mandated to occur in a fall ceremony known as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The Passover celebration is a spring festivity commemorating the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In the first occurrence of this, Moses instructed the children of Israel to slay a young lamb and place the blood from the lamb upon the doorposts and lintel of their homes. This was a sign to the angel of death which was to pass through the land enacting the tenth curse by slaying the first born of Egypt. When the angel came to a place where the blood was applied, it would “pass over” the house and all who resided inside would live.

Sin has nothing to do with Passover. Passover has everything to do with a life free from the shackles of bondage and living that life more abundantly. Jesus upped the ante by stating that believing in him will give everlasting eternal life. This is not for some time frame after your mortal coil passes from this world, but a truth this very moment. This truth does not hinge on any confession and repentance of sins. It merely requires your belief that he meant what he said. The guarantee of his word is clearly represented not in the cross but in the empty tomb. He said in three days after they destroyed his temple, he would raise it up and he did that very thing! Since Jesus did it, we all can do it too.

Now I recognize how there are some out there who revere what they call “the work of the cross” and encourage people follow after Jesus in his ordeal. But ask yourself, would Father God torture his child to demonstrate His love for him? Jesus asked a similar question about us giving a stone or snake to our child as proof of our love. Since we know what an act of love is like, surely torture, particularly the kind which intends to kill, cannot be seen as an act of love from the God who is love.

This season there are going to be a multitude of pageants presented across the church spectrum idolizing the passion and crucifixion of Jesus. Very little mention will be made of a vow endorsed by a vacant rented tomb which is ultimately the symbol of a fully lived life. Easter is supposed to be about an abundant life, not torture leading to death. There is no good found anywhere in the cross. There is only love found in a stone that rolled to reveal the mystery of life.