Leader of the Ultimate Revolution

Sec­u­lar historians, during the era of Jesus, made some brief notes about him. They had heard a few things about his amaz­ing abil­i­ties, but were not there to see them first-hand. They relied on reli­able wit­nesses. Their job was to chron­i­cle the events of their day. Jesus lived in a remote part of the Roman Empire. He got a cou­ple of sen­tences that were summed up in: he was a rev­o­lu­tion­ary and executed.

They did not elab­o­rate. They had more impor­tant peo­ple to dis­cuss: Cae­sars, dis­tant kings, and Roman Gen­er­als. War is the way human­ity has always man­aged to punc­tu­ate its his­to­ries. This man that was exe­cuted as a rev­o­lu­tion­ary had quite a fol­low­ing, and they have not died out. What sec­u­lar his­to­ri­ans today miss is that he still is a rev­o­lu­tion­ary lead­ing his cause.

Each gen­er­a­tion has a rev­o­lu­tion to fight, but it is not always a mil­i­tary quest. The great­est rev­o­lu­tions are spir­i­tual — as depicted in reli­gion, phi­los­o­phy, and the arts. Jesus’ rev­o­lu­tions are not vio­lent. Peo­ple die for “God and coun­try” on both sides of a bat­tle, but it is impor­tant to look at the nature of this par­tic­u­lar rev­o­lu­tion­ary. He told the leader of his band to put away his sword. His king­dom was “not of this world.” Quite the con­trary! He uses tac­tics that are more pow­er­ful and ones that the sec­u­lar world has never fully grasped…and never will.

Wel­come to the rev­o­lu­tion­ary of the heart. He calls peo­ple that are com­pelled to go one mile to go the sec­ond in pure joy. They turn the other cheek in per­sonal con­flicts. They give to the last penny when the nec­es­sary needs arise. They even go to their deaths singing of vic­tory. What an odd revolution!

Politi­cians have tried to invoke his name for their self­ish causes, but he can­not be manip­u­lated. We serve his cause, not the other way around. Uncon­di­tional love is the call. Sac­ri­fice is the tac­tic. Joy is the emo­tional tone through­out the “bat­tle” won with­out fir­ing a shot. We do not fight on the world’s terms.

No mat­ter what hap­pens today, the true fol­low­ers of Jesus will win. Kill them and they still win. Ridicule them and they smile. Kick them and they wash your feet. Their cause is unstop­pable. Their leader was killed but could not stay dead…nor will they.