What Was the Message of Jesus?

by Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts          March 2004

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Reflection: What Was Jesus' Actual Message? Introduction
Part 1 of series: "What Was the Message of Jesus?"
Posted at 10:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, 2004

With The Passion of the Christ so much in our minds these days, I had planned to do some blogging on the question: Why was Jesus crucified? But as I pondered this question, I realized that my answer would only make sense in light of a prior answer to another question: What was Jesus' actual message? So I'll get to the reason for Jesus' crucifixion in a while. But first I need to lay a foundation for that reason by dealing with Jesus' message. This isn't quite so easy as it might at first seem. Yet the effort to grasp Jesus' actual message pays rich dividends, because it makes sense, not only of his life and ministry, but of his death and resurrection.

If you were to ask the average person what Jesus' preached - even the average Christian - you'd no doubt hear something about love: "Jesus taught about love. He said we should all love each other." This perception of Jesus' teaching isn't wrong, let me hasten to add. Jesus did talk quite a bit about love. In fact he said that loving God is the greatest commandment and loving our neighbors is the runner up (Mark 12:29-31). So, to be sure, love figured prominently in the message of Jesus.

But love was not the core of his proclamation. And, to be sure, his preaching about love didn't get Jesus crucified. Neither the Romans nor the Jewish authorities would have been particularly bothered by a Jewish prophet who ran around telling people to love God and people. Quite a few Jews would have been distressed over the thought of having to love their enemies, however. But the Romans - the obvious enemies -- wouldn't have crucified someone whose main crime was telling Jews to love them and turn the other cheek! The core of Jesus' message must have been more contentious, indeed, more scandalous, than a call to love.

It's common for people to reduce the message of Jesus into something all to simple and, I might add, all too similar to the biases of whoever is doing the reducing. You'll see this in many of the contemporary "scholarly" attempts to summarize the message of Jesus. The infamous Jesus Seminar, by the time it stones Jesus to death with its red, pink, grey, and black beads, ends up with a sage who speaks in esoteric riddles, hardly someone who would be put to death as a threat to Roman order in Judea.

It's common for people to reduce the message of Jesus into something all to simple and, I might add, all too similar to the biases of whoever is doing the reducing. You'll see this in many of the contemporary "scholarly" attempts to summarize the message of Jesus. The infamous Jesus Seminar, by the time it stones Jesus to death with its red, pink, grey, and black beads, ends up with a sage who speaks in esoteric riddles, hardly someone who would be put to death as a threat to Roman order in Judea.

Whatever Jesus preached, it got people excited. Even the demons were riled up. And Jesus' message angered most of the religious leaders he encountered. In the end, it got him killed on a Roman cross. So what exactly was this inspiring, challenging, goading, and apparently subversive message of Jesus all about?

I'll begin to answer this question in my next post.