The Romans killed Jesus as a subversive, as someone rebelling against Imperial authority. The Jewish leaders had handed Jesus over to the Romans as a trouble-maker, as someone threatening their way of surviving in a hostile world. Jesus’ followers knew he was neither of those things. To explain him to non-believers they quoted from the prophet Isaiah: A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench. While Jesus was all about change, about a new way of living, he was not interested in anything coercive. “I am gentle and humble of heart,” he said. He was no threat even to a “bruised reed” because the kind of change he preached came about through the implacable and attractive power of love.
JULY182020
By Church Staff
