Easter Sunday 2022
Content warning: a brief description of the violence of crucifixion.
Some Christians believe that Jesus’s resurrection is a fulfillment of prophecy. I agree to a certain extent. Christians who tend to believe Jesus’s resurrection is a fulfillment of prophecy tend to point to various texts in the Hebrew Bible and claim these texts are about Jesus and that the early authors were inspired by God to write these verses.
They argue that these verses were in fact predicting the future and Jesus fulfilled the predictions. In that sense, I disagree. That viewpoint misinterprets the prophetic tradition. I believe early Jesus followers looked back onto scripture and creatively interpreted Jesus into these verses, and I think it’s ok for Christians to do that, as long as they acknowledge the reality of what they are doing.
The viewpoint of, “the Biblical authors literally predicted Jesus thousands of years ago,” is not only difficult to swallow intellectually but it has also been used to justify antisemitism. No, Jewish people aren’t misinterpreting-either intentionally or not, Hebrew Bible verses that Christians claim predict Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. The reality is, that early Christ-followers and current Christians read Jesus back into the Hebrew Bible.
So what do I mean when I say that I believe Jesus fulfills Prophetic scripture? Well, one thing these books emphasize is God’s concern for the poor and marginalized. These books often argue that God’s judgment is the result of the kingdoms of Israel/Judah, worshipping other gods and mistreating the marginalized. These books depict a God that cares deeply for the orphaned, the widows, and other vulnerable groups and who brings judgment upon societies that ignore or actively harm them.
When I say I believe Jesus’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection fulfill prophecy, I mean it aligns with this depiction of God. In my previous posts, I talked about how Jesus’s life and death, were a challenge to the systems of violence and empire in the 1st century and today. Jesus was killed not to satisfy a blood-thirsty God, but as the result of a society attempting to destroy the alternative kingdom God through Jesus was bringing forth.
The resurrection is the ultimate example of God’s defeat of these systems of violence and oppression. The Roman Empire and the handful of religious leadership in partnership with the empire thought they had gotten rid of Jesus, they thought they had put an end to his message of a God who loves all and who brings liberation to all. But the resurrection demonstrates that ultimately is the empire that loses.
Crucifixion was a torturous, death, meant to demonstrate the power of the Roman Empire, and punish those who dare rebel against it, and it also served to erase the person being killed. They were rendered unimportant nobodies, who if they were lucky would be privately buried (like Jesus was) but more likely would be left to rot and decay on the cross or be torn apart by animals. Their deaths served as a message to warn others to comply with the empire and their lives and existence were erased.
But through the resurrection of Jesus, God says a powerful no to the empire. No, these systems of oppression do not have the last words. No, nothing can inhibit God’s incoming kingdom of justice and liberation.
And the resurrection continues to serve as God’s no to the forces of evil. When we celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday we are also saying no to the forces of injustice and violence that continue to plague our world. We are telling them that they do not have the last word. When we honor the resurrection we are committing ourselves to co-creating a world with God where liberation and justice are dominant and the forces of empire are no more.
We are also committing to honoring all those who have died at the hands of empire throughout the centuries-the millions that have died of poverty and starvation because of the greed of empires, kingdoms, and “democratic” governments, the deaths of millions killed during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the thousands lynched in the American south, the millions killed by wars. Honoring the resurrection means we honor those who continue to be murdered by law enforcement throughout the world, who are suffering under unjust occupations.
The resurrection calls us to advocate for a more just and equitable world, while knowing that God is on our side. The resurrection reminds us that God has already vanquished the forces of evil. And it assures us that those killed by these evil forces are not forgotten and left behind
Note: I am taking a breaking from posting for the next month or so because of personal issues and also to re-evaluate if blogging is the best method of getting my writing out. I plan on coming back to finish the Taylor Swift and theology blog post. I will, however, still be updating regularly on my socials. So please follow them if you want to continue to read my writing during this break.
Here are my socials:
Twitter: @faithfullyradi1
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