As Jesus hung on the cross, the crowd taunted him saying that he saved others, he should save himself. Their taunt revealed how much they misunderstood Jesus They judged Jesus by their own standards, rather than by God’s love. Their value was to save themselves, to do what would benefit themselves and assumed that Jesus was just like them. They were wrong. Up until Jesus’ time the value was “might makes right.” A victorious general came and conquered a city; then he made the law and did what he wanted. He killed the men, women and children he chose, or allowed his soldiers to do so. He allowed them to rape any woman or child they desired. He enslaved whomever he wanted and took them from their home to his. Compassion and forgiveness were considered foolish. The disabled were shunned and left to beg and fend for themselves. It was a very different world before Jesus died on the cross. But after Jesus died, when he refused to save himself as the crowd taunted, the world began to change. For the first time in human history, Jesus revealed the power of someone sacrificing himself for the benefit of others, even when virtually no one understood what he was doing. After Jesus, his followers went out and proclaimed the power of love for your neighbor and your enemy in Jesus’ name. Their persecuted communities were so attractive that at first primarily slaves were drawn and then those who were free, even some in Caesar’s own household became followers of Jesus. Baby girls who had been abandoned at the order of their own fathers, were taken in by followers of Jesus to raise these girls as their own daughters. Over the centuries Europe was transformed from a warring group of tribal kings to a society in which the poor and abandoned were cared for. Today, we have hospitals for the sick; we have schools where all children, wealthy or poor, can go and receive an education. We have values where everyone’s rights are acknowledged not based on how much they can contribute to society, but because they are people. The world in which we live was shaped by Jesus’ decision not to save himself. It is a good thing for you and me that he chose not to listen to those taunting him, because if he hadn’t done what he did, we would live in a world where the vast majority of us would live under the oppression of a few powerful men, just like all the world did prior to Jesus.
David Freitag 