This is a deeply revolutionary faith. It was profoundly disturbing to the world view common in the first century. That was a world of power and wealth, dominated by a few fantastically powerful rulers with a lifestyle that could barely be imagined by the average citizen. The wealthy had access to food from all over their world. They travelled in luxury and style. They were protected by armed guards and given endless accolades and flattery to win their favour. The powerful could not understand the lives of those on the underside of society, the “vast unwashed masses,” and they looked down on them from their gilded balconies. The middle class was being squeezed, and very few rose to riches, while many found themselves losing more and more of their security and comfort.
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? You can count on your two hands the number of people who control half the wealth of most countries. Inequality is growing, and fame and power are ever more attractive. In this world, as in the first century, it is a revolutionary faith to follow an executed homeless Jew from a small town. But some of us do. And it changes everything. The Crucified One is risen! Hallelujah!
- Strasbourg Lutheran
