Few have captured the life of Jesus Christ as elegantly as the journalist James C. Hefley. In a paragraph he summed up Jesus’ life this way:
‘Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself… While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life. But, he rose from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.’
Hefley’s words are as elegant as they are right. You only have to imagine how different this world could be without the influence of that Man from Nazareth. History is largely the recording of Jesus transforming people who then transform their society in obedience to him. Jesus’ followers outlawed infanticide, human sacrifice and gladiatorial combat. They fought for the abolition of slavery and for laws banning child labour. They founded hospitals, orphanages, homes for the mentally ill, and facilities to care for the aged. They invented kindergartens, started public schooling and founded the modern day university. They invented the concept of adoption, promoted the cause of science and founded institutions like the Red Cross, Alcoholics Anonymous, YMCA, YWCA, even the RSPCA! Whether it’s law, healthcare, education, art, music or architecture, it is hard to find a sphere of life that Jesus Christ has not influenced.
But Jesus is more than a great moral influence on history. For those willing to accept it, he is our rescuer. If you delve into the New Testament you’ll find that the Bible never says Jesus’ death was simply the result of an unfair trial. Instead you’ll see it described as an event planned before the beginning of time—a death that would absorb the punishment of every evil thought or act you and I will ever have or do. Jesus took the punishment that is rightfully ours. This destiny he willingly accepted—for you, for me. To rescue us.
Jesus may have influenced our society in more ways than we are conscious of, and he may be the Rescuer with an outstretched hand to those who call to him. But it’s sobering to remember that at his death Jesus was rejected by all. Religious leaders rejected him, political leaders washed their hands of him, soldiers mocked him with a crown of thorns, and even his followers abandoned him. And the greatest tragedy this Easter weekend would be this: if after his great act of sacrificial love, if after his powerful act of resurrection, if after centuries of proof that he is a force for good, we stare the One who claims our whole hearted allegiance in the face and reject him too.
