Easter Perspective: The Judgment of the World

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The Judgment of the World

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers - all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20 (NRSV)

Beneath the weight of all our sin

You bow to none but Heaven's will

No scheme of Hell, no scoffer's crown

No burden great can hold You down

From "Christ Is Risen" by Matt Maher

On one fateful Friday many years ago, the bloody, lifeless body of a seemingly failed Messiah was taken off of a Roman cross and placed in a tomb.  None of the ordeal that had taken place that day was necessary, for Jesus was not a violent criminal.  His revolution was a peaceful, loving revolution.  He was acquitted of all charges of sedition, but the crowds demanded that a confirmed terrorist be released in His place.  Jesus came to show humanity a better way of living, but humanity responded with a violent "No!"

On the following Sunday, some women traveled to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body for a proper burial, but, when they arrived, they found that the tomb was opened and empty.

Jesus knew that the cross awaited Him.  According to one account, Jesus predicted that His crucifixion would not be His own judgment but would instead be "the judgment of the world."  Typically, the word judgment means bad news, for it is almost always associated with condemnation.  It conjures in our minds thoughts of shame, shunning, punishment, and fiery endings.

As the Crucifixion drew near, Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."¹  According to Jesus, the judgment of the world is twofold.  First, the evil that has hijacked God's good creation will be defeated.  Second, all people will be reconciled to God and to each other in Christ.  Though we usually think of judgment from God as something that should strike fear into our hearts, the kind of judgment Jesus describes should drive away our fears and give us a reason to hope.  This kind of judgment is pure Gospel, for it is all Good News.

The judgment of the world is not condemnation, but rather salvation.  The Gospel teaches us that, though the world is not what God intended it to be, God still loves the world dearly and is fully invested in setting things right.  As Jesus said to one religious leader, God loved the world so much that God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world but to save it.²

To borrow an image from Tripp Fuller, it is as if we all find ourselves in a courtroom, expecting to stand trial for our wrongdoings.  As the Judge enters and the court is called to order, we suddenly realize that what is happening around us is not a criminal trial, but rather an adoption proceeding.³  God's interest is not in punishing us for our sins but in restoring us to our rightful places as children of God.  In our rebellion, we might have tried to emancipate ourselves from our Creator, but God wants to bring us back into the family.

When Jesus stated that He would soon be "lifted up," the people who heard Him were perplexed, because they could not understand how He could be lifted up on a cross if He was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.⁴  People tend to be a bit shortsighted, for so often we cannot see beyond the "crosses" of life.

The people expected a Messiah who would liberate them from the oppression of the Roman Empire.  Hoping that Jesus might be that Messiah, they were inevitably disappointed in Him when He surrendered to the powers that be.  Little did the crowds know that, as Jesus goaded an evil empire and a corrupt religious establishment to take action against Him, He actually had a couple of greater enemies in His sights, enemies that have been oppressing humanity much longer than any empire.

Jesus went to the cross to confront sin and death, and He defeated them both by rising from the grave.  In the words of St. John Chrysostom,
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.  He has destroyed it by enduring it.  He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.  He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.⁵
Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection show us that the evils that seem to have taken over the world are no match for the power of God and that the troubles we face in this life us do not have the power over us we think they do.

The Crucifixion of Christ reminds us that "the wages of sin is death," but the Resurrection of Christ reminds us that "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."⁶  Humanity's violent "No!" might have put Christ on the cross on Good Friday, but God responded with an infinitely louder "Yes!" on Easter Sunday.


Notes:

1. John 12:31-32 (NRSV)
2. John 3:16-17
3. Tripp Fuller.  The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic or Awesome?  2015, Fortress Press.  p. 50
4. John 12:34
5. From John Chrysostom's Easter sermon
6. Romans 6:23 (NRSV)

The stained glass window shown above can be found in Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio.  The photograph was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Nheyob and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.