By Joel Webb
One of the constant themes throughout the ministry of Jesus was how His disciples simply didn’t seem to get it. No matter how He explained it, they just wouldn’t understand what was being said. There was constant infighting, vying for power and not truly understanding Christ’s purpose.
This is particularly highlighted following the death of Christ. His disciples now fearful and unsafe go into hiding, not knowing what to do next. Likely disillusioned and not having an idea of what to do, fearing for their lives. What was all of this for? Wasn’t Jesus supposed to be the one who overthrew the Roman oppressors to restore glory and life to Israel? How could His death on the cross do anything? What does it possibly mean? But then, following the resurrection, an interesting situation happens with two men going to a place called Emmaus, and then everything was explained to them by a mysterious figure.
“He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:25–27).
It has been becoming theologically vogue to take a look at the brutality of the cross and wince. How is something so violent and seemingly unjust the way God would reconcile us to Himself? Or maybe our modern Western sensibilities don’t allow us to stomach the realities of such a death with God’s plan for salvation.
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“We shouldn’t get lost in the minutia of trying to figure out the exact process of how it works, but the existence of it in Scripture is undeniable.”
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Restored Relationship
But we cannot get away from the reality that the cross truly was the implement of God’s justice to allow a broken and fallen humanity to have restored relationship. This is what Jesus was explaining to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. This is repeated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”
The New Testament goes back to this point time and time again. It was Christ’s death, according to the Scriptures, that accomplished the work of reconciling us to God. The simple reality is that an atonement took place. We shouldn’t get lost in the minutia of trying to figure out the exact process of how it works, but the existence of it in Scripture is undeniable. Once we place this fact in the larger story, it starts to make more sense.
N.T. Wright, in his book “The Day the Revolution Began,” makes this point beautifully when he writes, “Paul is not simply offering a roundabout way of saying, ‘We sinned; God punished Jesus; we are forgiven.’ He is saying, ‘We all committed idolatry, and sinned; God promised Abraham to save the world through Israel; Israel was faithless to that commission; but God has put forth the faithful Messiah, his own self-revelation, whose death has been our Exodus from slavery.’ That larger context is vital and nonnegotiable.”
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“The gospel doesn’t make us better. It takes us from being dead to giving us life.”
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Good News for a Broken World
What gets us to the place where someone had to die to restore our relationship with God? We are all sinners. Period full-stop. This idea affirmed throughout Scripture was also a fundamental belief of John Wesley that humanity needed salvation and restoration. Interestingly enough, Wesley held components of both the Western and Eastern traditions on the what and the why of the human need of salvation. This is where the rubber meets the road. Our world is broken, and whether it recognizes it or not, a gospel message that does not understand our inability to save ourselves is
not actually a gospel at all. That’s what makes it good news! Part of the power the gospel has is that in a world that attempts to perfect ourselves through better education or self-discovery, we just seem to continue the vicious cycle of brokenness, always coming up empty.
The gospel doesn’t make us better. It takes us from being dead to giving us life. If we leave behind the idea that Jesus’ death was God’s justice enabling us to be restored to our purpose, then we become like the disciples: missing the point, wondering what is going on, and wanting in on the inside track to figure it out.
But when we understand His words on the road to Emmaus, “the Messiah has to suffer these things and then enter his glory,” we then recapture the mystery, majesty and beauty of what Christ has done. I truly believe that as we recapture that, it will re-enchant us with what the gospel actually does for us, and will truly enable us to bring the gospel of hope to a world in need of it.
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Joel Webb serves as the worship and discipleship director at Blue Water Free Methodist Church in Port Huron, Michigan, where he also serves at a local pregnancy resource center. He is currently attending Northeastern Seminary and pursuing a master’s degree in theological studies, and he is a conference ministerial candidate in the East Michigan Conference. He has a passion for theology, technology and history, and he loves to see people encounter the transforming power of the gospel through discipleship and worship. He is married to his wife, Marissa, who teaches music in private Christian education. More about him, his writings and his “The Pastor’s Call” podcast can be found at joelvwebb.com.
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