I think I get why Jesus was crucified…

The longer and deeper I wade into theology, philosophy, history, and politics, the more I feel I get why Jesus was crucified. All of those things are to some level a study of humanity.

Jesus wasn’t crucified because he was a nice guy. He wasn’t crucified because he cared about the poor and the outcast. He wasn’t crucified because he said controversial things that conflicted with those in authority and the established norms of the time and culture. He wasn’t crucified because he gathered some people around him to practice a new way of living.

He was crucified because he was seen as a legitimate threat. He was a threat to the established powers and status quo of those powers. He was a threat to established assumptions of what the norm was in the culture. He was a threat to the core of the established authorities’ identities and what authority was about. He was a threat to core creedal beliefs that societies operate on — assumptions that are not allowed to be questioned.

His message exposed core identities and beliefs for what they were and those folks didn’t like being exposed. It didn’t make them look good. His call to follow and to live differently from the established norm was perceived by some in authority as a threat that came with a great cost. We aren’t talking about material things when it comes down to it. Sure, Jesus talked about selling possessions and giving them away, but the real threat in that goes far beyond the material.