Good Friday Pop Quiz: Who Killed Jesus?

I did.

I do.

If Borg and Crossan are right, and I hang my theological hat on the hunch that they are, that “the execution of Jesus was virtually inevitable. Not because of divine necessity, but because of human inevitability…” and that “Jesus did not die for the sins of the world. The language of substitutionary sacrifice for sin is absent from his story. But in an important sense, he was killed because the sin of the world. It was the injustice of the domination system that killed him, injustice so routine that it is part of the normalcy of civilization.” then the truth is, I am complicit in the death of Jesus.

No matter how hard I try, day in and day out, I wake up as part of this normalcy of civilization, this injustice, this domination system that still reigns supreme.

I kill Jesus every time I collaborate with the powers of this world for personal gain.

I kill Jesus every time I practice church building rather than kingdom building.

I kill Jesus every time I ignore the voices of anyone crying out in the darkness.

I kill Jesus every time I remain silent in the face of economic and social injustice.

I kill Jesus every time I speak out of fear and loathing rather than love.

I kill Jesus every time I choose comfort over compassion.

But, I don’t want to, nor do I have to remain complicit. I can be witness to the resurrection, the Truth that love wins.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I actively renounce the powers of the domination system.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I share my faith as a source of liberation and healing.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I hear, with my heart, the voices of despair.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I speak truth to power on behalf of myself and others.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I am gentle with myself and others.

I am witness to the resurrection every time I engage in active compassion.

Who killed Jesus? Not just first century religious power brokers in collaboration with imperial authority. Nope. It is I. And friends, it is all of us, when we allow our lust for or fear of power to hang Jesus on the cross.

Only when we see and participate the Truth of Jesus’ passion and confront the systems of oppression on behalf of the Kingdom of God, are we witnesses to the resurrection.