Simply Good News: The Welcome Announcement of Jesus the KingPrimjer

Day Five: The Messiah Had to Suffer 

On the first resurrection day, two of Jesus’ followers began the seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. You can imagine how engrossed in conversation they were regarding the recent and surprising turn of events: How did this happen? What does it mean? Were we mistaken? They crucified him so how could he have been the one? Luke records that Jesus himself came near and went with them on their journey (Luke 24.15). Unbeknownst to the two, they began to share their lost hopes with the risen Lord, ‘But we hoped he was the one to redeem Israel’ (v 21).

The idea of ‘resurrection’ simply did not fit into the Jewish idea of what was supposed to happen when God returned to rescue his people. Of course, it was expected that God would raise all Israel from the dead at the very end of world history. However, no one imagined that one person would be raised in the middle of world history! 

Jesus began interpreting the scriptures about himself, pointing out that it was necessary for him to suffer and then enter his glory (v 26). As his followers’ eyes were opened and this good news about Jesus began to spread, the early Christians came to see Jesus’ resurrection as central to the Good News. Jesus had not simply been resuscitated—his dead body had gone through death and out the other side into a new form of existence that nobody else could have imagined. Jesus’ body had been raised from death to life, and while in the same form as a human body, it had also been transformed. 

Jesus on the cross was the ultimate Good News in person, which was made clear by what happened three days later. His death and resurrection were indeed God’s victory over the dark powers that had enslaved the world. It was not the end of the story, as decisive battles seldom are. Yet, it meant the defeat over the dark powers and the death of death itself. Jesus was now in charge, and this idea of ‘being in charge’ and glory had now been radically redefined around suffering. 

The early Christians affirmed that suffering was one of the mysterious ways that would give birth to the new creation, through which the world would be changed. Indeed, God would do for the whole creation what He did for Jesus in the resurrection. The Gospel reflects these ancient hopes which were fulfilled in a way no one expected. God’s plan to put the whole world right has been launched in Israel’s representative, the suffering Servant: Jesus the King.

Question to consider:

When you look at Jesus’ death and resurrection and his suffering as the pathway to glory, what do you realize about what the one true God is really like?

Living it out: 

Identify assumptions or pressures in church life or culture that might push us away from the New Testament’s teaching of the Good News.