…and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. (Acts 3.15)

We are born with a hunger for reconciliation. As much as we bruise and bluster, abuse and destroy, there is an innate desire for things to be reconciled. We see the brokenness around us and we aim our efforts to fix them. At first this seems productive but it quickly devolves as our plans for reconciliation do not match those of the person next to us. We fight over our plans for peace. If only all the stubborn people around us would adopt the efforts we so stubbornly holdfast to everything would be fine...

Are we really any different than the religious leaders in the Sanhedrin or the masses moving in and out of the Temple courts? We see threats to our fragile attempts at peace and violently fight for their security. We engage in total war at the sight of one another’s intentions. Jesus the Prince of Peace comes along and in a moment unsettles our systems. His very presence is a declaration of war. Jesus the Author of Life comes into our tenuous self-made reality and He leaves us with only one recourse: we must wait until night falls and murder Him. Uninvited He stepped into our community. In His love He preached with authority and power that the Kingdom of God was at hand without our permission.

Too often we trade Jesus for Barabbas, life for death. We exchange Jesus the Author of Life for a murderer who looks like us and is no threat to our false sovereignty. Jesus comes speaking restoration and reconciliation and the only way to embrace His divine message is by relinquishing our setups and systems.

Jesus help me be a witness to the truth that you are the Author of Life, raised from the dead by God the Father and calling me to everlasting reconciliation.