Is Jesus Dead?

“Jesus is dead.”

As I read these words alarm bells went off in my head. “What?” Has this author gone mad? 

But then I continued reading:

“He is dead to a modern Christianity that so very often seems fully content to call itself that, without the slightest trace of Christ.

"He’s dead to a faith that’s gone to bed with politics, shacked up with power, had a wild fling with materialism; one that’s given birth to something so very unlike him, yet named after him.

"What passes as Christianity here in America often bears no resemblance to the humble, gentle Nazarene Rabbi, who came armed with no cash, no building campaign, no mega church, no lobbyists, and no army, only the greatest of good news on the planet and an extravagant heart bursting open for every weary soul that crossed his path” (John Pavlovitz). 

Could it be? Is Jesus really dead? Is it possible to even think of such an absurd idea, let alone publicly announce it? What pastor or Christian would ever dare make such an outrageous claim? Isn’t this heresy of the first order?

You might be surprised.

A good friend of mine recently told me that her church was not having a Good Friday service this year. “What a shame” was my response. What a opportunity the folks of this congregation are going to miss: An opportunity to acknowledge that we all are guilty of Jesus’ death! 

Good Friday services are not so popular among many Evangelical Protestant churches. The idea that Jesus died is an upsetting idea for many. This is why so many nominal Christians show up in church only on Christmas and Easter.

They go from his birth to his resurrection without having to deal with all the difficult in-between stuff. I can understand this:

American Christians are not comfortable with death—whether it’s their own or Jesus’. 

Just as Nietzsche’s God died in the imagination of 19th century Europe so has Jesus died in the American version of Christianity. We have replaced the gentile subversive rabbi from Nazareth with a pseudo Jesus-like figure defined principally by American Exceptionalism and Capitalism.

We have dressed up Jesus in the stars and stripes of American nationalism and buried him beneath the horrific doctrine of Manifest Destiny. There he lies beneath the dust of American expansionism.

He died and was replaced with an insipid religious figure that sanctions a dysfunctional political system driven by anger, greed and the lust for power. 

We have killed Jesus and replaced him with a religious figure that will bless our wars and legitimize the bloated military industrial complex, with God’s blessings of course.

He died and reappeared as the celebrity like proponent of a prosperity Gospel invented by American capitalism and a hybrid form of ancient Gnosticism (a Jesus who is only concerned with our spiritual lives and a disembodied life after death). 

The humble Nazarene who angered the domination systems of his day and frightened the religious establishment has been domesticated and made the good friend of peddling televangelists and political hucksters. 

Whatever happened to the non-violent Jesus who taught us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us? Did that Jesus die?

Whatever happened to the Jesus who appeared more comfortable hanging with the homeless, prostitutes, and beggars of his day?  Did we kill this Jesus?

Whatever happened to the Jesus who proclaimed Good News to the poor, the marginalized, the sick, and the captives? 

Good Friday is important. Without Good Friday Easter is hollow and meaningless. Jesus is dead and it is time for him to resurrect in American Christianity. It is time for us to confess our complicity in killing Jesus of Nazareth and replacing him with an American Jesus:

“He’s dead to a faith that’s gone to bed with politics, shacked up with power, had a wild fling with materialism; one that’s given birth to something so very unlike him, yet named after him” (Pavlovitz). 

Good Friday reminds us that we have killed Jesus, not the Romans, nor the Jews, nor God; no, we have killed Jesus. We are responsible for his death. God be merciful!

So Easter is coming and Jesus will resurrect. But will he resurrect within our own hearts and minds? Will Easter reveal to us that there is indeed a Jesus of the Gospels, a living Jesus that America desperately needs?

Christians will have the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with this humble rabbi from Nazareth who gave the world a genius way to live as human beings. 

Perhaps this Easter a real transformative resurrection will occur throughout American Christianity; a resurrection that will change our understanding of who Jesus really is—according to the Gospel script that is.

One can only hope.