His public ministry was fraught with danger and ended in a legalised lynching.
It makes you wonder why anyone would want to be associated with him and his cause. Of course most don’t. And others only want to be associated under very controlled and safe conditions. That is, conditions that they consider to be under their control.
But such an association is of little value. It certainly does not bring a person into contact with the heart and spirit of Jesus. What it does is to make Jesus into a kind home-made god, a sort of religious genie.
Jesus is a dangerous person: more dangerous than those who are against him. He is not a person we can protect ourselves against. He claims to possess total authority inside and outside the universe. He came to birth to bring humanity together under his rule. So it is not surprising that a major part of his life was to make clear that he really was the one who should be obeyed, not just admired.
But he came to birth also to fix up things between humans and God. His death, while appearing to be a victory for his enemies, was the means by which humans were reconciled to God. How did this work? Simply. He had become human. He took our humanity to death, killed it off so to speak, allowed himself to suffer what God had said ought to happen to rebellious humans who claimed to know better than God.
And then was raised from death. Simple. There was a new human. A replacement for Adam and his kind if you like. He said that by associating with him (obeying, that is) others could share this life. But who wants to give up their own life?
Dale