On Sunday, Barry made a bold and timely connection between the quintessential rags-to-riches story and the life of Christ. Except like most things Jesus did, it was counter-cultural, or “upside down”. Barry asked us to remember what he said about death being the ultimate tool of those in power.
Barry continued by emphasizing, “Death is the supreme instrument in the hands of the corrupt to stay on top in an unjust world. Well, Jesus willingly allowed those on top—the corrupt religious elite of Israel, the power-hungry Romans—to use their ultimate instrument on him. He accepted death on purpose... And then he rose again.”
He proved through his resurrection that the unjust powers of this world are ultimately powerless. By rising again, Jesus inaugurated a new world of justice and life and hope, a New Creation where every single child of God can become exactly who they were created to be. The risen Christ is the king of a kingdom where the last and the lost and the least are the ones with the greatest honor.
This was a major plot twist for those who thought they had won by executing the innocent Son of Man and God.
Barry went on to say, “To someone like me, living in an unjust world and singing rags to riches songs because something about them feels so true, it is profound to think that in His love for us, our God willingly went from riches to rags.”
Philippians 2:6-8
Though he was God, [Christ] did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.
Only a just and loving God would elect to go from glory to death on behalf of all sinners. All of us, not just them. Yes, the religious leaders who sought to have him killed and ultimately prevailed in his hanging on a cross, but also those of us who squander his Name every day by the darkness in our own hearts. It’s for all of us that he conquered death. It’s for all that he chose riches to rags…