The heavenly and earthly realms experienced a surprising disruption, for the angelic messenger of Yahweh put on flesh and came to earth in the form of a human messenger. He is the prophet of prophets—the greatest messenger of both worlds. Will the earth hear his message now? Will Yahweh’s people finally listen and respond to him, especially now that the former prophets no longer look false in light of Israel’s exilic consequences?
Yahweh-in-flesh lives out his prophetic message about the poor, oppressed, and marginalized, quite loudly. He was born to a couple that would be ostracized and judged by their family and friends, because who would ever believe in a virgin birth? He was birthed into a feeding trough because no one was willing to make a sacrifice to create a better arrangement for a pregnant mother. His life was soon threatened, so he became a political refugee to survive. He was demonized by his audience, given racist slurs by society (Jn 8:48), and was thought to be insane (Jn 10:20), even by his own family (Mk. 3:21).
His own ministry made him an outcast, for he spent his ministry with outcasts, causing others to slander him as a glutton, a drunkard, a robber, and a sinner (Lk 7:34)—and it’s not hard to imagine that he was also slandered for his many interactions with women, which went against cultural norms. He was rejected by his hometown (Mk. 6:5-6) so intensely that they tried to kill him (Lk. 4:29). Other cities rejected him as well (Lk. 9:51-56), causing him to have to search elsewhere for places to stay. It may have been this rejection that caused him to experience homelessness from time to time (Lk. 9:58). And while we know he had financial donors, his teachings (Mk. 10:21-25), ministry expectations (Mk. 6:8), and life situations (Mt. 10:19; Mt 17:27) cause us to wonder if he was impoverished or actively chose poverty.
Perhaps his ministry was even mocked and discredited when it was discovered that his treasurer, Judas, had been embezzling their funds (Jn. 12:6). But it was Judas who was shady, not Jesus’ ministry. Jesus provided free healthcare to the sick everywhere he went, even when he had to sacrifice his own mental health to do so (Mt. 14:10–21). He offered free exorcisms for people who suffered from all kinds of mental and physical disabilities, which is a ministry that often requires quite a bit of inner healing and counseling/therapy to be offered alongside it. He provided free food to thousands of hungry people (Mt. 14:13-21, 15:32–39). He spent time with the children that society belittled (Mt. 19:14), sternly warned those who oppressed kids (Mt. 18:10), and wrote stories where minorities were the stars (Lk. 10:25–37). Like a slave, he willingly washed the feet of others (Jn 13:4–6).
It wasn’t Jesus’ ministry that was oppressive, but the ministry of the local religious leaders. Their positions in society fueled them with pride, putting the focus completely on themselves, even if it hurt or demeaned others. Their ministries threatened to kill sinners (Jn. 8:1-11), destroyed the lives of widows (Lk. 20:47), and robbed people (Mt 21:13). Jesus was so caught up with emotion over this that he flipped tables in the temple and constructed a whip to drive out the money-changers (Jn. 2:15).
Though he was the chief divine being of all divine beings, Jesus was willing to become a lowly outcast to associate with outcasts. His life and ministry underwent great scrutiny as he put on the same kind of oppressed skin that the poor wore. All of this social justice work can be connected straight to the passage from Isaiah that Jesus fulfilled at the start of his ministry (Luke 4:16–21), where he explains that he has been anointed to preach good news to the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.
The good news of modern evangelicals is singular: Jesus came to save us from our sins. For many, the life that is to come in the next age is all that matters. All we need to do now is get people saved so that they’re in good shape for eternity. The quality of someone’s life here and now is transitionary and unimportant. But this is not the way that Jesus thought or acted. This is not the kind of thinking that the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus with. The angel of the Lord put on skin to care for people with skin. And his skin-like actions provoked the religious and political world so much, that they killed him for it.
This is an excerpt from my shortest book, Supernatural Justice.
Jamin Bradley 
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