To reduce Jesus's act of love on the cross to a get out of hell ticket is to reduce this amazing, glorious moment that marks history to a lottery ticket for all.

It was not just salvation for the next life.

It was not just His sacrifice for his friends.

It was not merely a satisfying of God's wrath on sin.

His death wasn't just because empire demanded it.

It wasn't just the religious leaders that demanded it. The crowd screamed Crucify. And empire bended to keep to the peace.

He did it knowing, that without it, we would never fully understand love and the sacrifice it demands.

And now, we have weaponized Christianity.

We have adored the cross more than the man who died upon it.

We have focused on what the death paid for, rather than the freedom we have, and the Kingdom HERE NOW.

We still want a King that rules politically, and instead he came on a small donkey, crying for peace, weeping over Jerusalem, talking about a Kingdom that's here and now but doesn't look like anything we ever understood.

He did it at a table. Under an olive tree. With women at his feet listening. At a well. In a boat, on top of a mountain. Walking. In a house that was destroyed just so they could touch him. Beside a lake. On a beach, cooking fish. Eating bread and drinking wine.

Only once in his ministry do we see him in a synogogue, doing a mic drop of who he is and what's gonna happen next.

And the anger and rage that he wouldn't bend the knee or become their king or Savior, killed him.

Last night as I stood with Andrew and David and Mamen, and watched the Christ figure go by, and the band swell with a most hopeful tune, so achingly beautiful we all cried, the words.

I stand at the door and knock. And anyone who lets me in, will be mine.

Banging into my heart as the drums banged their way through the streets of Granada.

Never before this Easter have I seen so many people discussing who is Jesus and what does He really want from us. Never have I seen so many young men and women asking these questions and looking for answers. And never have I been so removed, that I at this point, I am just another person standing on a street corner in Realejo watching the Christ Image go by.

Salvation is here. Now. Kingdom is here. He spoke in the present, so should we. Open the door. What does he want?

My peace I give to you. Don't be afraid. There is room for you, for everyone. You know love because of what I do. Be healed. Be fed. The kings of this world are not of God. Be still.

And we do so. Because He still lives. Happy Easter.