Curious Christian

It’s a question many of us have asked—not just out of curiosity, but often out of pain. Why did Jesus come? What was the point of his life, his suffering, his death?

Especially when the answers we’ve been given feel more like courtroom drama or cosmic bookkeeping than anything like love.

Many of us were taught that Jesus came mainly to die—to satisfy an angry God, to pay a debt we owed, or to take the punishment we deserved. And while there are echoes of truth in those ideas, they often leave us feeling like bystanders to a divine transaction rather than beloved participants in a story of healing.

But what if the cross wasn’t about a God who needed blood, but about a God who chose to suffer with us and for us? What if Jesus came not just to fix a problem, but to form a people? Not just to die for sin, but to show us how to live in a world still shaped by it?

To Reconcile Us to God

Jesus came to bring us back into relationship with God. Not through force or threat, but through enacting a new covenant, one written not in stone but on human hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). He didn’t stand at a distance and command us to clean ourselves up—he entered into our brokenness, offering himself in love. Hebrews tells us he is our high priest—not sacrificing others to maintain power, but offering himself so we might be healed (Hebrews 9:11–14).

This isn’t a private deal between Jesus and God. It’s an invitation to become a new kind of community—a people of peace, forgiveness, and mutual care. As Paul wrote, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ… and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). We’re not just spectators—we’re part of the restoration.

And for those of us who have been burned by religious communities that were anything but reconciling—who taught grace with their mouths but practiced exclusion with their lives—this vision matters deeply. Jesus doesn’t just save us from our sin. He calls us into a new humanity (Ephesians 2:13–16), where walls come down and dignity is restored.

To Rescue Us from the Powers

Jesus came not just to forgive, but to liberate. The world is full of powers—both visible and invisible—that crush, exploit, and deceive. Systems of violence. Structures of greed. Inner voices of shame and fear. Jesus came to confront them—not with a sword, but with a cross.

In Colossians, Paul writes that Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities… triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). It’s a strange kind of victory. No armies. No violence. Just a man hanging between two thieves, forgiving even as he dies. But that’s the kind of King Jesus is—a king with a crown of thorns, whose power is suffering love.

This kind of rescue doesn’t always look like escape. Often, it looks like Jesus standing in the fire with us. But it does mean that death doesn’t get the last word. That evil doesn’t stay hidden forever. That the cross, far from being a symbol of defeat, is the very place where the worst the world can do is met with the best God can give.

And so we follow—not as warriors for empire, but as people of humility, justice, and nonviolent resistance, shaped by the love of a crucified King.

To Reveal the Path of Righteousness

Maybe more than anything, Jesus came to show us what God is really like—and what it means to be fully human.

In Jesus, the Word becomes flesh (John 1:14), and suddenly God isn’t distant or abstract. He’s walking dusty roads. Eating with outsiders. Touching the untouchable. Confronting the powerful. We hear him say things like, “Love your enemies… be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:27,36). And then we see him do exactly that on the cross.

Jesus is not just a teacher of truth—he is truth embodied. A prophet who doesn’t just proclaim the Kingdom, but lives it. And as Paul says, we are called to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). This isn’t about striving for perfection to earn God’s favor. It’s about walking in his way, learning to live lives shaped by mercy, courage, and self-giving love.

For those of us who’ve been told we’re not righteous enough, not holy enough, not welcome enough—Jesus shows us a path where righteousness is not measured by religious performance, but by love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16).

A Story We’re Invited Into

So yes—Jesus came to atone. But not in the cold, legalistic sense we’ve often been given. He came to reconcile, to rescue, and to reveal. And he did it not just for us—but with us, and now through us.

It’s not about escaping this world, but about being healed and empowered to live differently in it. As people who forgive. As people who resist evil with love. As people who walk in the way of the cross—not because we have to, but because we’ve seen that this is the way that leads to life.

If you’ve felt on the margins, alienated by religion, or unsure where you fit in this story—know this: Jesus didn’t come to create insiders and outsiders. He came to tear down the walls. And you’re not just welcome—you’re needed. Because the world still needs this kind of people. And Jesus still calls us to follow.

Not to impress God. But to join him.