Jesus the Unstoppable, Unkillable, Ultimate Weapon of Doom?

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 17, 2026
7 Easter, A
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Psalm 66:7-18
John 14:15-21

So, in the Legend of Zelda video games, when you finally get to fight the big, bad, boss guy, Gannon, you get to fight him twice. You defeat him the first time, and then he immediately comes back from the dead, bigger and badder, and you get to defeat him all over again. It’s fun, some lovely extra play time, and I’m pretty sure that’s what Jesus’ disciples thought was going to happen when Jesus was resurrected, that he had come back bigger and badder, and ready to destroy the Roman Empire.

When Jesus told the disciples they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, in Acts 1:1-8, they asked if he would be destroying the Romans and establishing his kingdom over Israel. That’s exactly what they thought he was going to do prior to his death, and after his resurrection, it seems like they thought he was even more powerful and would then take care of it, but his answer was still “no”. Jesus wasn’t going to kill a bunch of people to force his way in the world.  

Instead, he told his disciples to continue his mission of healing and reconciliation in the world. 

Unlike for the evil bad guy in the Legend of Zelda games, the point of Jesus’ resurrection was not that he would return as an unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom for his enemies. The point of Jesus’ resurrection was to show us that not only did God share in a death like ours, but that we will then share with him in a resurrection like his. 

Life continues on after death. Healing and reconciliation continue on after death. Our unity with God and one another continues on after death, and even during death.

Even in death, God is with us. We often feel God is with us when life is going well. Some of us feel God’s presence in beautiful worship. Some feel the Spirit moving in times of great joy or purpose. Some know God is with us when we experience blessing in our lives. 

Jesus’ suffering on the cross, his death, and resurrection assure us that God is with us even in our suffering. Peter says as much in the reading we heard today, 1 Peter 5:6-7. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” God is with us and for us even in the dark times, so Peter tells his readers to give their anxieties and fears over to God. That’s the kinda stuff the bigger and badder resurrected Jesus is going to take on. 

He already took on our sin, and that killed him, but it couldn’t keep him down. Jesus proved more powerful than our sin, so what does he ask to take on now? All the stuff that causes us to sin. Give all that stuff over to Jesus, and let him fight it out for you, and know that you are not alone.  

“Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour,” Peter wrote. “Resist him, steadfast in your faith, [cast all your anxieties on Jesus], for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”

Folks in Peter’s time were going through what he called “a fiery ordeal,” and Peter told them to rejoice since they were sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Ok, truthfully, rejoicing that we are suffering seems a bit much to me, but accepting the suffering and finding joy that Jesus joins us in that, that makes sense to me. When we suffer, Jesus is with us and has suffered with us. That means too that Jesus is with us and we will join with him in healing, joy, a resurrection like his. 

Now, the fiery ordeal that Peter was addressing seems to be that other folks weren’t too keen on that church being followers of Jesus. It seems like the church Peter was writing to was deeply disliked and even persecuted for their faith. ‘Remember guys,’ Peter was saying, ‘remember that folks did the same thing to Jesus when they didn’t like what he had to say, and they even killed him for it. So, Jesus is with you in your suffering.’

Notice that he didn’t tell them to take on an “us against the world” kind of stance. Cast your anxieties on God, Peter said. Give them over to God so that God can deal with your fears, rather than you living with them all alone. Don’t take on the world, thinking that unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus, is going to fight against and kill all the bad people for you. Give all your anxieties to God, realizing that suffering indeed happens. 

There are Christians today who do seem to feel that unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus is going to kill all of the people they think are bad, and they talk like Jesus’ disciples did in Acts 1, when they asked Jesus if he was going to kill the Romans and establish his kingdom in Israel. “Not gonna happen, guys.” That was Jesus’ answer to his disciples back then, and that is Jesus’ answer to the ultra-nationalist Christians nowadays who think they should be able to force their faith and way of life on others.

Forcing one’s faith and way of life on others may seem faithful to those who do it, but it isn’t loving, and it isn’t focused on eternal life. Those folks may think they are focused on eternal life, but really, they’re focused on avoiding punishment when they die. That’s not eternal life.

Jesus told his disciples what eternal life is, that we may know God and Jesus Christ whom God sent. That goes beyond faith, beyond belief. Knowing God goes beyond proclaiming certain doctrine as true. Knowing God comes not just through faith, but through love, as John tells us in 1 John 4:7, “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 

Eternal life is knowing God, and those who love, know God. So, those who love have eternal life. Do you love? Then fear not, for you have eternal life. Do you love? Then fear not. Cast all your anxieties upon God because God cares for you. Do you love? Then give to God all of the worries and fears that cause you to sin, and ask the unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus to fight those worries and anxieties for you. That is the battle Jesus wages in his resurrection, not against our physical enemies, but against our spiritual enemies. Jesus’ battle is against the fears, the hates, and the hurts that lead us to harm. 

So fear not, and trust that Jesus is with us in our pain and in our suffering. Jesus shares with us in our suffering, and we share with him in his resurrection. Trusting in Jesus, then cast all your anxieties on the unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus, who loves and cares for us. Then, love others as he has loved us, for God is love. To love is to know God, and to know God is eternal life.

Trauma Wrapped Up As Religion

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 3, 2026
5 Easter
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
John 10:1-10

When Homer Simpson became a missionary in the 11th season of The Simpsons, he went to some far away people on some small far away island, and he knew almost nothing about Jesus, or Jebus, as Homer called him. Back in Springfield, Homer had spent years faithfully sleeping through almost all of Reverend Lovejoy’s sermons, so when it came time for Homer to teach the people of this island about Jesus, he instead taught them what he knew, the joys of beer and gambling. They made a casino, and the people quickly fell to ruin as all they did was get drunk and fight. 

So, Homer decided he needed to do real missionary work and actually teach the people about Jebus. He told them something or other about Jesus, had them build a church, and when they finished, they were so proud of the church building they had made. Two of the people looked up at their beautiful building, and one asked the other, “How many times must we go to church to avoid Hell?” “Every Sunday for the rest of our lives.” “Hahaha – no, seriously.” 

They thought they were following Jesus, but they pretty quickly found a stumbling block. They had a really bad missionary. Sorry Homer, but he was a really bad missionary, and he left them with even worse theology. You gotta go to church every Sunday to avoid Hell. That’s ridiculous. Everyone knows you gotta go to church at least two times a week to avoid Hell.  

No, the bad theology was that the point of Jesus is avoiding Hell. That’s all Homer had really gotten from Reverend Lovejoy. Sure, he talked about other things too, but the basic crux of it was, believe in Jesus or go to Hell. That’s what Homer knew, so that’s what he taught. Little wonder then that as a missionary, he first led the people to a casino and beer. When your religion is threat of eternal torture and then a get out of torture free card, you have a religion that’s based on traumatizing people with threats of torture and then giving them the only option they’ve got. 

Well, as we know, drinking to numb anxiety and emotion is a fairly common trauma response. As it turns out, Homer wasn’t a bad missionary just because he had slept through Reverend Lovejoy’s sermons. The parts of Reverend Lovejoy’s teachings that had gotten through were a stumbling block to Homer being able to find anything good and healing about following Jesus. That bad theology had then turned Homer into a stumbling block for the people he was being a missionary to. Thinking that the point of believing in Jesus is to avoid eternal torture, that’s a stumbling block. That’s trauma wrapped up as religion.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s wildly different than saying, ‘If you don’t believe in me, you’re going to be tortured forever.’ Jesus did talk about judgment and punishment for the ways that we are horrible to one another. He talked about God bringing justice. Thank God for that. What Jesus didn’t do was give the very clear formula that so many preachers offer of “believe in Jesus, or go to Hell.”

In Matthew 25, Jesus told of people being welcomed into God’s kingdom not because of anything they believed, but because they took care of one another when they were in need. People took care of one another, which is the way of Jesus, and so Jesus welcomed them into God’s kingdom. They came to the Father through Jesus by following in the way of Jesus, without even knowing Jesus. 

That was at the end of the ages, and Jesus also talked about the kingdom of God and living that kingdom of God here on earth in this life. Jesus talked about how loving and caring for one another is how we live in God’s kingdom. Loving and caring for one another is how we enter into God’s kingdom.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus said. You want to walk in the ways of loving and caring for one another, you want to walk into God’s kingdom? Then follow me, Jesus was saying. 

“Like newborn infants,” Peter wrote, “long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” Grow into salvation. Not get out of torture free when you die. Grow into salvation. 

What is salvation? Walking in the ways of Jesus. Bit by bit. Slowly learning to trust. Grow into a life that is trusting and following the teachings and ways of Jesus. For one thing we trust and follow Jesus’ teachings and ways by meditating on them day and night, as Psalm 1 teaches us. That’s a little thing, just a daily practice of prayer and scripture.

How about another practice, another little one from 1 Peter. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” Rather than drink away your anxieties or drug away your anxieties, rather than take all your anxieties out on everyone around you, give them over to God. 

Spiritual milk, slowly learning to trust in God and as we do, growing into salvation, into a life lived in love and joy. 

How about Jesus’ teaching about not seeking revenge against your enemy? Rather than get revenge, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” Jesus taught to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Everyone may not be ready for that one yet. You first have to have tasted that the Lord is good to trust that one.

A spiritual baby starts trusting Jesus slowly, bit by bit. Then as we grow, we learn to trust Jesus more and more, because we keep tasting that the Lord is good. We keep learning to trust, finding that we have greater peace when we do. Even when bad things happen, and Jesus promised bad things will still happen to us, we find those bad things easier to handle with a heart full of love and forgiveness than a heart full of anger and hate. 

Finding peace amidst the storms of life, that is salvation. Trusting in the goodness of God, even amidst the horrors of humanity, that is salvation. Seeing those who harm others as also being broken, and harmed, and in need of healing, that is salvation. 

Trusting in Jesus is salvation because by trusting in him, we get to walk in his ways, and we find our heats healed as a result. Unlike the trauma and fear preached by the Reverend Lovejoys of the world, trusting in Jesus gives us healing in this life and greater compassion for others. Even if all you’ve got is just a little bit of trust right now, that’s enough. Keep drinking the spiritual milk of that trust, bit by bit, slowing growing into salvation, growing into following Jesus as the way, and the truth, and the life. Keep drinking the spiritual milk of trusting in Jesus, slowing being led to a salvation that is so much greater than avoiding eternal torture once we die. Keep drinking the spiritual milk of trusting in Jesus, slowing being led to a salvation that is peace and love in this life, and peace and love that continues on after this life and into eternity.