At some point in time, that word became fashionable, and in the marketplace of ideas, it is now a standard bit of salesmanship to proclaim one’s self or one’s notions as revolutionary.
Perhaps one way of understanding Jesus as revolutionary is by exploring the concept of grace - of unearned, unmerited, freely-given love, favor, and forgiveness.
This concept is revolutionary in the sense that it opposes a principle which controls much of the social, political, cultural, and economic world. The common principle is that of earning things: money, respect, status, awards, academic degrees, glory, etc.
To show that God’s love is a gift, given in response to no deed of the recipient’s, given despite the clear lack of any praiseworthy characteristic in the recipient, is counterintuitive, and contradicts the notion that one receives things because one deserves them.
There is perhaps a second revolutionary dimension to the concept of grace: it serves to diminish distinctions among human beings. This is clear from the words of sacred text: “all have fallen short” and “God shows no partiality.”
The social classes and statuses which cultures work to produce, and the political rankings enforced by governments, are meaningless in the light of grace. All are undeserving, and all receive as beggars - per Luther’s dying words.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as a diplomat, and as an African-American woman who earned a doctorate and respect as an academic, observes the revolutionary nature of Jesus:
Christ was a revolutionary figure. The apostle Paul’s summary statement of the faith was a thunderbolt in the ancient world: “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith … There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Before that revelation, one’s status from birth defined one’s life until the grave. But with the coming of Christ, who humbled himself to enter our world as a helpless baby and die like a common criminal, it is now and forever clear that every life is worthy before God. It is from this belief that we conclude, “all men (and women) are created equal.”
Although the words of 1776 were revolutionary, they were so in a derived sense. They are revolutionary in a secondary way: they descend from a more primary revolution.
From the perspective of worldly politics, 1776 represented a radical change, and the amplification of human liberty to a previously-unknown extent.
Yet from a spiritual perspective, 1776 was a revolution of a second order. The original and empowering revolution took place almost 2,000 years earlier. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost mark events which, if any can ever bear the adjective, are revolutionary.
