Easter is almost here! This year, as I’ve been thinking about Easter, I’ve also been thinking about discontinuous change.
I’ve written and spoken about discontinuous change in the past, but what the heck does it have to do with Easter?!
What is Discontinuous Change?
First, a quick definition.
Discontinuous change—as opposed to continuous change, which is slow and predictable—is the kind of change that is:
- Abrupt
- Unpredictable
- Disruptive
The Discontinuous Change of the Crucifixion
Those three qualities are a good way of thinking about Jesus’ crucifixion, at least from the disciples’ perspective
- Jesus’ crucifixion was abrupt. At the beginning of the week, Jesus had been welcomed as a hero with crowds shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” How did things go south so quickly?
- Jesus’ crucifixion was unpredictable. For those who believed Jesus was the Messiah, crucifixion was the last thing they had expected. If Jesus was the Messiah, shouldn’t he have been more of a strong and victorious warrior than and humiliated and rejected heretic?
- Jesus’ crucifixion was disruptive. It disrupted all the hopes and dreams of Jesus’ followers. He was going to usher in a new kingdom, wasn’t he? But now all those hopes had been dashed.
Abrupt, unpredictable, and disruptive—the three qualities of discontinuous change.
But wait! There is a fourth quality!
The Transformative Nature of Discontinuous Change
Discontinuous change is also transformative.
It is transformative because it goes beyond mere incremental improvements and, instead, leads to a fundamental rethinking of the way things are.
The crucifixion was transformative, first, because it revealed that the Kingdom of Jesus is a different kind of kingdom. Rather than dominating the world, the Kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom that absorbs and carries the pain of the world so that the world can be transformed.
Second, the crucifixion was transformative because it led to the resurrection! It disrupted the status quo, which said that power, domination, and death always get the last word. But the discontinuous nature of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection ushered in a new reality, one in which love, and humility, and life get the final word!
When We Face Discontinuous Change…
We all experience discontinuous change at times in our lives. When we lose a job. When a loved one dies. When we get an unexpected diagnosis.
And, yes, these are abrupt, unpredictable, and disruptive. But they can also be transformative. Especially when we lean into the transformation we find in the death and resurrection of Jesus!