Winston Churchill famously quipped that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Our culture is suspicious of authority in general, and to locate it in one individual seems intuitively foolish.
So what are we to make of Jesus’ insistence that he is our rightful king and judge? His own words on the subject hardly reassure us: “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers… I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” To 21st-century ears this sounds like arrogance. No thanks Jesus, I’ll find my own way! But what if Jesus was right? What if other leaders are out for themselves, but he’s different in some fundamental way? And his leadership manifesto is somehow backed up by objective, verifiable evidence?