What was Jesus doing, coming down to earth like that?

I started reading this book - mentioned last post - and decided to investigate the public opinions of the author and his writings. I came across this. This guy, author of the blog, has recently released a book called 'Spiritual Discernment.' After reading the review & finishing the book it reviewed I analyzed this guys thoughts. It didn't truly impress me. What I could see was some guy writing a book then attempting to show how to put it into practice. I suppose that's the trouble with the people who blog. People like me. The downside, of course, is he did a bad job. The book I read is, most definitely, challenging. One could almost say offensive. It challenges the 'Heaven after you die' mythology, the box of culture in which we put Jesus, and, although mentioning little of His death, the mission Jesus death. I see this book, not as redefining, but showing more of Jesus; a bigger Jesus, if you will. Of course if this new perspective is true some of the old perspectives must be thrown out, but that does not mean all other perspectives are wrong. We must look to hold many perspective together, as God does His own attributes.

For example, at the McLaren level of which Jesus enters the Roman Empirical culture, Jesus' mission is to show and establish the kingdom of God as a new political system, freeing the oppressed into a new way of life. His death & resurrection showed that the Romans could not succeed against the advancing kingdom of Heaven.
At the traditional level, Jesus' mission was to establish Himself as an alternate leader, a Messiah; Ultimate Mission: The Cross (i.e. His death).

Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad, but it leaves holes all over. Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God. His mission was to show how the kingdom the people of God envisioned, though seemingly impossible in the current situation (and, in some cases, unwanted) - too many poor, too many soldiers, too many sick, too many sinners - was, in fact, at hand; here; upon us.

Of course if Jesus came to be that prophet of challenging so many His death seems, not only inevitable, but accomplishing little. Now, if Jesus came to do both, that would show something of God that is, in fact, in perfect sync with His character. God is concerned with both body and soul, mind and matter of the people of earth. He wants to see the world working, not just into this world preached an awkward and intriguing message, each day stepping closer and closer towards the inevitable; His execution. He knew it would end this way. He wouldn't shut up about it, on occasion. And yet, He wasn't obsessed with it. He came to turn the whole world upside down; He came to take some young fishermen, tax collectors, terrorists, under His wing and send them off on the continuation of God's mission. And He ended His missionary journey with the most horrific death imaginable, treated as a criminal even though He was the only man ever to do nothing for His own selfish ambition.
What was His death?

It represented many things. It is the obsession of many of His later disciples. It is shown, quite plainly, as the ultimate act that puts His whole life into context. Every action would only make sense because He was killed/sacrificed, and that He rose from the dead, victorious over the most unnatural thing in the universe....DEATH.

I think the key sentence is putting His whole life into context. Without His death, His life makes no sense. Any other person doing the same things but escaping execution would have been a hypocrite. He had to die; not simply to be that sin-offering, that sacrifice, that man with His arms open wide as the greatest act of love ever seen. He had to die for His life to be fully meaningful. All His message taught, all He stood for, it was heading towards His death to show the kingdom of God was more powerful and was advancing and was upon us and was here and was something to be part of and was a kingdom worth the citizenship of. More powerful than the Roman Empire, advancing stronger and forcefully and not losing ground and fully sustaining; more so than the Roman Empire. It was more real than the Roman Empire, and it cost the life of Jesus for our citizenship.