Jesus didn’t found Christianity — He undermined religious elitism

WHEN MOST people think of Jesus, they picture Him as the founder of Christianity – a teacher sent to save sinners from hell and to establish a new religion. But this might be a misreading of both His mission and His message.

What if Jesus didn’t come to start a new faith tradition at all? What if, instead, His mission was to expand an existing one – specifically, to open up the privileges of Jewish spiritual life to those outside the bloodline?

Jesus was a Jew, teaching within a Jewish context. His teachings weren’t about abandoning the covenant, but broadening it. His most radical claim wasn’t, “I am the Messiah,” but rather, “you belong too”. Through Him, Gentiles – outsiders – could be brought into the Jewish household, not by ancestry, but by faith.

This was more than inclusivity. It was a profound challenge to the deeply held belief that access to God was tribal, inherited, or culturally locked. Jesus preached that the unclean, the unlearned, and even the unloved could become “chosen” by relationship rather than ritual.

To the religious authorities of the time, this was outrageous. Men like Peter and John – fishermen without education or pedigree – were now claiming access to God’s blessings, as were tax collectors, Samaritans, and Roman centurions. It wasn’t just heretical – was destabilising. It threatened the social and theological order. So, Jesus was condemned and killed – not just for who He claimed to be, but for the people He dared to include.

He didn’t try to abolish Judaism. He tried to universalise its embrace.

Yet history took a turn Jesus may never have intended. As His followers faced rejection from Jewish communities, they created a new identity. Baptism replaced circumcision. Fellowship replaced synagogue. And thus, Christianity was born – not so much as a new religion, but as a refuge for spiritual outsiders. Over time, this new faith made the same mistake Jesus came to correct – it created its own walls, doctrines, and boundaries of belonging.

Today, many Christians still see themselves as “grafted into” the tree of Israel, claiming inheritance through faith in Jesus. Meanwhile, many Jewish communities reject this claim, and the house remains divided. The result is centuries of tension built on a shared origin but a fractured identity.

So here’s the deeper question: Must one become a Jew – or a Christian – to be blessed by God? Is divine love tribal, or is it universal?

Jesus didn’t seem interested in that kind of gatekeeping. He offered something far more radical than religion – He offered relationship. A kinship that defied bloodline and status. His vision was not of religious dominance, but of spiritual belonging. His revolution wasn’t in doctrine, but in the destruction of spiritual elitism.

Ironically, by institutionalising His message, the early church may have missed it.

Perhaps the true gospel is not about escaping hell or earning heaven. It’s about dismantling the idea that anyone is spiritually superior to anyone else. It’s about creating space for the stranger to become family – not by erasing identity, but by expanding it.

In the end, Jesus didn’t come to build a church. He came to break open a household.

Renaldo C. McKenzie is a Jamaican-American scholar, author of Neoliberalism (2021), president of The Neoliberal Corporation, and host of ‘The Neoliberal Round’. He teaches theology and philosophy and explores race, religion, and global power in the 21st century. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com