Jesus Who? October 21, 22 & 25
Jesus the Revolutionary
nativity story tax scene – pretty easy to see why people might want to head to the hills and take up arms against their oppressors.
Was Jesus a revolutionary?
You may remember from last week, the video of Tony Campolo where Tony says “There is no Christianity that does not tie us up with the poor and the oppressed of the world.” There is great truth in this, but what you do with this truth is can make a world of difference. In the 70’s and 80’s many places in Latin America were experiencing great social strife – the wealth of the countries was held in a very few hands, most of the people were poor and oppressed by totalitarian regimes. Many leftist guerrilla movements sprang up. What began with the priests deciding that the guerrillas needed to share the communion table as well grew into a whole theology called Liberation Theology, which was a marriage of Marxism and Christianity. Some of these liberationists said that if you were not involved in the struggle for liberation, you were not Christian. They painted Jesus as a political liberator above all things.
Is Jesus a Revolutionary? Or a Political Liberator?
Brian McLaren writes of an interview of an American Pastor that he saw on British Television. The interview asked him why so many Christians in America unquestionally supported the US was in Iraq, when that foreign policy was so clearly against the teaching of Jesus. The American pastor seemed surprised and a little offended, so the interviewer explained, “Jesus talked about peace and reconciliation, turning the other cheek, walking the second mile, that sort of thing. How do you reconcile that with your war?” The pastor hesitated a moment and then replied, “Well, the teachings of Jesus are personal. They have nothing to do with politics and foreign policy.”
Is that true? If Jesus is a revolutionary, is his revolution only a private revolution? Is it only about personal morality and personal relationship with God?
Although Jesus message was personal, it is never private.
I had said before, when introducing Jesus the rabbi, that the hills of Galilee were a prime area for rebels to gather to begin a revolution against the Roman occupying force. Most of these rebels dreamed of driving out the Romans and setting up a state based on the Law of the Hebrew Scriptures. They would have been devout and violent men. For Jesus to center his ministry in Galilee, and to go up into the hills to teach was a declaration that he was a revolutionary, that he was here to shake up the status quo, that he was here to begin a new era in history.
Not only does the Sermon on the Mount occur in the hills of Galilee, in Mark’s account Jesus takes his disciples up into the hills of Galilee to set them apart as apostles or “sent ones.” It is reminiscent of Castro gathering his forces in the Sierra Madre before the march on the cities and finally Havana. In Luke’s Gospel it is obvious that Jesus and his band of “anybodies” are on the march toward Jerusalem – every would-be-King needed to go to Jerusalem. The gospels definitely paint Jesus as a revolutionary, but what kind of revolutionary?
For some revolutionaries, their vision only goes as far as getting rid of the current government and putting themselves in charge. But most have a dream of country or society that is different than the status quo. For Castro, it was getting rid of the influence that the American government, big business and organized crime had over Cuba, and bringing in a socialist economic structure. For George Washington and the boys, it was getting rid of British influence and creating a society where everyone was free to excel and all were treated equal.
What was Jesus vision?
When you look at how Jesus’ teaching is described in the Gospels, one phrase stands out above all the rest in frequency and importance. That phrase is “The Kingdom of Heaven” or the “Kingdom of God.”
Jesus describes the kingdom through metaphor and stories that we call parables, it is hard to get a grasp of his vision for this new kingdom. But I think we can find a good description in the writings of a prophet 500 years before Jesus. The Prophet’s name was Isaiah, and in the 65th chapter of his Book in the Hebrew scriptures, or “Old Testament” he describes the kingdom in this way: Isaiah 65:17-25
“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard in it no more.
“No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!
In those days people will live in the houses they build
and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
They will not work in vain,
and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
and their children, too, will be blessed.
I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry according to Luke, the first public words out of Jesus mouth were a quote from this prophet Isaiah. Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
This is the vision of the Kingdom that Jesus is a revolutionary for: A kingdom of peace, of health, of good housing, of people owning the means of production, a place where the blind see, the prisons are closed for lack of business, no one is oppressed or exploited, and everyone lives in close relationship with the God who loves them. It is a revolutionary vision.
Although the movement starts like many revolutionary movements, on the march to Jerusalem, it begins to look much different.
They are walking through one village the crowds are greeting them as saviors of Israel and a tax collector (read collaborator, first against the wall when the revolution comes!) named Zacheus is so short that he cannot see through the crowd to catch a glimpse of the Messiah of the week. So he climbs a tree to get a look. Jesus walks over to the tree. People begin to pick up rocks to be used as soon as Jesus gives the word and we can stone this traitorous thief. But Jesus, instead of condemning him to the crowd’s will, invites himself over to supper – he says to Zacheus, “you are welcome in the kingdom of peace” Zacheus is so compelled by this acceptance that he has a Scroogesque transformation and give most of his belongings back to the community.
Jesus is back in Capernaum in Galilee and messengers come to him because the well-loved slave of an officer in the Roman army is deathly ill, will Jesus heal him? Most revolutionaries would sooner slit his throat, but Jesus heals the slave and does a favor to the occupying force.
Jesus is constantly eating with undesirables –because they too were welcome in the coming kingdom – in fact he tells them that prostitutes are closer to the kingdom than the religious leaders!
Once, while visiting friend just outside of Jerusalem, Martha is where she should be in that culture – she is in the kitchen, in the woman’s place. Here sister Mary has stepped way over the boundaries – she is not just standing behind the door listening to the men speak, she is sitting at Jesus’ feet being taught just like the men! Martha comes out complaining “Jesus, tell my sister to get back into the kitchen where she belongs and help me!” Jesus looks at Martha, and says that Mary, the woman has chosen what is better. He doesn’t just put up with the women’s presence while he teaches – he encourages it! She too is welcome as a equal in the new Kingdom.
In every revolution, it is important to build a movement. Castro was successful in 1959 because the people rose up and joined them; the boys at the barricades in Les Miserables are defeated because the people do not rise up and join them. Revolutionary movements need the populace. Some movements gain the power of the people because their cause is just, or better than the last one. Some movements gain the power of the people through promises that will never be kept. Some movements gain the power of the people through fear and coercion.
Jesus doesn’t seem to understand this. He sets the bar high for the rich and powerful who might finance his movement. He says strange things that are offensive to many people, and so they leave him. At one point he asks his closest disciples if they will leave as well, giving them an open door. Jesus doesn’t even come close to manipulating the people into following him – the door is always open for people to leave the movement.
Instead of battling back the forces of evil, whether they be the Roman occupiers, or the oppressive Jewish leaders, Jesus tells his followers not to resist evil people.
In Jesus, the kingdom that he is proclaiming is deeply connected to the means by which he will bring it in. If the Kingdom of God is a place of peace, freedom and no oppression, it cannot be brought in through violence, manipulation, fear and oppression. You cannot use darkness to bring the light. The ends do not justify the means – the ends and the means are the same.
Martin Luther King Jr. got this from Jesus.
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal…”
Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder.
Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth.
Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate
Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.
So, if the revolution is supposed to come using the means of peace, love and sacrifice, will it ever come, or is it just a pipe dream?
How is the revolution carried out?
Jesus revolution was to come about, not through violence, but through secret agents of the kingdom infiltrating every area of society.
He says the kingdom is like yeast – it is all but imperceptible in the dough, but it permeates the whole loaf and transforms it.
He says the kingdom is like a mustard seed – the smallest of seeds, but it grows into a tree that birds can nest in.
The Eastern Church has this great story about the coming of the kingdom:
Once upon a time there was a good and kind king who had a great kingdom with many cities. In one distant city, some people took advantage of the freedom the king gave them and started doing evil. They profited by their evil and began to fear that the king would interfere and throw them in jail. Eventually these rebels seethed with hatred for the king. They convinced the city that everyone would be better off without the king, and the city declared its independence from the kingdom.
But soon, with everyone doing whatever they wanted, disorder reigned in the city. There was violence, hatred, lying, oppression, murder, rape, slaver and fear. The king thought: “What should I do? If I take my army and conquer the city by force, the people will fight against me, and I’ll have to kill so many of them, and the rest will only submit through fear or intimidation, which will make them hate me and all I stand for weven more. How does that help them – to be either dead or imprisoned or secretly seething with rage? But if I leave them alone, they’ll destroy each other, and it breaks my heart to think of the pain they’re causing and experiencing.”
So the king did something very surprising. He took off his robes and dressed in the rags of a homeless wanderer. Incognito, he entered the city and began living in a vacant lot near a garbage dump. He took up a trade – fixing broken pottery and furniture. Whenever people came to him, his kindness and goodness and fairness and respect were so striking that they would linger just to be in his presence. They would tell him their fears and questions, and ask his advice. He told them that the rebels had fooled them, that the true king had a better way to live, which exemplified and taught. One by one, then two by two, and then by the hundreds, people began to have confidence in him and live in his way.
Their influence spread to others, and the movement grew and grew until the whole city regretted its rebellion and wanted to return to the kingdom again. But, ashamed of their horrible mistake, they were afraid to approach the king, believing he would certainly destroy them for their rebellion. But the kin-in-disguise told them the good news: he himself was king, and he loved them. He held nothing against them, and welcomed them back into his kingdom, having accomplished by a gentle, subtle presence what never could have been accomplished through brute force.”
- a Generous Orthodoxy P. 57
The question is, Does Jesus Revolution Work? I have to admit that the church has often stopped believing in Jesus and tried to bring about the Kingdom of God through violence, manipulation and coercion. From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the manipulation of TV preachers, we have not trust Jesus that his peaceable kingdom will only come about through peaceable means.
In the book “The Brothers Karamazov,” Dostoevsky writes this poem about Jesus coming to Spain during the height of the Inquistion. The Chief Inquistioner recognizes him and has him arrested. The Inquisitor accuses Jesus of making himself far to easy to reject – he should have used all his divine power to manipulate and coerce people into believing in him. The Inquisitor say that the church had recognized the error and corrected it, relying on manipulation and coercion ever since. For this reason, the Inquisitor must execute Jesus one more time, lest he hinder the work of the church.
If you ask will Jesus’ revolution work? The Question is, will you work for the revolution – Jesus said that you are the light of the world – it is up to us if we choose to be citizens of the Kingdom, to push back the darkness with the light – to overcome evil with good, and to live as people of peace.
Jesus was a revolutionary, but he was a revolutionary revolutionary.
Questions for Groups
Is Jesus a revolutionary?
Does he have a political agenda, or is he mostly concerned with “private revolution?”
Is following Jesus more of a personal relationship, or more joining a movement?
