*** Above picture is an AI-generated depiction of a jovial Jesus.***

Preface

Nowadays, with the exponential growth of tools to promulgate misinformation, it’s harder than ever to know what to believe, distrust or not believe. What’s true? What’s false? Even if verifiable, can “facts on the ground” sufficiently define the deeper reality that a spiritual dimension to our life experience tries to grasp?

In other words – and, in the context of the Christian faith tradition — is the “good news” that one might assert to be at the heart of the gospel message just too idealistic for what we might be able to instead empirically see happening all around us on a daily basis?

Or, on the other hand, can Jesus’ alternate view of this world reaffirm our resolve to embrace and hold fast to what not only remains to be seen; but is also still central to this tradition?

 

A Case in Point:

It occurred to me the other day that I’ve lived long enough to see the same drama repeatedly play out on the world stage. I am part of what was once known as the baby-boom generation; following the second of two so-called “world wars.”  I was born the same year the modern state of Israel was formed in 1948. The Korean War (1950-1953) was of seeming little consequence back then; but only for the time being. Now the divided Korean peninsula is, once again, a place of international concern.

So, I grew up during something known as a “Cold-war Era:” with families I knew in our mid-West town building bomb shelters to presumably shield themselves from nuclear holocaust. Subsequently, as a teenager, when I reached eligible age for the military draft, I became part of the sixties protest movement over the American War in Southeast Asia (Vietnam).

I could go on, and on, of course; but the historical evolution – or devolution – seems empirically obvious to me. The cyclical nature of this world’s social order is one of re-volution.

Which inevitably leads to asking, once more, the hope-full question, what could ever break this cycle?

 

Jesus as a “Revolutionary”

Let me begin with this quote:

“Regarding the relationship of Jesus of Nazareth to the phenomenon of revolution … Jesus cannot be simply viewed as belonging to any of the prevailing movements in his land at his time. … His radical obedience to the expectation of his (God’s) kingdom and his prevailing justice transcends … those groups which supported the existing order in Palestine, as well as those which opposed it with force.”

Given today’s daily headlines, one might easily conclude this statement expressed one particular view with regards to the current, tragic Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Actually, it was written in 1970, in the foreward to the late-Protestant theologian Oscar Cullman’s book, “Jesus and the Revolutionaries.” Having gathered dust on my bookshelf for over a half-century now, it was one of the first book’s I read when I began my graduate studies at the School of Theology at Claremont.

Pointing out the fact that the historical Jesus expected the dawning of a new divine order (an eschatological parousia), Cullmann asks, “How are Jesus’ activity and sayings to be made fruitful for our time … even though the end is no longer expected for the immediate future?” The question is posed in the context that Jesus both protested the existing order, while simultaneously rejecting being aligned with any of the major religious and political revolutionary movements of his day.

The primary revolutionary movement then was known as the Zealots. From the Greek word, zelos, they were zealous about re-establishing what they understood to be Jewish law; both in temple worship, as well as driving out the political power of the Roman Empire, and establishing a kingdom of Israel. You’ll note one of the disciples named in all three synoptic gospels was Simon the Zealot.

A more extremist group was known as the Sicarrii, literally translated (Latin) as cutthroats, bandits, or assassins. They might just as well be called terrorists these days. But, as Cullmann puts it, “Faith and politics were, in both groups, extremely closely interwoven, for both groups strived for the overthrow of the existing order and therefore had to fight against the ruling power in Palestine.”

Historically, these types of revolutionary movements led to what is known as the Jewish War and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. It’s important to note, it was in this general era – and its aftermath — that the canonical gospels were being formed and written. Consequently, we can see their influence in such stories as Jesus furiously “cleansing the temple,” (e.g. Mark 11:15-19), and Judas’ kiss of betrayal and Jesus’s subsequent arrest and crucifixion.

Even in such depictions of what might have been deemed insurrectionist-type activities, there is also Jesus’ rejection of violence with his command to sheath the sword (e.g. Matthew 26:47-52); along with his injunction to love your neighbor (Mark 12:31, etc.) and alien as one’s self (Luke 10:25 etc.), and be “blessed” peacemakers (Mt. 5:9).  Hence, in his book, Cullmann, rightly disassociates and differentiates the historical Jesus from these revolutionary groups of his time.

In addition, as we are now in the liturgical season of Lent – culminating with Holy Week and Easter,  for those who follow that calendar — it’s also appropriate to note Jesus was arrested, tried and executed by the Empire as a political agitator, at the behest of the temple authorities, according to the gospel accounts.

 

Beyond Naiveté: The “Ideal” Gospel

It is apparent there are plenty of so-called gospel “believers” who may still cling to the notion of divine  providence and intervention, when it comes to any long-held hope and dream of a peaceful world. Either that, or to the illusory hope of a final judgement day that’ll count the presumed-faithful among the sheep, and not the goats.

In contrast, there is the view articulated by Cullmann:

“Jesus’ double attitude to an unjust world, whose end he proclaimed and within which his disciples must now work for a kingdom that is not of this world, is neither contradictory nor a compromise. Both sets of sayings and narratives of Jesus  … derive from the same source: Jesus’ central future hope, his expectation of the coming kingdom. … For Jesus all the realities of this world were necessarily relativized and that his allegiance, therefore, had to lie beyond the alternatives of “existing order” or “revolution.”

As with all the power of all metaphor, Cullmann points to the parable of the secretly growing mustard seed (Mark 4:25). In the upcoming Part II of this commentary, I will expand on those scriptural parables of planting seeds, and a realistic harvest of expectation for the world in which we live.

 

© 2024 by John William Bennison, Rel.D.  All rights reserved. To read more Words & Ways click here.