Jesus Before Christianity: God, Empire & Easter: Lessons learned for today?
"Radical means reaching down to the roots. The freedom that Jesus experienced reached down to the very roots of his being. It was the freedom he challenged his followers to strive for and the freedom that challenges us today as we hover on the edge of chaos." -- Albert Nolan OP
Lessons Learned: We are in the Easter season. Fifty Days of Easter, in the church and from my perspective, represents the two hundred and fifty years of the followers of Jesus who grasped what the Kingdom of Heaven was all about. Jesus operated in history in a specific social context, addressing concrete hopes and visions and a way to live by engaging in controversy and social conflict.
We see Jesus and the early followers as people who were deeply involved with the real problems of the time—the Roman Empire, the idea that "Pax Romana" was the path to peace, but in reality, was a world of Roman theology, war, a victory which brought peace. If we think about this, the comparisons of the situation of the time of Jesus are also the fundamental problems of our time.
"God is speaking to us in a new way today. God is speaking to us in the events and problems of our time. Jesus can help us to understand the voice of Truth, but in the last analysis, we must decide and act." ~ Nolan
The key to the Nolan quote is the last five words. We must decide and act! We must choose to thrive.
You and I are not much different than the people of Judea, living in Galilee, who were waiting for the Messiah to come and "kick butt" with the Romans. But Jesus’s method was different.
Spend these fifty days focusing on who Jesus was during his time. Grasp the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. Put yourself in the shoes of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus, especially in the first one hundred years after the Resurrection.
I often think if Jesus appeared to us today, he might start by singing a verse from a song by Lynn Anderson:
"I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There's gotta be a little rain sometime
I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden."
What Jesus meant and taught during his time is, don't look to me to do it for you; this rose garden can only happen because of you.
Jesus promised that if we work together and enact the teachings, we will create the rose garden that once was the Garden of Eden.
Jesus reminds the world Today of the need to serve people experiencing poverty and pursue social justice. He invites us to explore his spirituality and how to live in our modern age. Jesus is asking us to interpret the signs of the times, just as he did, make bold statements, and get people to understand that we must decide to thrive.
Ask yourself some questions and seek discernment, the art of judging, by reflecting on the situation at the time of Jesus, the circumstances of the Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Heaven.
1. The ambiguity of power during Jesus' time and our world today. Of what does it consist?
2. How do we create "solutions" to violence that continue among us? Based on the teachings of Jesus? Or is it a lost cause?
3. How would Jesus and his followers, like Paul, talk to us today about law as distributive or retributive justice? What do most Christians today understand by the difference between the two as it relates to the teachings of Jesus?
4. The same question as above: discuss violence and non-violence. What are your thoughts on the world the Romans created and the world we live in today?
When thinking about the situation in which Jesus and his followers lived, ask yourself these questions and look for patterns then and now.
1. How do you define an Empire?
2. Are empires ambiguous (can sometimes be good being bad)?
3. What are some examples of imperial theology then and now? And why do they exist?
4. Empires and their stories: why do empires need foundational meaning stories? What stories are being created today by the empire? By the church? By our organizations?
5. Empire and Civilization: how is this topic central to the teachings of Jesus and the writings of the early followers? What was Paul trying to tell us?
Now, the question that needs to be asked is how we decide to ACT to cause change. What risks are we willing to take? What risk are we not willing to take and why? What can we learn from the early followers of Jesus about risk and risk management?
What actions drive us to implement the form of justice known in the Bible, which Jesus talked about? We call it "distributive justice" or "economic justice." This is justice where the world's resources are equally distributed, unlike "retributive justice."
As you reflect, discern, and meditate on the teachings, try to place biblical texts within their purpose, time, and place and hear them accurately before accepting or rejecting them. See the difference? See what it means to be radical?
Photo: faithequip.org