Jesus as Revolutionary, just some thoughts…by Harry
The following is submitted by Harry:
Sitting in a home group one night, a person mused… “Isn’t it funny how we pray to be like Jesus, sing songs to be more like Him, and then when our best friend betrays us, we get cancer, or we are misunderstood… We get upset and wonder why it happens to us.”
In His day, the Jews were looking for a Messiah to take off the yoke of Roman oppression and to even bring back the kingdom to it’s once former splendour. To this same effect, many if not most followers of Christ, expect the yoke of sin an suffering to be lifted off and live “The Good Life”. I am most certainly guilty of this. Yet, Jesus was/is radical, neigh, revolutionary in His thinking and working regarding both the Jews of His day and we ourselves. He wants people to focus on Him in totality and by doing so focusing on eternity. Consider what happened to Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus when he stepped out of the boat, the nice and somewhat safe boat, to walk the waves with his Lord.
We, like the Jews of His day and Peter, are focused on and worry about the things that occupy us in the here and now. How can we be safe? How can we be well? How can we pay the bills? How do I this… How do I that… for the most part, we miss the forest for the trees. We fix on the minutia and fail to notice the big picture. Jesus called His men from what they were doing; and right then and there they stopped and followed. None of them seemed to have had any qualms about it at first. Then in John 16:33 we read…
I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world. MSG
He has just been telling them about what is going to happen to Him and how the world is going to be whooping it up! He tells them, you are going to have trouble, take heart, I have conquered (overcome) the world. Note He doesn’t say, Hey keep following Me and your life is going to be a bowl of cherries! What He has been telling them is, that later on, after this life passes, it will be your turn to whoop it up.
So what is so revolutionary? He words, His actions, His focus, His example… He never once takes His eyes off the Father and what is coming for Him. We don’t see Him moping or pouting, sulking or swimming the sea of despond, playing the victim or fixing blame. In this day and age, this is truly revolutionary. Where are our eyes fixed? Where is our heart focused? The heart… funny how Jesus most often talked about heart attitudes and where a person’s heart’s focus was. One man asked for healing and Jesus asked, “Do you really what to be better?” Another, blind Bartimaeus, He asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And what of Martha, “Do you believe this?” Right to the heart, every time. Call someone a name and you murder him in your heart. Revolutionary, then and now.
So what now? Fix our eyes upon Jesus. Much easier said than done. But, with God, nothing is impossible. Now to just believe it…
Harry
Relevance vs. the Escapist mentality...
Our ability to recognise apocalyptic is, in our day, is often most hindered by the popular; best-selling misunderstandings of biblical witness. Confusing the death-dealing forces that enslave, exploit, and crucify (what our biblical translations sometimes render ‘the world’) for the created world itself, such so-called ‘apocalyptic’ is a negation of this-worldy experience. It tends to view the physical as only fit for burning. In a kind of Gnostic-style propaganda, creation is deemed a sort of waiting room, irredeemable and best discarded. Confusing redemption for escape, real injustice--political and personal--goes mostly unengaged , and the actual, everyday world gets left behind. (David Dark. Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, the Simpsons, and Other Pop Culture Icons , 11 . Emphasis mine)
This is the danger of dualism: that we become so irrelevant to our present existence and view this world and ‘all its’ troubles’ as secular and passing away. The temptation to sing ‘just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away....’ is the expression of an escapist mentality, and does not reflect the intentions of Christ’s ministry on earth. He constantly was referring to a Kingdom that
that is here, that is coming . The reference is to one that was ushered in with his infiltration of the world as God in flesh. It is also referring to one that is both here and coming. This is not a contradiction, but can be likened to a train that passes through town. The train is there when the engine roles through, but is also coming as the other cars roll into town. It is both here, and coming...
The escapist mentality reduces the social message of scripture to nothingness and negates any form of social conscience, allowing, as Dark says, “real injustice--political and personal” to go on unchecked. Contrast this indifference and ‘pie in the sky’ mentality with Jesus’ very present humanness which focused on the poor and the downtrodden.
“Religion that means something with Father God is this: looking out for the homeless, empowering those in the poverty trap and keeping yourself from getting polluted by the system” (James 1:27, Lacey-
Word on the Street , emphasis mine).
Revolution vs. Rulebook
This entry was also posted to
Palimpsest Redux "There's a lot of Bible-thumping going on these days-- in Judaism and Christianity alike. And it has left the impression that it's some sort of book of rules to follow, tenets to believe in and historical events to set in stone. Where it's actually the story of a revolution-- both of a bunch of people, and of human consciousness. It's a proposition for an open source reality and a set of guidelines for how to break the news to real people who love to believe in idols."
From:
Douglas Rushkoff ,
"Change the story, and you change the world"
This is a great quote examining the purpose of the Bible. We often get bogged down in the 'do's and don't's', the 'bible as a rule book' idea...but, As Rushkoff puts it, it is not really about that at all. Sure there are guidelines as to how to live your life, and commands that God provides for us to follow. I don't want to downplay the importance of these things...the bible as a handbook on how to live a wise and holy life...but, it is more about REVOLUTION.... like Rushkoff says, "it's actually the story of a revolution-- both of a bunch of people, and of human consciousness". Well put. As Paul states, we need this revolution of grace and love: " I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die" (Galations 2:21, New Living Translation). This verse floored me the other night, being someone who grew up with Christianity and religion...it isn't enough.
A revolution had to take place...not one of violent bloodshed and genocide, but one of singular Holy blood being spilt on our behalf and the ultimate act of Regicide (the killing of a King...in this case, Christ, The King).
This is not a revolution in the sense we normally think of...it is not the violent overthrow by a Messiah that the Jews at the time we hoping for. No, this Liberator set out to overthrow the totalitarionism of death's dictatorship. Christ's revolution was not a bloody one in terms of historical revolutions, but it was not bloodless.
Coffee Time
People are asking
is there any way to get
a cup of coffee?
- CBC Foreign
Correspondent, Terry
Milewski reporting from
San Juan, Mexico.
Hurricane Hugo has nearly wiped the ass
Of every Juan. People’s homes are fallen down
19 are dead. And there’s no coffee.
© M. Primmer
03/1987
the problem of representing
I was reading last night from a book titled "The Emerging Church" and found some of it hitting very close to what we are discussing...a few quotes from the chapter entitled 'I Like Jesus, but I don't Like Christians':
The author refers to a video interview conducted on the U of Santa Cruz's campus in which the following questions were asked:
"1. What comes to mind when you hear the name Jesus?"
"2. What comes to mind when you hear the word Christian?"
the responses to them were very interesting:
"At the first question, student's faces light up in smiles. 'Jesus was beautiful.' 'I want to be like Jesus.' [...] 'I want to be a follower of Jesus.'" (Kimball, 79).
"But at the second question, their expressions changed dramatically. Eyes looked downward, smiles turned to frowns and even pained expressions. 'Christians have taken the teachings of Jesus and really messed them up.' 'I would want to be a Christian, but I have never met one.' 'Christians are dogmatic and close-minded.'" (79)
The author goes on to say that "we are living in a wonderful time when younger generations are wide open to Jesus, but Christians are often the stumbling block." (80).
Kimball uses a quote from Gandhi (a great follower of Christ's teachings and examples, who ultimately rejected accepting Christ as God and liberator):
"I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" (qtd. in Kimball, 79).
I will let those words speak for themselves. An outside 'verbal audit'.
J.M.
Source: Kimball, Dan. "The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations." Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2003.
Jesus as revolutionary
I was reading in the book of Luke the other morning, bleary eyed as a certain someone who is about knee high woke me up early...perhaps this is why i am confused by the scripture passage, but I will post my wondering in hopes it may spark some discussion...
There is an obscure passage in Luke 22:35-38 which got my fuzzy brain wondering if coffee perhaps would aid in discovering what it meant. For the sake of discussion i will quote the verses below (from the New Living translation):
"Then Jesus asked them: 'When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler's bag, or extra clothing, did you lack anything?'
'No' they replied.
'But now,' he said, 'take your money and traveler;s bag. And if you don't have a sword, sell your clothes and buy one! For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: 'He was counted among those who were rebels' Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.'
'Lord' they replied, ;we have two swords among us.'
'That's enough' He said."
This hit me rather strange. Here we have Christ telling his disciples 1) to bring their gear and money from now on on their journeys, and 2) to buy some swords.
Now, is he just saying this to, as he states, fulfill the prophecy that he would be considered a rebel or a revolutionary? I have no idea. This is perplexing. I have never heard this verse referred to...I have heard the converse, the idea that we are to go out without anything ...but this verse seems to indicate a shift in the mission statement. And the idea of arming .... hmmmm... i am lost on that one. The only thing I come to is fulfillment of prophecy. Is there more to it than that though?
A few verses later we have the swordplay of one of the disciples with the high priests' servant (Luke 22:49-51) where he hacks off his ear. His comment is very interesting: 'Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!'
Here seems the natural follow through of Christ's instructions. The disciple pulls out one of the two swords they were told to get, and puts it to use....I have heard this verse before, but the ones previous to it really change my slant on it. It seems now that the disciple was carrying through in a way, not acting rashly...
What application does all this have? I have no idea, but I wanted to put it out there to see what the rest of you think.
j.m.
A thought to ponder...
“If you tell me Christian commitment is a kind of thing that has happened ot you once and for all like some kind of spiritual plastic surgery, I say go to, go to, you’re either pulling the wool over your own eyes or trying to pull it over mine. Every morning you should wake up in your bed and ask yourself: ‘ Can I believe it all again today?’No, better still, don’t ask it till after you’ve read The New York Times, till after you’ve studied the daily record of the world’s brokenness and corruption, which should always stand side by side with your Bible. Then ask yourself if you can believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ again for that particular day. If your answer’s always yes, then you probably don’t know what believing means. At least five times out of ten the answer should be No because No is as important as the Yes, maybe more so. The Nor is what proves you're human in case you should ever doubt it. And then if some morning the answer happens to be really Yes, it should be a Yes that’s choked with confession and tears and...great laughter”
-Frederick Buechner
The Return of Ansel Gibbs
qtd. in Soul Survivor, Yancey
