Does Jesus Make Sense?

Jesus' ethic must have seemed ridiculous to both the Roman-occupied territories of Galilee and the Temple-bound traditions of Jerusalem. While both imperial systems of Jesus' day relied on position, authority, power and militant might, Jesus' message and ministry focused on meeting the needs of the most rejected, excluded, victimized, estranged, hopeless and helpless. Kingdom certainly does not rest in inclusivity and attention to the dregs of society! Certainly, empire is not constructed on the backs of the poor and disenfranchised!

On the contrary, empire is constructed through power. Rome knew the stories well. Julius Caesar was a powerful and cunning general, a great military mind, and a force-to-be-reckoned-with. Augustus, Julius' adopted son, put an end to a costly and destructive civil war and revived reliance on the Roman system. He did so through the use of power and military authority. Centurions were stationed throughout the Roman-occupied territories in order to protect the empire from would-be revolutionaries and seditionists. Enemies were crucified as a deterrent to such disloyalty. Foreigners were controlled, coerced and manipulated into, sometimes, reluctant patriotism. No one within the Roman territories were given a choice. It was loyalty or death.

The Temple system understood as well the need for social control. The entire Levitical system was founded on the notion that personal failure to abide by the laws of the Temple led, politically, economically and militarily, to the end of Jewish hegemony. Personal sinfulness resulted in national exile. In order to maintain its traditions throughout the Roman occupation, the Temple heightened the concentration on personal loyalty to the laws and strictures of the faith, while it diminished the social aspects of the faith. The Temple knew that the articulation of liberation theology would challenge the power of Rome. So the Temple placed its religious accent on the syllables that spoke individual purity and righteousness under the law instead of social justice and liberation.

Into the climate of Roman power and Temple control, Jesus performed, taught and promoted an ethic of servanthood, where one sacrificed one's self for the sake of others, where one went out of one's way to meet the needs of those who suffer and struggle the most. Ridiculous! Silly! Asinine! How in the world can concentration on the needs of the worthless and the damned be expected to ever lead to establishment of kingdom or meet the needs of the empire? It is impossible!

Jesus makes as little sense today. In an increasingly divisive atmosphere of name-calling, hyperbole and vitriol, Jesus speaks softly of inclusion, acceptance, universal compassion and love. While politicians promise violence, exclusion, protectionism and defense of, often undeserved, privilege, Jesus embodies humility, kindness, forgiveness, openness and equality.

Jesus makes as little sense today as he made then. While we read the Gospels, shaking our collective heads at the ignorance of the Pharisees and Scribes, at the inability of the Disciples to understand and embrace Christ's actions and teachings, and at the Roman reliance on Crucifixion as a means of social coercion, we continue to rely on approaches of power, position, authority, fear, money and privilege. We place a similar emphasis today on the characteristics of corporate and personal life that Jesus rejected in promoting a system of peace. We blame those ancient examples of forces that are contrary to Christ but pardon our own collusion with human tendencies. We are as guilty now as they were then.

So, how does Jesus make sense today? As it most always is the case with history, Jesus makes the same sense now as he made then. When we are ready to give up on the human sources of pain and suffering, when we are ready to sacrifice our privilege for the sake of those who begin the race of life from considerable disadvantage, and when we are willing to be servants instead of beneficiaries, we will understand Jesus. Until then, we are destined to continually repeat the mistakes of the past. Listen to the voices that resound. See if it isn't time to embrace an entirely different code of behavior and an alternative system of belief. See if it isn't time for us to allow Jesus to make sense.