For some, Jesus is a messenger from God, telling the world to repent.
For some, Jesus is a rabble-rouser whose message flies in the face of our established norms.
For others, Jesus is a teacher of wisdom.
For some, Jesus is a prophet, telling God's Will to God's people.
For others, Jesus is personal Savior.
For Peter, Jesus is the promised one of God and Son of God, come into this world to deliver the people of God from their darkness.
Their darkness was the dark oppression created by Empire - theirs, the Roman empire. It had occupied the land of their ancestors for many years, coopted their lands, their resources, their labor, their young men, their freedom, their faith and their dignity. Jesus represented a spiritual, political and economic deliverer of a people who had had their Shalom (well-being, peace, completeness and wholeness) taken from them by those whose devotion was given to greed, lust for power and prestige/position/status.
It was spiritual. It had rendered them poor in spirit. It broke their spirit. Their religious leaders had colluded and twisted the faith into something that would bring the people in line with the values of the occupiers, believing that it was right and natural that some should live in luxury while the masses should barely survive in order to give it to them. The Temple cult leaders of the time created theologies around justifying the inequities of the Empire, making it seem normal that a few should have most and the many should have little, and justifying the cruel, oppressive force that kept that unjust and ungodly system in place.
It was political. The king was in collusion with the Empire in order to maintain some semblance of superiority above the rest, some wealth kept in the royal family and court, and some control over the masses "below" him.
It was economic. The Empire, King and Temple Cult leaders used their positions to fleece the people of God out of what they once owned, taking their livelihoods and any resources they had in order to feed the few according to their accustomed standard of living, and feeding a military industrial machine that kept things in that order necessary to promote the few. The many barely made it. Their lands were taken away, the earnings from their labors taken away and their children taken away into the slavery to Empire that their religious leaders maintained was God's Will.
Does this at all sound familiar? Those with ears, let them hear...
Into this quagmire of corruption, inequity, injustice, greed, abuse of power and false superiority came Jesus with a message of God's Kingdom values based on Agape Love and Grace. It called those who were considered "first" in the society, "last" in the Kingdom. It broke the Sabbath and dietary codes that were used to keep the people beaten into submission. It raised up the lowly and downplayed the importance of the great, in worldly standards. It was a message about humility instead of the hubris that drives some to seek status and prestige above others. It was a message about generosity and sharing instead of exploiting and even destroying others in order to gain more for oneself. It was a message about shared, community power and what can be done in unity and a power that elevates all equally, rather than a few having power "over" others.
Some thought it was only spiritual, and they expected Jesus to provide some supernatural intervention. That remains true today.
Some thought it meant only political liberation. That remains true today.
Some thought it was only about being on top economically, instead of on the bottom. That remains true today.
Some got it and followed Jesus. They lived what Jesus taught in the First Century world, right up until 325 A.D. or so, when the institution of those who claimed Jesus took importance over the message of Jesus' Way for us in the world. By living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled, the early followers of Jesus changed the known world, because many came to believe that it was a better way for the world.
And today it is the same. As we face the inequities, corruption and injustice of the greed, lust for power and desire for prestige/position/status above others under our Empire, people react differently.
Some politicians embrace the Empire values and normalize the greed, lust for power and prestige.
Many citizens do the same, even those not from among the few elites, hoping someday to be among them. They have bought the message of normalized greed, power and prestige as even godly values, even though many of them continue to be the victims of it.
Some religious leaders continue to develop empire justifying theologies of prosperity and church growth, hoping to cash in on their collusion in wealth and/or power, prestige and status in the society.
They twist even the Good News of the Messiah in order to do so as did their pharisaic predecessors.
And the spiritual, political and economic corruption, injustice and inequity continues.
And in the face of it still flies Jesus and His Good News teachings, commands and examples of what God's Will truly is in the living of Agape Love (self-less, unconditional active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy, and especially "the least" among us).
Who is Jesus to you?
Is Jesus a rabble-rouser, whose message flies in the face of all that you deem normal?
Is Jesus a messenger, a teacher or prophet?
Is Jesus Personal Savior, on whose name you call, who you worship and praise and tithe?
Or is Jesus the Messiah, the one sent to deliver all of us from a corrupt, unjust and inequitable way of believing, thinking and living that damages our souls and our nation's soul because it hurts those who God loves, putting us at enmity with others and ultimately with God?
Is Jesus the Messiah, Son of God and Lord of your life?
If so,
What does it mean for YOU to follow Jesus?
Pastor Jamie
No comments:
Post a Comment