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May 13, 2006
Jesus the politician: part 1 During the time leading up to and during Jesus' life, the Jewish people were living under Roman occupation. One of the difficulties they has with Roman occupation is that it was difficult to be a montheist and live in the Roman empire. For most of the empire, the occupied people were allowed to keep their own religious beliefs. This was to prevent people from revolting in order to keep their religious faith. However, in order to create unity throughout the empire, they were also required to worship the emperor as a deity. In most of the occupied territories, this was not an issue. There were few who had a worldview that didn't allow for many deities, and even fewer religions had issues with at least pretending to worship another god. So, the Jewish people were somewhat unique within the empire. Their God demanded that worship only be for Him, that one doesn't even pretend to worship another god in order to fit in. In their scripture they have stories of people such as Daniel and his friends standing up in the face of this kind of persecution, even willing to die for it, and being miraculously saved. In their history they had stood up during the Greek occupation over religious beliefs, and had even regained their own sovereignty as a result. So, for the Romans, they were facing a volatile situation. They were facing a group of people who would potentially rise up if the religious situation was not handled properly. An empire the size of Rome was difficult to occupy, so they liked to keep uprisings as few as possible. So, the Jewish people were given an exemption: they were allowed to not worship the emperor as a deity. Regardless, Roman occupation was not well liked by the Jews. The Romans were a little too pagan for their liking. And, as hard as they tried, the Romans never quite understood what the Jewish people were all about, resulting in many misunderstandings that angered the Jews. So, during this time, the people expected the deliverer that the prophets had promised them, the Messiah, to rise up at this time. Under this political climate, at least 4 "parties" arose, and each of them had different expectations of the Messiah and how to get the Messiah to rise up in the first place. It is interesting to see how Jesus fit into and did not fit into the expectations of the various groups. The first group, and the most powerful at the time were the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the party of the temple. They were mostly made up of the priests, and had control over the temple and the sacrifice system. They made up at least half of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, in which they had the presiding member, the High Priest. They did not believe in the Messiah, in part because they only counted the Torah, the books of the law, as scripture. Also, they were loyal to Rome, likely due to the fact that under Roman occupation, they kept most of their power. Jesus fit in well with the Sadducees. Jesus had high regard for the temple. As a child, he hung around the temple after his family had started back to Nazareth, referring to it as "His Father's house." He paid the temple tax. Then again, he didn't get along with the Sadducees all that well. He made a big scene at the temple, driving out the merchants and the money changers, a big source of income for the temple. He told them to tear down the temple and he would rebuild it in three days. The gospels never mention him making a sacrifice (which doesn't mean he didn't, but it's interesting to note). He taught from the prophets and the writings (the 2 categories that make up the rest of the Old Testament). He claimed to be the Messiah, and was defiant of the priests during his trial. Maybe Jesus wasn't a Sadducee. The next group was the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the teachers, the Rabbi's (and predecessors of the modern day Rabbinic system). While not as politically powerful (though they made up the other half of the Sanhedrin), they may have been more influential with the people. In their view, the way to get God to send the Messiah was to follow the law perfectly, and only then would he deliver them. So, in order to to assure this, they began to "put a hedge" around the law. In other words, they would make a more strict law, and if you did not break that that meant that you were nowhere close to breaking the law of Moses. Take keeping the Sabbath as an example. It's somewhat vague. What exactly is "work." So, to make sure that nobody worked on the Sabbath, they created a system of rules to ensure that. You could only walk 3/4 of a mile on the Sabbath, for example. What happened is that these rules became a law unto themselves, and most common people couldn't keep it all straight. Jesus was one heck of a Pharisee. People even called him Rabbi. The Pharisees tried really hard to get him on their side. He was a great teacher, knew the scriptures inside and out. He was quite pious and charismatic. Of course, he and the Pharisees didn't get along at all. Jesus just wouldn't quite conform to them. He healed people on the Sabbath, and that's work. He let his disciples pick some grain on the Sabbath as well. He wouldn't let them stone the woman caught in adultery. See, for Jesus, while he upheld the law, he wasn't into such a rigid interpretation of it. He kept talking about what the purpose of the law was, that there was something living behind it. It was more than a code. He was way too loose with the law. I guess he wasn't a Pharisee either. The third group was the Zealots. We don't see much about them in Scripture, but we pick up a bit from Josephus and some other sources. The Zealots were the militants. In their view, the way to deliverance was to get the revolt started, and then through that the Messiah would rise up and lead them to victory. They had started a few uprisings, each of which was defeated. It is speculated that Barabbas was a Zealot leader. Jesus was a Zealot. He kept talking about this new kingdom, the "Kingdom of God." Surely that meant that God was about to bring Israel back to sovereignty and that he was going to rule over them again, just like it had been planned prior to the monarchy. However, Jesus' plans didn't quite fit in with what the Zealots were doing. He seemed to be a bit of a pacifist, telling people not to retaliate, that if they were struck, then let the person strike you again. Or, if a Roman made you carry his stuff, go even farther that you are required. What kind of revolutionary is this? Maybe Jesus wasn't a Zealot. The last group is the Esscenes. The Esscenes are not mention in the Bible, though it is speculated the John the Baptist was one, and even if he isn't, he seems to be characteristic of one. The Esscenes had decided that Jewish society was too corrupt. So, they left, and settled near Qumran, close to the Dead Sea. They were sort of a mix between puritans and hippies, starting a commune that was obsessed with moral purity. They were fairly intelligent, writing the Dead Sea Scrolls. They believed that if they were pure enough, God would send the Messiah who would restore the Jewish people to their proper purity. Jesus was an Esscene. He went out in the desert all the time and prayed. He himself was pure, living without sin. Then again, he wasn't into the separation thing. After some time in the desert, he would go back into society and get his hands dirty, hanging out with the impure, trying to make a difference there. Clearly, Jesus could not have been an Esscene. So, Jesus was not a Sadducee. And, he was not a Pharisee. He clearly was not a Zealot, nor an Esscene. And, he definitely was not their Messiah. posted
by Unknown @ 1:46:00 PM |
