Happy Resurrection Sunday!
On a day much like today 2000 years
ago, the story goes that a small group of Jewish revolutionaries
rolled back the stone on a fresh grave. What they found (or rather
didn't find) was going to change the course of Judaic religion –
change the course of history as a whole – and even change the way
society views the disparity between those in power and those with
nothing.
I am referring of course to the story
of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. I want to tell a bit of
the history of the Christ story and the symbol of the cross. I also
want to leave anyone reading this with a question to think about
throughout the day... so here goes.
At the time of Jesus the kingdom of
Judea was in political and social turmoil. Judea had been conquered
by the Roman empire and was being ruled from afar – subjected to
taxes and foreign governance.
Some of the Jewish leaders of the time
worked hand in hand with the Romans to tax and subjugate their own
people. These were called the Sadducees. Others Jews called Pharisees
debated minutia of Jewish law and history, seemingly ad infinitum.
The situation we live in today is not too different. We watch
politicians and religious leaders argue over the interpretations of
the constitution, or whether or not homosexuality is a sin, while
increasing amounts of people live in perpetual poverty with seemingly
no way out. The top 1% of society continues dominate in terms of
income, while the poor become poorer every passing day. This isn't
happening in some distant country, this happens right now, here, in
America.
There were whispers all throughout the
Roman Empire – people whispering about how they would get out from
Caesar's yoke of tyranny. A group called the Essenes dropped out of
society altogether and formed communes in the desert. Another loose
band known as the Sicarii (literally translated as “dagger-man”...
how cool is that?) were political assassins, famed and feared for
stabbing politicians and religious leaders in public forums.
The tension was coming from the fact
that the Jewish people, a strong and faithful collection of tribes
who had believed in one God and only worshipped Him, were being made
to kneel before Caesar and worship the Emperor as if he were a god
himself. In public they affirmed Kaiser kurios but in the
privacy of their homes they knew that there had to be a better way.
Then came Jesus. He was a political
revolutionary – a spiritual revolutionary – and a social
revolutionary. He took this old Jewish idea of loving your neighbor
as yourself and said “not only fellow Jews are our neighbors. The
gentiles are also our neighbors. The sinners are also our neighbors.
Our oppressors are also our neighbors.”
Jesus said we weren't just
to love our neighbors, we were even to love our enemies – a
stark contrast to the old idea that we must vanquish our enemies. The
message of Jesus was good news and love for all.
But most of all, with Jesus, came hope. The hope that one day the
powerless would be made powerful. The hope that one day the weary
would rest. The hope that one day the thirsty would be satisfied. The
hope that one day the meek really would inherit the earth. Small
pockets of people started to see that this son of a carpenter was
really on to something – that especially in hard times like these,
what the world really needed was love, not assassinations or violent
uprisings. The people could see that Caesar's yoke was heavy, but
that Jesus' yoke was light.
Slowly the whispers grew louder and
they were all proclaiming the same idea – kurious Iesous –
Jesus is Lord. When, ultimately, the empire caught wind of this, they
did what they did to any dissident – Jesus was crucified. There was
only room for one kurios in
the empire, and it wasn't going to be Jesus if they had any say in
the matter... But they soon found that they didn't.
When Jesus'
disciples went to the tomb on the Sunday of the resurrection they
found that it was empty. He had risen.
This
resurrection is the
archetypal underdog story. Just as Jesus lives on today, so does the
message of hope he carried for all. Most importantly, the story of
the cross marks the time in history that the power shifted away from
the haves to the have-nots. From that day forward, this young Jewish
man and the message he carried gave the world permission to believe
that weakness is the new strength, that alienation is the new
togetherness, and that love is infinitely more powerful than hate.
More
and more these days we see the Christian message being subverted from
the inside; unfortunately this has continued on to the point where,
from the American perspective, it seems the norm. In American culture
it is “normal” for Christians to be anti-welfare,
anti-gun-control, and anti-abortion; it is normal to the point that
if you cannot agree with the so-called “body of Christ” on these
hot-button issues, you will be ostracized from the church. We spend
so much time bickering amongst each other over whether or not our
neighbors will be getting into heaven that we don't notice that earth
is becoming increasingly hellish due to our own neglect.
Jesus
spoke of the kingdom of heaven, not evacuation theology. Jesus did
not talk about a place we would be teleported to in the clouds. He
spoke of the age to come that would be right here on earth. He handed
us tools and wood for building and told us that the work of
transforming the world would not be easy – that we would be
persecuted every step of the way – but that He would be with us
every step of the way. He then gave us His life as an example, and
His word as a blueprint. It is now our calling to keep that legacy
alive by exemplifying His word in our actions.
In
Jewish mysticism, sages and rabbis have long talked about how every
generation has had a person born into it with the potential to be the
messiah and usher in the messianic age. But that if the generation is
not ready to accept that person as the messiah they will simply live
and die like any other.
Now
for the question I promised you at the beginning: what if Jesus were
to be born on this earth again. What if the second coming was just
like the first? What if it was so much like the first that Jesus was
born... Jewish?
Worse
yet to the stereotype of the American Christian, what if Jesus is
here and alive right now, but he's gay? Muslim? Hindu? Or what if the
second coming will be in the form of a woman?
Now,
I'm not qualified to speak as to if any of this is possible. I don't
pretend to be in tight with God or know what He wants or how He acts.
But you have to admit that it's a zinger of a question right? Really
flips the whole judgmental theology thing right on its head. What if
the the Christ figure is right here, living with us right now, and we
are choosing through our actions, to not accept the guidance and
salvation of the living God?
-Connor
S,
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