Jesus's Challenge

WHO WAS JESUS?

THE SETTING When River an unknown carpenter's son was baptised by the desert prophet John in the Jordan, the atmosphere in lsrael was electric with expectation. Yet again in the history of this small proud nation, the country was under military occupation. The Jewish people, tired of the insult of being under the thumb of the'unclean', the Gentiles, tired of paying heavy taxes and sick of brutal repression, were looking for a great leader, a Messiah, to deliver them. ln the hills,the nationalist rebels, the Zealots, were sharpening their swords ready for the next ambush of a Roman convoy, ln the desert fanatical monks, Essenes, were keeping themselves apartfrom the contaminated world. The religious leaders from reading the scriptures were talking of the imminent coming of God's prophet. The rulers were worried by these stirrings and rumours. Not long before, small children from awhole neighbourhood had been massacred by King Herod because amongst them, supposedly, was a baby who was destined to be king favoured by the Jewish God. By the time of Jesus, two generations after the Romans had made their rule secure, the religious response to the Roman presence was divided and varied. The High Priesr in Jerusalem and his associates were from the aristocracy and were appointed by the Romans. Any power they had was dependent on Roman backing. Recognising this they tended to be conservative and expedient in their politics. Not surprisingly, many Jews accused them of colruption and collaboration. Their party

was called the 'Sadducees'. Another party, made up of the intellectuals and scholars, was called the 'Pharisees' (literally means 'set apart'). They had considerable influence amongst the people, and had developed a literal understanding of the Jewish law. lay in strictly observing the law, and waiting passively for the arrival of the Salvation promised Messiah. All political affairs were in the hands of God and meanwhile it was important as far as possible to. remain untarnished by the things of this world. Eventually though (after Jesus died) the Pharisees did rebel.

A third response was to take to the hills and join the rebels. The Zealots believed that they were God's fighting army, and that the Messiah, like King David, would drive the Romans back to the sea. The northern country, around-Galilee, where Jesus grew up, was a stronghold of this party. The story of Jesus is the story of another way of following God in those troubled times.

NOW IS THE TIME, THE BEGINNING

The way Jesus chose was not that of a leader, conqueror, soldier or rnagician or even great High Priest. Wasn't the world full of thesc already and vet wasn't it still corrupt? With grcat sadness Jesus saw how God's pcoplc hacl dritrcd {'ar from God and far lrom how he wanted them to live togethcr, in harmonl,and lusticc. Thc only path opcn, it scemcd to Jesus, if all socicty was to bc transf,rmcd, was to bccome what was considered to be lowest, an unclcan, irreligious poor rnan, and serve God so absolutcly that God's intcntion would bccome clcar to all. was The time seemcd right. drawing thousands with Evcryone was cxpccting som0thing; his cousin John his simplc messagc o1' doom and destruction and forgivcness for thosc prcpared to makc raclical cirangcs irr thcir livcs. "Now is the time!" Jesus felt, for a cornplctc ncw bcginning. With God's strength he hoped to demonstrate the rvay into thc n*v pror'rriscd land, God's Kingdom on Earth. He must hurry, the task was urgcnt because Lhe nation faced annihiiation. The forces of cvil had a powcrful grip ovcr pcoplc's bodics, hearts and minds. To some his rrclvs would bc bad, to othcrs eood, but it nccdcd to be proclaimed, everywhere. As soor-r as John was arrcsted Jesus camc ou1 in the open. So, onc day ir-r the synagoguc, he proclaimccl his nranifesro. He began rhc sermon by simply stating what his mission lvas all .rboul, by claiming for himself what lsaiah had spoken centuries

befr.rrc: "The Spirit ol.thc Lord has bcen given to mc, has anointed me. [.lc has sclrt nrc to bIing thc good llcws to thc poor, to tell prisoners thai rhcy can go frcc, to givc ncw sight to thc blind, to give freedom to opprtsscd peoplc, and proclaim the Lorcl's year of favou r.,' (Luke 4.l B,l g.) By this year of Iavour lcsus was rcferrirrg to an old custom, enshrined in lewish law but long since dcfuncr. lt was a time, every 49 years when social inequality in lsrael h;rd to be ironcd out. Jcwish slaves were to thc fornrer mastcrs, Iarge landowners had holders from ivhom it had been acquired, be frced and set up in their own right by to return land to the lanclless and smail and all debtors were lct off their debts. Probably this systern radical redisrribution of "Jubilee" hacl never worked very well, but Jesus saw as the vital elcment of the "Kingdom of God" which he this was bringing in. J esus saw that so long as the people regarded him just as .) oseph the carpenter,s son, they would not hear his message. so, for the first of many times, f esus said the opposite of what was expected, arrd deliberately infuriated people. ln-this instance,getting more reaction than he bargained for, he only just escaped getting slung ovei a cliff.

A MOVEMENT IS BORN The rejection by his home town, in a way, both freed Jesus to be independentond

maoe nrm aware now much he needed to share his work with a handful of peoplehe could trust, people who could arso be his friends when he *as lon.ly. r-risio?nlpanions were not clever or ric.h but mostly ordinary working-class p.opl., like thefishermen James and John. Levi, a tax coilector, courd .;.; b;

-relaroea unclean Roman collaborator, .as the. handling of money witt tne iruge as an of the