Let’s welcome Jesus to 21st century

The Christian churches have created a theological understanding of Jesus that has made him the unique son of God, born of a virgin, died as a sacrifice for sin and raised from the dead, the second person of the Trinitarian God. The volumes that have been written about this theological Jesus are almost endless. In the past two centuries, very different questions have been raised about Jesus. Scholars began asking questions about the flesh and blood Jesus of history. At first, those conducting the search were a trickle. Today, they are a flood.

The first attempts could not find a Jesus of history in the narratives of the four gospels of the New Testament. About 40 years ago, a new generation of scholars took a different approach. They looked at the history, culture, economics and religion of Galilee in the first century C.E. The teachings of Jesus took on new life and the Jesus of history emerged in a new way.

This new surge of scholarship has been different because it has been interdisciplinary. This latest effort, sometimes called “the third quest for the historical Jesus,” has been led not by theologians, but by historians, sociologists, economists and political scientists. Their efforts have not been about finding the Jesus of history, but simply looking for the facts of the life setting in first century Galilee. Their work has placed Jesus in the setting of an advanced agrarian society, an aristocratic empire and a peasant backwater. The fruits of their scholarship have forced a whole new reading of the New Testament.

The most dramatic insight that the third quest has brought is that Jesus was a very public political figure who advocated for justice for rural peasants, artisans, people who were considered unclean and degraded, and a growing number of expendables. Put into this context, the teachings of Jesus become a prophetic voice that spoke from and to the needs of the very lowest level of Galilean society.

It is worthy of note that this latest wave of pertinent scholarship parallels the rise of liberation theology in the third world. Gustavo Gutierraz, a Peruvian Catholic priest who worked with the poor people of Lima, published “Theology of Liberation” in the early 1970s. It was Christian theology written from the perspective of the poorest of the poor. Gutierraz’s perspective and experience informs us of what can happen when Jesus is placed in his own particular context. The work of Gutierraz and others demands that we see the Jesus of history in his own context. When that happens, Jesus appears as an engaged political figure.

A very important reality of first century Galilee was the strong presence of the Zealots.

Zealots were Jews who despised Roman rule and advocated taking back Palestine from its Roman rulers by violent action. The Zealots were a minor party around Jerusalem, but not so in Galilee. Galilee was a stronghold of the Zealots. They saw other groups of Jews who cooperated with Roman rulers as traitors to Israel. They despised Pharisees and Sadducees as much as they did the Romans. Galilee was a mean and dangerous place. Zealots all carried large knives hidden under their cloaks. Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, is identified in the gospels as a Zealot and probably several of the other disciples were Zealots or Zealot sympathizers.

Religious and political leaders from Jerusalem kept a careful eye on Galilee. The relationship between Jerusalem and Galilee was tenuous at best. In that context, Jesus is seen as a very different kind of leader. His commitment was to the reign (or kingdom) of God. His first call was to love God. His second was to love his neighbors. He was neither a knife-carrying Zealot nor an uncritical citizen living quietly under the heavy hand of Roman rulers, wealthy landowners and temple legalists.

The gospel records present Jesus as an Israelite prophet calling for a Year of Jubilee in which wealth is redistributed and justice is restored for all. When put in context, Jesus is unconditionally committed to his God of love and compassion. He is also fully committed to bringing love and justice to everyone, and especially to the poor and needy.

The third quest asks us to return to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and read them with new eyes. We are asked to read about a Jesus who was fully engaged in the social, economic and religious world of his day. We are asked to reread his parables, sayings and aphorisms. We are asked to read about a Jesus who was crucified by Roman rulers on a charge of insurrection.

The third quest for the historical Jesus is not claiming to have produced a clear picture of the Jesus of humanity. Scholarship will continue to develop and inform us; however, we know enough now to rid ourselves of our obsession of getting to an ill-defined heaven and become fully engaged in a world that is crying for love and justice.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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