The kingdom of God and the family of Jesus

It has been a while. In mid-August I went to an outpatient surgery center for minor repair of my left knee. A week later my knee was engulfed in a massive infection. I ended up in a hospital for a week. Then followed intensive infusion antibiotic drug treatment. I have been very sick.

Especially difficult was the pain and the pain medication. I am happy to be back at my computer. I have missed writing and your many responses.

Some things do not change. I continue to struggle with the essentials of Christian faith. I believe every Christian should be involved in seeing Jesus more clearly, loving him more dearly, and following him more nearly.

I continue to be hooked on the search for the historical Jesus. I want to know the real Jesus, who walked the dusty paths of Galilee and shared his best thoughts on the Kingdom of God on earth. Fortunately we now have a great array of Jesus scholars. We know more and more about the Jesus of history.

Jesus was apparently an untrained itinerant preacher, teacher, rabbi who lived in a poverty stricken agricultural area where few people were literate. They spoke only Aramaic. Jesus’ teaching career lasted three years at the most. Then he made a fateful trip to Jerusalem, where he was charged by Roman officials as an insurrectionist and was killed by being hung on a cross.

The earliest written versions of the life of Jesus (the Gospels), that we have, were written one to two generations after his death. The accounts were written in Greek by literate men far removed from the Galilean poverty in which Jesus lived and taught. How did the Jesus story get from the oral traditions spoken by illiterate Galileans in Aramaic to written material in Greek by educated men 40 to 50 years later?

How much of the Gospels is actually material from Jesus and how much is fiction and theological conjecture by the Gospel writers? I have come to some very significant conclusions. The beginning of the story of Jesus in not found in a story about a virgin birth in a manger in Bethlehem in Judea, complete with angelic choirs and shepherds following stars moving about in the sky.

The story does not begin in the foretelling of the birth of an heir to the throne of David. Rather, the story begins with the profound commitment of Jesus to the God of Israel and to the Mosaic law that we find in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The Jesus story begins with a God who loves his creation, and who desires justice (wholeness) for all people, especially the poor and the sick.

What we know about Jesus comes from the first three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Each of these accounts of the life of Jesus is a collection of materials that are expanded with commentary by the writers. When examined carefully, we find two very different pictures of Jesus, the teacher from Galilee. For me the two pictures of Jesus cannot be reconciled.

For Jesus, the central issue in his teaching ministry was the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. There is little or no disagreement about Jesus’ priority for the kingdom of God on earth. The most casual reader of the Gospels will acknowledge that he loved to tell stories that began with the words “the kingdom of God is like...”

The conflict found in the Gospels is over how the kingdom of God is to be established on earth. Jesus, I believe, made it abundantly clear that the kingdom of God was to be established by servants, not warriors. The kingdom was to be established by making people whole, not by killing supposed enemies. Love and kindness were to be the great tools of kingdom establishment.

A recent edition of Christian Century magazine features a review of a book written by Stan Haurerwas and William Willimon. The book is 25 years old. The title of the book is “Resident Aliens.” The title speaks for itself. The book is about the place and function of Christian churches in our world. It is a discussion that needs to be had in every generation and in every congregation.

I have never been more hopeful than now. I believe the election of Pope Francis is a watershed in the history of Christianity. He is making a clear call to all Christians to be a servant people with no concern about being a triumphant church.

Even though I am the father of two devout Roman Catholic children, one a professor at Notre Dame, I remain an Evangelical Christian in the Baptist tradition. As a Baptist the key is the Bible. The Bible is a collection of writings about the kingdom of God on earth. The Bible writers do not agree about what the kingdom of God is or how the kingdom is to be established. The thoughtful Bible reader steps into the discussion. The thoughtful Christian reader steps into the discussion by taking a fresh look at the Jesus of history.

The kingdom of God will not be found in a distant heaven in the sky. Swords, guns and bombs will not establish the kingdom of God. Jesus is not destined to be a king, or ruler of any kind. Take a fresh look. Love, justice, kindness, patience and grace; these are the ways of the kingdom of God on earth. Listen to Jesus and follow the lead of our new pope. The world will look more and more like a loving family.

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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