Understanding Jesus: My first task as a Christian

Evidently I was predisposed to being a Christian.

I became a Christian in the manner that is usual for Evangelical Baptists. I walked down a short aisle in the First Baptist Church of Fairbury, Ill. I publicly received Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I walked the aisle in response to the invitation of the pastor at the conclusion of his sermon. I was 8 years old. I was soon baptized by immersion. In retrospect, I cannot say that I knew what I was doing. However, it must have taken. I have identified myself as a Christian ever since.

Over the years, I learned that there are many different ways to become a Christian. Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Episcopalians, Quakers, Roman Catholics and Orthodox all do it differently. I accept that my way of becoming a Christian is no more valid and no less valid than anyone else’s. However, no matter how people acquire the identification of Christian, we are all stuck with the same challenge. How ought we to live?

I have concluded that we have a reasonably reliable record of the highlights of Jesus’ life and a quality collection of what he taught. We know enough to figure out the way we followers of Jesus ought to live. I am suggesting that while we will never fully understand Jesus, we have material with which to work and ought to be committed to understanding him the best we can. It is my own first task.

Jesus was a Jew firmly committed to the practice of Judaism. Judaism was always a divided house, even as it is today. Arguing about the right interpretation of their tradition is an art form that non-Jews have trouble understanding. Jesus joined the argument. Jesus argued for the perspective of the great prophets, especially the Isaiah tradition. It is not surprising that he chose to begin his public ministry by going to a synagogue meeting and reading a passage from the Isaiah scroll.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord.”

Both the Isaiah writer and Jesus, when they shared these words, had in mind a social and economic system that is found in the book of Leviticus. It carried the full force of Moses, the lawgiver. The law was based on a profound belief that all land belonged to God. Leviticus 25:23 sets the stage. “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me, you are but aliens and tenants.” The message was plain — land was a gift from God that could be recalled by the true owner. A system of management is set out in Leviticus.

Just as human beings were to work six days and then take a Sabbath rest, so also land was to be farmed for six years and then given a year of Sabbath rest. Faithful Jews observed both the Sabbath day and the Sabbath year rest for the land. However, a third part of the Sabbath system was ignored. According to the Levitical law, after a cycle of seven seven-year Sabbaticals for the land, a year of Jubilee was declared and dramatic changes were to take place. Priests in the name of God were to take back all land and make a new equitable distribution to all the people of Israel. As far as we know, this never happened. Along with the redistribution of the land, other things were required by Leviticus law in the year of Jubilee. All slaves were to be set free and all debts were to be canceled. As far as we know, these provisions were never fulfilled. It was a part of Israelite law that was simply ignored.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth a small village in Galilee. Galilee was a large rural area that had been economically raped by a combination of Roman overlords and cooperative Jewish clients. The system was re-enforced by temple priests and ruling Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus lived in a great sea of poor peasants who were powerless in the clutch of their oppressors. Wealth had moved to the cities. Concern for the poor was dead among the elite rich. Love of neighbor was a completely foreign idea among the powerful.

The Isaiah passage read by Jesus in the synagogue gathering gave highest priority to the poor. If the declaration of Jesus at the outset of his ministry is read in context, it becomes clear that he was calling for a new day of freedom from oppression and poverty. The Day of the Lord that he proclaimed was the Jubilee of the Leviticus law. He was calling for massive redistribution of wealth. He was calling for a new level playing field for everyone. He was calling for the common good to replace the vast gap between the rich and the poor.

Christians have given priority to personal salvation rather than the eradication of injustice on the earth. A Christian does not need to deny the importance of a personal salvation to take seriously Jesus’ message for this world. However, to embrace a personal salvation and deny Jesus’ commitment to the common good in this world exposes personal salvation as a giant hoax.

The more we learn about Jesus in the context of his faith and his worldly setting in Galilee, the more we realize the radical nature of his call to his followers.

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

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