I’ve basically been a Christ follower my entire life. Interestingly and helpfully, for the first large chunk of it I was pretty (or really) conservative in my reading of the Bible and understanding of God, life, and the world. Life, experience, and (in my mind) transformation, though, have led me to more “progressive” (for lack of a better term) views in recent years. As you might be able to imagine, this has led to some tension and conflicts with my friends and family who are still on the conservative side of things.
With this in mind and during a wonderful, slightly heated, but incredibly loving and grace-filled conversation, one of my best friends invited me to read the Gospels and the Book of Acts to really listen for the essence and heart of Jesus’ message and life. While I can’t share everything I found in a blog, I’d like to briefly relate to you the big things that stood out to me. In short, my discovery was the Gospel isn’t so much “good news” (the literal meaning of the word) for after we die, as GREAT NEWS for RIGHT NOW.
Now for some details of what I noticed. 🙂 First off, Jesus was harsher than I remembered. I was struck by how frequently the Christ got frustrated with people, said they were on the path to destruction, or spoke woes. That said, here’s where an understanding of history and context stepped in to elevate these potentially unsavory moments to instead be part of the Great News proclaimed, enacted, and offered by Jesus.
The first thing to remember here is Jesus was a Jew who lived in Israel, which was a conquered province under the rule of the Roman Empire. Imagine if you lived in occupied territory … would you be happy about that? Would you be naturally favorable or unfavorable toward your conquerors … especially when one of their favorite ways to keep you in order was to brutally, slowly, and tortuously kill any of your country mates who opposed them on a cross?
As you can imagine, the going in attitude was for Jews to dislike the Romans and vice-versa. Now, add in to this mix that there were three primary factions within the Israelites: The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Zealots … who were in many ways at odds with one another. Enter Jesus, whose harshness was largely (if not entirely) with these four opposing factions. In fact, I think you could accurately say the Messiah was really being severe with ALL the people who were opposed to and were at odds with others. Further, I read nothing but tenderness and care from Jesus when it came to hurting, repentant, or marginalized people. Now, let me unpack that some so you see what I mean.
The Pharisees were a religious group (which in those days also meant they were political) convinced the best way forward was to live perfectly moral lives. They wanted everyone to be more religious and to try harder to be perfect people. They were scrupulous keepers of every tiny aspect of the Law, so much so that they wrote laws around the laws, if you will, to make sure people didn’t even get close to breaking the law. For instance, Jewish Law forbade “work” on the Sabbath and included some specifics about this (such as not walking more than 960 meters outside of a city), so Pharisees would fashion further prohibitions just to “make sure” no one worked on the holy day of rest. They were so passionate about keeping the Law they believed the Messiah would come and restore Israel to greatness precisely the day when EVERYONE followed the Law perfectly.
The Sadducees were also a religious and political group, but they were more practically oriented. The Sadducees acquiesced to the Roman government and culture, because they were basically realists. While the Pharisees passively opposed Rome, they welcomed and accepted them because it was the practical thing to do. In fact, Sadducees were so practical they didn’t believe in life after death, angels, or demons.
Conversely, the Zealots were adamantly and violently opposed to the Roman Empire. They advocated and frequently enacted violent revolts so as to free Israel from their oppressor’s clutches.
Likewise, the way of Rome was also violent. The Empire brought “peace” through military might and economic oppression.
This leads me to another of my biggest revelations while reading the Gospels and Acts: I was struck by how the Way of and belief in Jesus is nearly always tied to healing, care, feeding, and the like, while the “opposition” (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Roman government) is linked to riots, violence, trials and death. As I read I noted how over and over and over again it says Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God to people, and hand-in-hand with these announcements was healing of the sick, caring for the hurting, feeding of the hungry, understanding for the marginalized, and the like. It was as if the Reign of God and the proclamation of Jesus are intimately and inextricably linked to tangible acts of love … in fact, I’d actually say they are.
This allows me to sum up and conclude my observation of Jesus being harsher than I recalled like this: While the Pharisees thought joy could be found by rigidly obeying the Law, living perfectly and doing things “better”, the Sadducees were pessimists and realists who thought the “best” life had to offer was to settle with the status quo. Meanwhile, the Zealots thought the only route to happiness was to violently overthrow the Romans, who sought “peaceful” and prosperous lives by oppressing and killing others. Jesus’ Way, however is LOVE, which is flexible, hopeful, and actively caring for others with NARY a trace of violence.
Speaking of Jesus’ Way, I think it’s both interesting and important to note the first generation of followers did NOT name, nor really call themselves “Christians” (the term is barely in the Bible at all). They said they were followers of The Way. Over and over and over again, Jesus invited people to “come and follow me.” What does that mean though? What does it mean to “follow” the Christ?
Hmm, having typed that I’m now very aware there’s no way I can fully answer that in a small part of a blog, still I’ll take a stab at a quick and helpful answer. I think following Christ primarily means two things: (1) to be in relationship with Jesus and (2) to do what Jesus does … and the long and short of both of these is LOVE. Love where we lay down our lives in big and small ways for the physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, thriving, and flourishing of others. When we do this here and now we are bringing heaven to earth, we are experiencing and letting others taste the Reign of God on earth as it is in heaven.
This takes many forms: It can be healing someone’s wounds. It could be listening to a person’s problems and struggles. It might be fixing a friend’s car. It can show up as treating an acquaintance to a meal. Along those lines, naming Jesus “Lord” comes up a fair bit in the Gospels, so what does that mean and is it important? Yes, I think it’s vital to confess Jesus is Lord … and I wonder if ANY act of laying down our lives for the benefit, gain, and joy of others and/or trusting in or surrendering to the goodness of the Divine is a proclamation of Christ as Lord? Being a Western Christian my whole life, my experience has been one where a mental and internal belief that Jesus is Lord is the key. I’m not saying that’s not helpful, but after reading the Gospels it seemed to me Jesus cared more about our actions and less about our intellectual furniture, so to speak.
This leads me to one final point/observation. I think following the Way of Jesus is key to having an amazing life right here and right now. The Christ came to bring life and life to the fullest, or more abundantly (John 10.10). My point in saying this is it seemed to me that very little of Jesus’ “heaven” or “hell” talk had to do with a future, post-death reality. Instead, reading the Gospels with history and context in mind, it appeared to me the Christ’s key concern when it came to our lives wasn’t whether we’d go to heaven or hell after we died, but what quality of life we have right here and right now.
I say this because over and over and over again Jesus talks about rich, vibrant, and joy-filled experiences and/or (more frequently it seemed to me) incidents that led to weeping, gnashing of teeth, violence, pain, and the like. Here’s the thing, though, as I read these passages I noticed that quite frequently Jesus coupled the experience with “this generation” and/or context seemed to clearly indicate the Messiah was talking about present or short-term realities.
Here’s where having some knowledge of history becomes helpful. I noticed many passages that I’d traditionally thought or been taught referred to hell as a post-death experience, actually seemed to more clearly and literally apply to life here on earth for people who chose the NON-Jesus Way. Relatedly, “heaven” talk, or a rich, full, and amazing life, also seemed to apply more to the here and now. I say this because the audience Jesus addressed would, in fact, experience the destruction and violence the Messiah spoke of here on earth when Israel later revolted against Rome. The result was quite literally weeping, gnashing of teeth, destruction, dispersion, and pretty much ALL the warnings Jesus gave about “hell”.
That said, I’ll attempt to land the plane so to speak. When we follow the way of the Pharisees (legalism, perfectionism, and exclusion), Sadducees (pessimisms and settling), Zealots (violence), or Rome (violence and oppression) we run counter to Jesus and experience hell here on earth. That said, when we follow the Way of Jesus and freely and fully give our lives to take care of each other physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we love and allow ourselves to be loved, we realize heaven here on earth.
I could say much more, but I think that’s a good stopping point. I hope this helps you on your journey and PLEASE comment and share your thoughts.
If you enjoyed the blog you can sign up on the right for email notifications for future blogs I write, or check out the most recent blogs here. Also, I have a Facebook site named “Beautiful and Broken Becoming Beautiful” where I post encouraging words on living love that I’d love for you to “like.”
Grace and peace,
Lang
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