The Kingdom movement was Jesus’ program of empowerment for a
peasantry becoming steadily more hard-pressed…
Jesus lived, against the systematic injustice and
structural evil of that situation, an alternative open to all who would accept
it; a life of open healing and shared eating, of radical itinerancy,
programmatic homelessness, and fundamental egalitarianism, of human contact
without discrimination and of divine contact without hierarch. He also died for that alternative.
John
Dominic Crossan
______________________________________________
Jesus was a teacher, to be sure
his teachings were rich and deep
pointing those who would hear, toward a whole new way of
doing life
but Jesus was more than a teacher
he was an agitator
his teachings, if actually followed, would have disrupted
both the religious and political hierarchies of his time
but teachings are just teachings
and have little power unless lived
and he lived his teachings
he healed the sick
he sat at the table, and broke bread with anyone who
showed up
Romans, tax collectors, women!!! Oh my God!
he touched lepers
he lived his teachings
and he lived them in an every escalating way
moving from provincial gatherings
to a near riot in the streets of Jerusalem
to an actual act of civil disobedience
in the temple itself
he challenged the status quo
he attacked the structural evil of his time
structural racism (against Samaritans and others)
structural corruption (the money changers)
structural poverty
structural exclusion
Martin Bell catches this aspect of Jesus well
“There he is. In
the temple again
Causing trouble
Speaking very differently from other preachers
Speaking with authority about sorrow, anxiety, sickness
and death
Penetrating the dark corners of human existence
Shattering illusions
Make no mistake about it
This is a dangerous man”
the Kingdom movement was Jesus’ program of empowerment
for the poor
the sick
the oppressed
the rejected
the excluded
and yet
look at what is being said, being done
in “Jesus name”
today
We see people who claim God stand
and not only defend greed, but live it
defend hate, but push it
we see people who claim God not only ignore the pain of
the world
but contribute to it
We see people hate, coerce, oppress, reject, exclude
impoverish, and destroy
in the name of God
we see a church that does not assail the deadly
“structures” of this time
but sustains them
yes, there is a price to pay
for being part of the Jesus movement
always has been
always will be
being a follower is not safe
being part of the movement is costly
uncomfortable
and yet
follow we must
I keep thinking about where Jesus would be today
He would not be a guest speaker at the RNC
or the DNC
he would be in the streets
proclaiming that Black Lives Matter
he would be fighting for universal health care
he would be breaking bread in a homeless shelter
he would be speaking out against all of those things
that are not “of the Kingdom”
he would put his life on the line
for equity and justice
am I willing to follow?
am I willing to put the number of “likes” for my blog at
risk
willing to risk being “unfriended”
willing to have people stop attending my church
willing to be excluded in my community (which is very,
very red)
willing to see my investments implode
for the sake of equity and justice?
am I willing to be part of God’s movement in this world?
Jesus was willing to put his life on the line to change
the structural evil of the world
am I?
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