Why it is that so many people have been drawn to Jesus of Nazareth?
Why still today, 2,000 years after his life on earth, are so many still drawn to him?
Why do people gather on Sunday mornings throughout the world to hear his story and celebrate his presence together in a holy meal?
Why do so many try to put into practice the things he taught?
In this Link we will journey together to look at these questions and find some answers.
Jesus was born 4-7 BCE in the country of Israel, in the Middle East. He was one of several siblings. His brothers are mentioned by name in the New Testament, his sisters are not. His parents were ordinary poor folk who lived under the shadow of the Roman domination system that ruled much of the known world.
He was Jewish; a minority religion of the Middle East that was monotheistic, they believed in One God; Yahweh.
Jesus would have followed the Jewish religious rituals and probably was quite familiar with portions of the Hebrew Scriptures since he would have gathered with others on the Sabbath for prayer, song, lessons and rites of the Jewish faith.
At about age thirty Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan.
Up till then, we know very little about him. But the New Testament Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written in Greek 40 to 60 years after Jesus' death tell the story of how Jesus began to speak as a kind of peasant teacher.
These four writings tell how Jesus gathered followers and formed a small community. They claim that Jesus spoke of the "Kingdom of God," or as some scholars are now translating it: "The Divine Domain." His teachings reflected his Jewish background but spoke to people in a language and style that was powerful and down to earth.
Not everyone liked him. His message confronted those people, religious and secular alike who were in positions of power and abused it.
Marcus Borg, leading Biblical Scholar of our time has outlined a way of seeing Jesus before his resurrection.
Here is a synopsis for reflection.
Jesus was a Jewish mystic.
Mystics are people who have frequent experiences of God. "According to the Gospels he had visions, fasted, spent long hours in prayer, spoke of God in intimate terms and taught the immediacy of access to God."
Jesus was a healer.
Jesus performed paranormal healings and exorcisms. More healing stories are told about Jesus than any other figure in Jewish tradition.
Jesus was a wisdom teacher.
Jesus taught an alternative wisdom to the conventional wisdom of his day. He was called teacher or rabbi by many. The Gospels tell of many occasions where he taught small and large crowds. He taught using stories and parables. The Gospels contain about 50 parables of Jesus according to scholarship. He taught a new identity and a way of being radically centered in God and the Spirit of God. He used the phrase "Kingdom of God" or Kingdom of Heaven often as a metaphor as he taught.
Jesus was a social prophet.
Like Old Testament figures who protested against the economic and political injustice, Jesus spoke out boldly against the domination system of his day: both religious and political. He was a radical critic and for being so, he got into trouble. This is an often overlooked centerpiece of Jesus' life in many churches.
Jesus was a movement initiator.
Jesus attracted many people to his cause - even for the short period of his ministry. It was an inclusive movement that broke many social barriers between men and women, Jew and Gentile. It manifested itself clearly in his table fellowship with all kinds of people who didn't "fit" the social and religious mores of his day.
Some things about Jesus that we often miss:
Jesus was often solitary; though he loved people. He was a part of no class or organization. He was available, never in a hurry, but always on a mission. He was present to people in the here and now.
Jesus probably had no formal training. He learned Scripture passages like anyone else did in those days - at the worship hour. He had no possessions or property. No books or titles. Mark 8:20, Mark 1: 38.
Jesus needed and was friends to men, women, children and strangers. He didn't control others, but helped to liberate others. Luke 8:2-3, John 15: 15, Luke 38:42.
Jesus was not always understood by his disciples, but had no intentions to do without them. He had learned from John the Baptist's experiences that to go it alone is not as successful as operating with others. Mark 8: 32-33, Matthew 18: 1, John 14: 8-9.
Jesus was part of a normal family (Matthew 13: 55-56) but he had a sense of mission (Mark 1: 28, 32-35) He was often in crowds but fled them after he was done preaching or serving them.
More on Jesus
Jesus according to the Gospels proclaimed the Kingdom of God – and by it he meant what the world would look like if God and not Caesar were in charge of the world. In fact, he announced that the true Kingdom was present with him – and even in the people he ministered to! It is breaking into the world and even inside people, he said, and he went about drawing it out of people. He accepted everyone wherever they were on their journey of life. He loved little children and used them as a sign of the Kingdom of love and trust. He touched the “untouchables” and welcomed women to talk with him and be his followers, something not done in his era. He had compassion for the outcasts and knew no boundaries to loving people. He taught people how to give up their grudges and forgive others. He healed people and brought people together. He made it a point to eat with people and made no exceptions as to who those people were: rich, poor, business folk, outcast, peasants. He seemed to have a special place in his heart for the lower class peasants, and definitely for the poor whom he treated with utmost respect.
Jesus is presented in Scripture as the one who shows God in a human face and life. He trusted in his “heavenly Father” so deeply that he was able to live fully – a life of love for everyone he met. His spirituality was transparent to all. The crowds were taken by his kind of prophetic authority and by the good news he brought into their lives, and drew out of their lives. His powerful love made disciples out of listeners, who left all they had and followed him.
In the context of the first century, it became clear that Jesus offered to people an alternative Kingdom from the one Rome proclaimed. Rome’s Kingdom was one of religion, war, and then peace. Rome even called its Emperor’s “Son of God.” The Kingdom Jesus proclaimed and lived out, was one of unconditional love, justice, and then peace – for all. In the end, Jesus was so deeply rooted in God’s love that he spoke up boldly for justice, without fear, and ended up getting executed by the State –crucified on a cross by the agents of Rome who saw Jesus as a trouble-maker and traitor.
Jesus’ disciples, while at first dismayed and fearful after the crucifixion of Jesus, experienced something that changed their lives forever: the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was not dead and buried and useless, but alive to them and to the world in a new and vibrant way. And so, the church continues on, as followers, disciples, and ambassadors of Jesus, strengthened by his resurrection presence in various ways. And the Kingdom of love, justice and peace for all continues to be proclaimed and enacted by Christians who still follow the God they experience in Jesus life, teachings, death and resurrection today.