Before we go deeper into our understanding of who Jesus was, let's recap a bit from last week. In an agrarian culture like the Roman Empire, the chasm between the upper and lower classes is larger than nearly every other culture in every other time. The system was designed so that peasants and those beneath them stayed where they were, and never had opportunity to venture into upper class living.
As I noted last week, peasants barely survived. When that becomes your life, and your only hope for life, however, you learn to deal with it. We all learn to deal with the lives we have. Powerless, they were at the mercy(?) of those above them on the social scale. At times - fairly often, actually - the greed of those above would make life unbearable and unsustainable on those below, who funded the rich with their sacrifice.
What do you do when you can't take it anymore?
Some would suggest violence. That did happen on occasion, and always and ultimately ended badly for the Jews in Roman times.
The poor did learn that they had more power than the social charts gave them credit for. Unofficial, of course, but power nonetheless. What power? How did they use it?
The rich knew that the poor were stupid. And lazy. That's just how poor people are. Or were they?
One of the ways the poor had power was in their productivity. Peasants were the people who worked the land to generate grain for trade and food. What if the peasants decided to stop working? What if they decided to stop working around harvest? Peasants could change the pace of their work to make their lives a little more bearable. Some might see them as being lazy. Others shrewd.
At other times, peasants and other lower class dwellers would engage in non-violent protest. They must have heard about Martin Luther King, Jr's success and decided to give it a shot. On several occasions, the lower class would show up in Jerusalem and host a sit-in which would last for days on end. It worked.
There were always people who recognized the injustices of the world and call attention to it. Epictetus was one such man. He was a famous Stoic of his day. He believed that the secret to living life was to not be affected by the world around you. Free from the passions of the world, you can then pursue more noble, ethical and moral paths. Stoics drew attention to social concerns by not being affected by it's corrosive influence. Subtle, but noticeable.
A more aggressive approach was Cynicism. In this mode, people of means would give up their upper class lifestyle and adopt a more liberated existence. They would wear clothes that were made for durability more than fashion. They kept no belongings other than the clothes on their back, a wallet, and a staff. the sleep under the stars. They begged for food. Diogenes was well known for this form of protest. When a person of means embraces the lifestyle of the poor, people notice, because it is a counter-cultural move. Not subtle, and definitely provocative.
Before Jesus' ministry takes center stage in the Gospels, the spotlight is on John the Baptist. He was a famous, charismatic itinerant preacher proclaiming that times were going to change - God was going to be bringing his judgment. Therefore, people had better repent lest they get swept away with all the other wicked people who deserve such punishment. It is often noted that John wore the clothes of a prophet. But the wardrobe also fits the cynic, and so did John's message. John lived off the land, eating locusts and wild honey. His very presence made a statement.
And his location was also provocative. He called people to become baptized - and they did, coming in droves from all over, including outside of what was traditionally considered as Israel. He chose to baptize in the river Jordan - the same river the people of Israel crossed over when they first entered the Promised Land. Hmmm. A guy looks radical, preaches apocalyptic messages alluding to God taking back his land, and people are flocking from across the border to cross the river (as they once did) to be spiritually renewed before entering the land... Nothing suspicious there... Makes his beheading a little easier to understand, doesn't it? He was a protester, and he was rallying people to get ready for something to happen.
Enter Jesus. Another itinerant preacher roaming the countryside, attracting thousands to hear that they matter to God and that this age was coming to an end. Sure, he healed people of all sorts of stuff, and gave ethical teaching, too. But don't miss what is so obvious to the crowd: he was a highly visible peaceful protester rallying people to believe in God for life.
Like Jesus being less than a peasant, I don't remember ever being taught much about Jesus the social activist, the peaceful, nonviolent protester. While we celebrate our freedom of speech and our freedom to assemble, it's not particularly macho. We like to focus on the Jesus depicted as the guy coming back to kick some serious butt. Jesus as John Wayne would play him.
But Jesus didn't play the role like a rough and tough cowboy. He was a straight-talker when he needed to be, but often he used metaphor to force people to think for themselves. He spoke like a millenarian at times, but this is not what compelled most people to follow then or now. I believe his message of love and grace is what won the hearts and minds of thousands yesterday and still today. Part of his message was being with the people whose cause needed the be championed - he lived his words.
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus this year, I wonder who we are in the audience. Some of us are feeling very peasant-like - we are seeing that a system still exists that serves to keep people in their place. We are comforted by Jesus, who is intimately familiar with our plight, our self-loathing, our hopelessness, and chooses to be there with us, conferring value on our lives and being hope. Some of us are wealthy onlookers. We don't want to see this side of Jesus. We ignore this facet, and choose to focus on the kingly stuff - we identify more with royalty. We find Jesus' message penetratingly uncomfortable. All who claim to follow Jesus must take his approach seriously, and ask ourselves whose cause are we championing? Because if we are not doing as Christ, can we really call ourselves little Christs?
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