Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Different Sort of Kingdom

"When I was in Jerusalem I went, as one does, to the garden of Gethsemane; and among the thoughts which struck me very forcibly in that spot was this. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus could have taken two options very different from the one that he did. He could have summoned the twelve legions of angels, literally or (perhaps) metaphorically: if he'd wanted to spring a surprise attack, there would have been hundreds, maybe thousands, who would have rallied to him. All the Jameses and Johns that were crowding Jerusalem for Passover would have produced swords and daggers from under their cloaks, and they might well have got away with it. They might have established a new regime, a Jewish state free from the Romans, no longer ruled by the jumped-up pseudo-aristocrats who held office as chief priests.
But what would that regime have stood for? Loving your enemies? Praying for your persecutors? Not a chance. It would have been yet one more government that started with high ideals and achieved power by compromising them. Whoever's kingdom that would have been, it wouldn't have been the kingdom of God. Not, at any rate, the God who desired to bless all nations through Israel.
Jesus' first option, then, was to lead the revolt. The other option was the quietest one, the option of retreat. He could have left Gethsemane, taken his disciples up and over the Mount of Olives, through Bethany, and down all the way to the Jordan. King David did it in a single night a thousand years before, fleeing from Absalom. He could have been well away from trouble; they could have set up a community in the wilderness, saying the Lord's Prayer three times a day, and waiting for God to do something. Perfectly safe; apparently pure, probably useless.
...Everyone knew that the Messiah should be the triumphant warrior king. Everyone, that is, except Jesus; because he had grasped, or rather been grasped by, a secret-a secret that the Jameses and Johns of the world, the Adolf Hitlers of this world, never ever glimpse in their dreams: the secret that there is a different sort of power, a different sort of Messiah, a different sort of King."
-Following Jesus by N.T. Wright

This is a remarkable quote, and speaks largely for itself(on many levels more than I'll ever be able to expound), but I have a couple of thoughts as I read this minutes ago.

Fight or flight. These are the first responses that take place when faced with stress. These are the natural impulses and they are littered throughout the histories of each country all over the world. For some there are moments where fighting has meant a new era of power and progress and shame for those that have fled. As pointed out in the quote above, a new era was being initiated that could only be foretold by the true prophets(although it clearly did not stick with most people at that time).

While this was definitely not a new concept for me as I read this, I still find it very profound and refreshing to hear this from a more theological perspective rather than simply a liberal perspective. This is very common among more liberal circles and is something that seems to have been run into the ground and allowed for different liberties to be taken. While our modern understanding of this may perceive that Jesus' life was little more of preaching social justice and pacifism by all, we are reminded by theologians that these are the ethos of God's kingdom being brought forth and initiated(as well as handed of) by Jesus. While Jesus healed, silently responded to his attackers, and spoke of the kingdom belonging to the "leasts," he did all with the relationship to God at the forefront. His life should not be reduced to one of social action or teaching people how they can escape this Earth to move onto the next. His was a life that bore much fruit and prospered as a result. It was connected to the source, and was planted on the most fertile ground.

We've come to "make sense" of much of Jesus' life and turn it into something easily attainable for all. What's harder to understand is that His response to those that crucified Him did not make logical sense then and only makes sense now on the other side. The only way to assert complete authority over those with the power is to take on their most absolute punishment and overcome it. In doing so, the Messiah has made fools of the powers that thought they would have the final say. This is the message we carry forward in trying to understand the World as it is today. It is easy to be discouraged and feel that God's pull on the World is "just not what it used to be," but as this is continually put before me I seek to understand that the same God who made everything and declared it good is in control and is over the evil principalities and powers. I so often have no problem seeing God as the Alpha, but I must put faith that God will also be the Omega when everything is said and done.

Thanks be to God!

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