Jesus' Wedding Gift

"The Wedding Feast at Cana"
Julius S. von Carosfeld, 1819

Following his baptism in the Jordan River and his 40-day-and night struggle with Satan in the wilderness, the 30-year-old Jesus is now ready to begin his public ministry. But what a way to begin! Jesus surely did not consult with marketing experts on how to launch a campaign. This is not the kind of publicity blitz we are used to in the Nation’s Capital.

In John’s Gospel (2:1-11) we read about Jesus’ first miracle in the town of Cana, a city only mentioned in this story in the New Testament. Biblical scholars believe this small village was about nine miles north of Nazareth, so it was clearly not a major urban center. Why does Jesus perform his first miracle here? Once again it is clear that God’s ways are not our ways.

We know from historical studies of this time period that wedding feasts in the first century ordinarily lasted seven days. To help you imagine what the context was like, think of the wedding feast in “Fiddler on the Roof,” where the bridegroom and his wedding party make a gala procession to get the bride and her friends and then return with them to the house of the groom for a feast that could last for a full week with wine and food and lots of dancing. Weddings in small villages in Galilee brought lots of life to an otherwise drab existence for poor peasants.

"Fiddler on the Roof"
movie wedding, 1971

It is reasonable to assume that Jesus’ family knows the groom or bride since his mother is invited as well as Jesus and his disciples. The disciples would not be a part of this celebration if there were not some personal connection to the wedding party. The fact that Joseph is not mentioned after the family’s return from Egypt leads most Biblical scholars to believe he died earlier and Jesus may have been acting as the head of the family at this event.

It also occurred to me that for those disciples of Jesus who had previously been followers of John the Baptist, the contrast between John the Baptist and his desert diet and animal-skin clothes and this celebration would have been a remarkable change-of-pace.

As the wedding celebration continued, Jesus’ mother - who is not identified by name in this story, but neither is the bride or groom – informs him, “They have no wine” (v. 3). Why does Mary tell Jesus this? What does she expect him to do? It is hard to imagine what Jesus thinks after his mother tells him this. What if he choose not to respond? These are some of the many questions for which there are simply no answers.

What we do know is that Jesus decides to respond. Although he refused to turn stones into bread in the wilderness, as Satan requested, this time he orders the servants to fill the jars with water and this water turns into high-quality wine. This is not the last time that Jesus changed his plans to accommodate the wishes of someone else.

John makes clear in his Gospel that the wine comes from huge jugs, normally approximately 20-30 gallons in size, that are located near the front of the house and are used by observant Jews for ceremonial washing before they enter a home and eat a meal. Philip Yancey suggests that “Jesus, perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, transformed those jugs, ponderous symbols of the old way, into wineskins, harbingers of the new.” Jesus’ miraculous action is a powerful sign that the old religious practices are coming to an end and new Kingdom values are being revealed in Jesus. By the way, the wine Jesus made was excellent and the hosts and guests know it, although they do not know where it came from. It’s a great wedding present!

During the next year of his life, word will spread across the country about this new rabbi, this miracle-worker, and crowds will flock to him, but Jesus knows right from the start, witnessing miracles does not always result in faith. This miracle is a sign for his new disciples that Jesus has extraordinary power and John notes that “His disciples believed in him” (v. 11).

God is a “God of surprises” and we see this right from the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. This miracle of turning water into wine occurs in an obscure out-of-the-way town, not in Jerusalem where the powerbrokers could see his power and be impressed. This first miracle appears to be an act of mercy and the disciples are there to witness it. It will be the first of many.

So What?

• It is so striking to me that Jesus begins his ministry with such a humble act of mercy, without drawing attention to himself and what he has done. Only a few know who brought – or made - the new wine; not the host or the bride and bridegroom. Just the servants, his mother Mary and his new disciples. He is the promised Messiah, but one who is humble, compassionate, and merciful. There is no other religion that believes in a God like this!

• It takes imagination to be able to put yourself into this first century Palestinian context, but if you can envision this scene, it helps you understand the radical character of what Jesus did and how he did it. Can you picture a scene like this in our time? What would it be like?

Tempting Jesus

Several years ago, I was leading a group of Americans on a tour through the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. This gallery is the leading collection of Russian art in the world, established by a Russian merchant, Pavel M. Tretyakov, who donated his well-known collection of art to the Russian nation in 1892. As we walked through the Gallery, I was especially drawn to a remarkable painting by Ivan N. Kramskoy entitled “Christ in the Wilderness.” Unlike many western paintings of Jesus in which he looks like a 1960s hippie in a perfectly clean white robe with bright blue eyes and a smile, Kramskoy’s portrayal is of Jesus evidently struggling with the evil that he faced as he announced his public ministry. Here is indeed “a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering (Isaiah 53:3).”

This painting made me contemplate the depth of Jesus’ suffering in a way that I had not thought of before. I have to admit that I never really thought very much about this event in Jesus’ life and often quickly read through the story of his temptation by Satan in the Judean wilderness. The painting prompted me to think more deeply about this experience of Jesus that immediately followed his baptism in the Jordan River.

Being baptized signifies that we have been set apart or called for service in God’s Kingdom and, once we understand this calling, a wilderness lies ahead. Challenges will come our way because Satan wants us to deny that we are really followers of Jesus. Baptism and wilderness are connected. Matthew, Mark and Luke all describe Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness and I would encourage you to read these three short reports (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13).

The Gospel writers draw parallels between the experience of Adam in the Garden of Eden and Jesus in the wilderness. In Genesis, God creates the world and makes man and woman in his own image and then notes that his creation is “good,” even “very good.” Adam and Eve have a special relationship with God and shortly after they are created, Satan interjects himself, tempts them and leads them to disobey God. Satan does this by raising doubts about whether or not God can be trusted.

In a similar pattern, God moves again in history and sends his own son to earth as the Messiah and immediately announces “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Shortly after, Satan appears to tempt Jesus. Three times Satan tries to raise doubt in Jesus’ mind about whether he can trust God. 

In Western culture, people are skeptical about the existence of the demonic. For many, any belief in the supernatural is quickly dismissed. The Bible, however, makes it clear that there are very real forces of evil in our world and these forces are cruel, complex and often well disguised. That’s what Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden and what Jesus faced in the desolate wilderness of Judea.

Throughout Jesus’ life, he was assaulted by Satan and we also face similar attacks, often very subtle. For Jesus, the ultimate attack comes in the Garden of Gethsemane, another Garden where Jesus begins his final journey to the cross, where he pays the ultimate price for the sin of Adam and Eve.

Kramskoy’s painting makes the sorrow and pain that Jesus knew he would face in the next few years very real. It also should be a warning to us. Like Adam and Eve, we are often afraid to trust God and some of us don’t trust anybody. But Jesus’ death on the cross has given us a defense against Satan. If we trust in Jesus as our King, we have a defense against Satan that can withstand his deceit and his lies.

Now God’s words about Jesus at his baptism – “with him I am well pleased” – can be about us as well if we follow Jesus and resist Satan’s temptations that will surely result in our demise.

So What?

• It is important when reading the Bible that we remember some of the main story-lines – the “big picture.” Satan is the father of evil and he is a liar who is out to oppose followers of God and to deceive us. Getting people to be skeptical about the supernatural, about the existence of the father of evil – this is what Satan does. It is good that we believe in God, but it is also important that we understand God’s enemy, Satan.

• Art is such a powerful medium for communicating significant truths about our world. Have you ever had an experience like the one I shared about Kramskoy’s painting?

• The only way we know about Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness is that he shared this with his disciples. Can you imagine what they thought when he told them about his experience with Satan? 

• After Jesus is baptized, he is immediately challenged by Satan during his forty days in the wilderness. That seems to be a pattern that many of us have faced. We make a faith commitment, we decide to change our habits and live a faithful life – and immediately we are faced with a serious challenge designed to make us revert back to our old life. Often this challenge from Satan is to make us doubt God’s trustworthiness or to encourage us to be so self-centered that there is little room for God in our small world. Have you experienced this?

Jesus' Baptism: Why?

Sometimes I think I ask too many questions when I read the Bible. As I was studying Jesus’ early life and his decision to “go public” at the age of thirty, I wondered why Jesus decided to be baptized by John the Baptist. Why would the Son of God, who was without sin, seek out his cousin, the prophet who lived in the wilderness, to baptize him? Why did he need to be baptized?

19th Century Russian
Painting: Jesus' Baptism

It is interesting to note that Jesus’ baptism is recorded by all four Gospel writers – one of the very few events before the last week of his life that all the Gospels describe, some in more detail than others. Take a few minutes to read these four accounts – you might be surprised what you find: Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1: 2-13; Luke 3:21-23; and John 1:29-39.

Biblical scholars estimate that the journey from Jesus’ small, obscure town of Nazareth to the Jordan River, where John was baptizing many people, would have taken 10-14 days on foot. What many of us in the West fail to realize is that Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River has great significance. For first century Jews, ritual immersion in water, particularly “living water,” was very important. The purest form of “living water” was rainfall and therefore, by definition, any lake or river was considered “living water.”

The choice of baptism by John in the Jordan River was important because it was “living water” to the Jews and Jesus would use this term in reference to himself on several occasions. In addition, the Jordan was the river where God blocked the water flow so Joshua and the Israelites could cross the river and enter the Promised Land many centuries earlier. For Jews it was not only that “living water” of the Jordan River was important to their religious life, but also a reminder that God keeps his promises as he did with Moses and Joshua.

When Jesus went to John the Baptist, he was not seeking ritual purification, but rather was using this event to announce the beginning of his public ministry. At thirty years of age, he had reached his “age of authority” in Jewish society and now this unknown young man from Nazareth was “going public.”

As I read these four accounts of Jesus’ baptism, I noticed that Jesus does not ask John to baptize him, but simply joins a line of others who are waiting to be baptized by this courageous and stern prophet. John the Baptist has attracted many followers and is a powerful figure by this time, yet when he sees Jesus he humbles himself and says “I am not worthy to untie his shoe,” and becomes the first witness to clearly state who Jesus really is - “the Lamb of God” and “the Son of God” (John 1:29 and 34).

When Jesus emerges from the water, while praying, the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove. A voice from heaven announces, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22). Don’t miss this important part of the baptism – all three persons of the Trinity are clearly seen here. The presence of the Holy Spirit is critical because of the Spirit’s role in equipping Jesus for the challenges that lay ahead of him.

When Jesus submits himself to John’s baptism, he identifies with all of us. This baptism is the first step toward his painful death on the cross. He submits to baptism for sins he never commits and three years later dies on the cross for our sins, so all of us can be forgiven.

My former pastor, Craig Barnes, points out that at the beginning of the Bible God spoke frequently, but as the Old Testament moves on, God’s words are much harder to come by. Then, for 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, there are long periods of silence from God. But the birth of Jesus changes all this and when Jesus is baptized, God roars from heaven: “This is my Son.”

By sending his Son who would suffer and die for our sins, God demonstrates his great love for us and clearly states his desire that we were loved by him. If we can’t hear this, it may be because we are choosing not to respond to his offer of a new life.

So What?

• Jesus’ baptism is so much more than fulfilling a religious requirement. Jesus is announcing his public ministry, but also identifying with all of us and our sinfulness. This demonstrates so much about Jesus’ character and his love for those who will follow him.

• Consider the thoughts that are possibly going through Jesus’ mind as he is baptized by John. He knew he has much suffering to endure and this is just the beginning. Yet he humbles himself and identifies with sinners. Thank you, Lord, for your love for us and for sacrificing yourself for our sins.

• Sometimes we can feel as if God is silent and non-responsive to our prayers. But this baptism of Jesus and his endorsement by God the Father is clear evidence of God’s message to us that we are loved. Maybe we need to pay closer attention and listen to God’s message to us that he loves us -- as evidenced in the gift of his Son who paid for our sins. God is speaking to us everyday and his grace is a daily reminder of how much he loves us.

Growing Up: Jesus' Youth and Early Adulthood

In an earlier post, “A Surprise Birth” (April 11, 2011) that describes the miraculous birth of Jesus, I comment that the “God of the Bible is a God of surprises. The God of the Bible is not predictable and rarely does things the way I would do them!” As I study the four Gospels and reflect on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the same thoughts come to mind.

"The Flight Into Egypt,"
Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1515)

I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, but many times I wonder why God chose to have its writers include some events and ignore others. For example, only two of the four Gospel writers (Matthew and Luke) even describe the birth and childhood of Jesus and there is very little information at all about his first thirty years. Why is that the case? And what is the significance of the few events that are recorded?

Following Jesus’ birth, we know that his parents faithfully followed Jewish religious practices. We know from the second chapter of Luke that Joseph and Mary had Jesus circumcised eight days after his birth and gave him the name that the angel told to Joseph and Mary. Then, forty days later after his birth, the parents returned to the Temple where they offered a sacrifice for Mary’s “purification” and then dedicated their son to the Lord. Two separate trips to Jerusalem and three religious rituals – all diligently carried out according to Jewish religious requirements.

Then there is a silence about Jesus’ life for 12 years. The only thing we know about this early period in Jesus’ life is recorded in Matthew, who shares the story of a visit by an angel to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take his wife and young son and flee to Egypt because Herod the Great is searching for Jesus in order to kill him.

We don’t know how long Joseph, Mary and Jesus were exiled in Egypt, but after Herod died an angel once again appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him he could now return to Israel. Once again, I wonder why this exile of Jesus isn’t even mentioned by the other Gospel writers. Of course we don’t know the answer to this question, but it does explain to me part of the reason why the Christian faith is spreading rapidly in the developing world where poor people are often forced to flee their home country and can identify with Jesus and his parents as they faced the same desperate situation.

Jesus grew up in an obscure town in Galilee, Nazareth – a town never even mentioned in the Old Testament. Matthew breaks off his brief story of Jesus’ youth and early adulthood after their return to Galilee, but Luke adds one other famous story – Jesus’ visit to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Luke makes it clear that Jesus’ parents were very conscientious Jewish believers who went from Nazareth to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. When Jesus was twelve years old, he was now of the age when he could begin participating in this religious festival.

"Jesus Among the Teachers,"
Vasiliy Polenov (c. 1896)

I think many of you know this story. As the religious ceremonies come to an end, Mary and Joseph start on their way back to Nazareth assuming Jesus is with their family and friends who travel together as a community. When they discover Jesus is missing, they return to Jerusalem and find him in the Temple listening to the rabbis and asking them questions.

In Michael Card’s commentary on Luke, he points out that many Renaissance paintings of this famous scene lead you to believe that this precocious boy Jesus is doing all the teaching! Luke doesn’t say this, although he does highlight the fact that the participants were “amazed at his understanding and his answers” and his parents were “astonished.” (Luke 2:47-48).

Following this one event in Jesus’ life, his teenage years and early adulthood are simply ignored by all the Gospel writers. Now, for another eighteen years, Jesus’ personal history disappears from the Biblical story. The only new thing we learn is Luke’s comment that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

This leaves a great deal of mystery about Jesus’ youth and early adulthood, about his family, his siblings, his work and his own understanding of his mission. The conversation in the Temple, when Jesus tells his parents he is in “my Father’s house,” gives us some sense that he is becoming aware of his role.

Why the “God of surprises” chose to reveal to us only limited knowledge of Jesus’ early life is a mystery – one of many in Scripture. What seems to be clear, however, is that Jesus’ parents raised him in a deeply religious home and that he was thoroughly grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures.

So What?

• While we don’t know much about Jesus’ early history, we do have some understanding of the context of his life in first century Palestine. It may be hard for us in the West to identify with this kind of life, but many people in the developing world surely can!

• The fourfold description that Luke gives us about how “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (2:52) is a great way to think about a balanced life – the intellectual, physical, spiritual and social dimensions. Marge and I took a year-long Sunday School on these four facets of human development based on this passage and it served us very well in parenting our large family and keeping these in mind as we set goals for them. By the way, these four dimensions are also highlighted in Stephen Covey’s best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Habit #7: “Sharpening the Saw.”

Jesus' "Competition" - Tiberius, the Roman Emperor

Statue of Tiberius

Jesus had lots of competition. When he traveled around Judea and Galilee preaching about the “Kingdom of God,” his listeners had to evaluate this message in the context of their own political realities. As I shared with you in my last entry, the names of Herod the Great and his sons would immediately come to mind, because this powerful man and his family claimed to be “King of the Jews” and he had the power to back up his claims.

But there was another dominant power that people in 1st century Palestine lived under and they must have wondered what this rabbi was talking about when he described the “Kingdom of God.” How did this Kingdom match up with that of Rome?

It’s time for a short history lesson. For several hundred years, Rome had been increasing in power and prestige and expanding its borders throughout the Mediterranean region. While there had been tyrants in Rome when it first emerged as a political power, Roman leaders eventually developed a system of checks and balances that ensured no one would gain absolute control.

But this changed in the century before Jesus’ birth. Julius Caesar became a military hero on the battlefield and, at the height of his military success, he returned to Rome with his army and established himself as emperor. He also encouraged Romans to think of him as a divine ruler.

Opponents had him assassinated in 44 BC and a long and bloody civil war followed. The winner of this civil war was Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian. He took the title “Augustus” (which means “majestic”) and became known as “Caesar Augustus.” Caesar Augustus declared that his adoptive father, Julius, was divine, so this meant that he was the “son of god.” Anywhere you traveled in the Roman Empire during this time, the politically correct answer to the question “Who is the son of god?” was “Caesar Augustus.”

Caesar Augustus also took on a priestly role and became known as pontifex maximus (“chief priest” in Latin). N. T. Wright points out that court poets during this time made Caesar Augustus out to be an emperor who would bring in a “golden age.” By the way, the writers of the American constitution borrowed a phrase from these Roman poets – novus ordo seclorum, “a new order of the ages” – and this appears on the Great Seal of the United States and on our one dollar bill!

Roman coin with Tiberius' image

When Caesar Augustus died in 14 AD, his successor Tiberius worked hard to continue the memory of his predecessor as a divine figure, so he could make the same claims to be the “son of god.” Roman coins in Jesus’ day showed Tiberius on one side as Caesar and on the other side as “chief priest.” When Jewish leaders asked Jesus what to do about paying taxes to Rome and showed him a coin with these two engravings, you can now better appreciate the challenge this presented.

There is no way Jesus could have avoided this “competition.” He was proclaiming the coming of a new kingdom, but any potential new kingdom would be viewed as a threat by Herod and his supporting elites, as well as by Tiberius and his regional political appointees. Like today’s Middle East, Palestine in the 1st century was a cauldron of political movements with loyal supporters of the status quo, diverse oppositional parties, and those who tried to simply survive the harsh character of their life under foreign occupation. Jesus’ claims added new questions to all of this!

I had the chance this week to talk about some of these issues with Michael Card, the composer/writer/biblical scholar, and we discussed how this situation is not unlike what we face today. Jesus was preaching about the “Kingdom of God” and encouraging his followers to find their identity in this “Kingdom.” They had a identity crisis facing them – were they going to worship the “son of god” from Rome (Tiberius) or the powerful regional ruler (Herod the Great and his surviving sons) or this new rabbi Jesus? To whom would they attach their identity?

Jesus made it clear that God the Father wanted his people to identify with his plans, his “Kingdom,” and he told them what this meant. He laid out his radical “kingdom message” that, among other things, included not just the healthy and wealthy, but also the poor and disadvantaged, Gentiles, women, Roman centurions, tax collectors, and people who suffered with sicknesses and blindness. This same invitation has been extended to us!

So What?

• Whether we live in America or Russia or anywhere else, there are many pressures on us to place our identity - our meaning - on some person, some ideology, or some political party; or maybe just on our family or ethnic community. Jesus’ “kingdom message” is to place our primary identity here – as a citizen of the “Kingdom of God.” Any other claims on us, if we are followers of Jesus, simply don’t match up to this!


• What would it mean if we began to live as “Kingdom citizens” and no longer found our primary identity in a political party, a social group, or our professional achievements? Of course we find some comfort (at least at times!) in being identified with the country where we live, but Jesus’ message of the “Kingdom of God” teaches us to lay this identity aside and put our true commitments into building God’s Kingdom “on earth, as it is in heaven.”


• I hope these last few entries have helped you to see the importance of biblical context in understanding biblical content. This study has helped me and I have enjoyed sharing what I learned with you. Your response or comments are welcomed.


• Jesus’ response to the Jewish leaders about paying taxes was brilliant. We need to remember this on April 15 and throughout the year as we pay our government taxes owed and consider our contributions to “Kingdom of God” ministries.

Jesus' "Competition" - Herod the Great

When Jesus began his public ministry and gathered his group of twelve disciples around him, the Gospels tell us that his message was the “good news” of a new kingdom – the Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23-25; Luke 4:42-44).  What did this mean to people living in first century Palestine?

Herod the Great

If you take a tour of the “Holy Land” today, it is remarkable how often the name of Herod the Great comes up.  Many tourists who come to Israel to learn more about Jesus often are surprised that they hear more about Herod the Great and see evidence of his many incredible building projects.  During Jesus’ time, if anyone was “King of the Jews,” it was Herod!

When the Romans conquered Palestine and seized Jerusalem in 63 BC, lead by their famous general Pompey, they chose to identify local elites who would rule new territories for them and collect taxes on their behalf.  When Pompey was killed several years later and Julius Caesar was assassinated, a civil war erupted and Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian, emerged as the Roman emperor.  

Herod was a shrewd political leader and he seized this opportunity -- choosing to ally himself with the winning side in this Roman civil war -- and was appointed by Octavian as “King of Judea.”  Once the civil war ended and political stability was restored, Herod had all the political backing he needed from Rome and he launched a series of amazing public building projects that clearly established him as the primary political force in Palestine.   Remnants of these remarkable creations tourists are shown when they travel to Israel hoping to experience the “Holy Land” during Jesus’ time.

Herod’s rebuilding of the Temple was clearly one major achievement, designed to firm up his political support among Jewish leaders.  Solomon’s temple, built one thousand years earlier, was now recreated by Herod who employed 1,000 priests as masons and carpenters.  Today only the four retaining walls remain standing, including the Western wall, often called the Wailing Wall.

Masada

In addition, Herod built fortresses, such as Masada and Herodium – both amazing architectural achievements, constructed aquaducts that brought water to Jerusalem, and founded a new port city, Caesarea, on the Mediterranean coast where no city previously stood and where obstacles to building on a barren shore needed to be creatively overcome.

Herod’s career gradually went into decline and, having gained absolute power, the power corrupted him absolutely; like many dictators, he became increasingly paranoid.  Not only did he order the murder of all the babies in Bethlehem in a cruel effort to eliminate a potential new king he had heard about through wise men from the East, he also ordered the execution of his own wife and children.  Following his death at 70 years of age, two of his remaining sons became the rulers of regions in Palestine – Herod Archelaus in Judea and Samaria and Herod Antipas in Galilee.

The story of Herod the Great and his sons is important background to the life of Jesus because when Jesus traveled through Judea and Galilee preaching about a new kingdom, the people knew he was directly competing with Herod who was clearly “King of the Jews.”  Herod rebuilt the Temple – could Jesus match this?  Herod brought peace and stability, at least for the ruling elites – could Jesus do this?

The Kingdom of God that Jesus announced was a threat to Jewish leaders who had become collaborators with their Roman overlords.  Jesus was making clear links to Old Testament prophecies that said when God establishes his Kingdom on earth, the result will be justice, peace (shalom), and the removal of corruption and oppression.  This made them increasingly nervous and fearful that the people would rally behind this new teacher.

Jesus did not start a new political movement. He did preach about the Kingdom of God and taught his followers to put their allegiance, their faith, in God, not in authoritarian political rulers who oppressed the poor and vulnerable.  His was a risky campaign – to declare that a new Kingdom was established and that God, not Herod or the Romans, was the true and only sovereign ruler.

So What?

• Although Jesus’ teaching and commandments to his followers were not designed to create a political movement, Christians throughout history have often suffered for their faith when living under authoritarian rulers.  Dictators, such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung, were threatened because Christians refused to make them the sovereign authority in their lives.  Many followers of Jesus died as a result.  The same is true with today’s dictators.

• Even in our democratic system, followers of Jesus can be viewed as a threat by others because they refuse to “bow down” to political leaders and their fanatical supporters.  If we declare that “Jesus is Lord,” all other claims on our allegiance are limited.

• Our challenge, as followers of Jesus, is to put our confidence in God alone and to reject any personal tendency or push from others to make a political ideology – of the left or the right – the place where we put our hopes.

Foreign Occupation

Caesar Augustus

One of the most important realities that sets the context for Jesus’ life and ministry is the fact that Jews in Palestine in the first century were living under foreign military rule. Palestine was part of the Roman Empire. The powerful presence of military forces and political rules closely tied it to Rome. Rome’s constant demand for more taxation was a feature of Jewish life that Jesus knew very well.

Historical reminder: 150 years out of 2,000 years of Old Testament history, the Jews were a marginalized, powerless people, often caught between hostile and aggressive empires in Egypt, Persia and Greece. The last books in the Old Testament dealt with this region as part of the Persian Empire. The New Testament, which picks up the story of the Jews 400 years later, presupposes the dominating presence of the Romans.

Here are some examples that highlight this Roman dominance in Jesus’ life and New Testament times:

• Luke tells us that Jesus’ birth was connected with the decree by Emperor Augustus “that all the world should be enrolled.”

• Jesus grew up in a land where the propriety of paying taxes to Rome was a live and contentious political and theological issue.

• It was a Roman magistrate who sentenced Jesus to death.

• Jesus’ execution was carried out in a brutal Roman style normally reserved for rebels and political enemies of Rome.

• Paul, a Roman citizen by birth, was a carrier of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, even to Rome itself, where he was executed.

• The early church faced terrible persecution from Rome, as the Apostle Paul warned would happen.

• Finally, Revelations -- authored by John, one of Jesus’ disciples -- presents an image of the Roman Empire as a seven-headed monster waging war against the people of God!

Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans

The first major encounter Jews had with the Romans occurred in 63 B.C. when the Roman army, under the leadership of Pompey, besieged Jerusalem. After three months, they breached its massive walls, stormed the Temple grounds, slaughtered the priests who continued their worship in the Temple as if no war were underway, and then entered the sacred “Holy of Holies,” an event the Jews refer to as the “Abomination.”

Following the occupation of Palestine, Rome initially granted freedom of religion, but over time “the Imperial Cult of Rome” took over and “No God but Caesar” became the reality of the day.

We need to keep this in mind as we consider Jesus’ life and times. Because those of us in modern North America have never experienced foreign military rule like this, it is hard for us to imagine what it was like and what challenges it presented to people trying hard to eke out a living, pay burdensome taxes, and were now hearing the “gospel of peace (shalom)” from Jesus.

For the people who lived in Palestine, their land had been ruled for 650 years by the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. There was a deep longing for liberation among the Jews, for a king who would break the chains of their oppression and end the occupation. When would God hear their prayers and give them freedom, like God did when their ancestors were slaves in Egypt? When would a new “King David” appear? In this context, how was Jesus’ message heard?

So What?

• As many of you know, I love history and politics – these were my undergraduate majors and I did a doctorate in this field as well.  But that’s not why I am highlighting this facet of Jesus’ life.  My concern is that we often read the Bible without seriously considering the context of the stories we read.  Jesus was a Jew whose life unfolded in turbulent times and he was not oblivious to this reality.  I will try to illustrate the importance of this in the weeks to come.

• It is a joy for me to see new dimensions of the biblical story when I learn more about the world in which Jesus lived. It’s amazing to see how it opens up new (to me) biblical truths in my own, very different context. I hope you have the same experience! I would love to have you share with me some of the insights you gain.