October
2006
Politics of Jesus
This past week I gave a talk in Orange County titled “They Took Away My Jesus.” I told my audience at Chapman University that one of the more curious developments in “Christian” America is how little attention is paid to the Jesus who the gospels say had compassion for the suffering multitudes–the Jesus who ministered to the sick, associated with the outcasts, brought good news to the poor, and challenged unjust power at every turn. I said that people who want to consider themselves disciples of this Jesus today might want to pay a bit more attention to the substance of his life and ministry: to the redemptive life and not just to the redemptive death.
I don’t know how much of what I was saying sank in. My goal was to get my listeners to see the two salient aspects of contemporary American Christianity that, to my mind at least, represent distortions if not actual heresies: an extremely individualistic focus on personal salvation and an End Times obsession that virtually ignores the significance of Jesus’ first coming in its preoccupation with his second coming “in judgment.” You can read the text of my remarks by clicking here.
In Orange County I was careful to add that I believe the cross is indispensable to a full understanding of the meaning of Jesus Christ and that to set aside the cross completely and put all the focus on the image of the common table is a serious error. But I also invited my listeners to consider the difference between the Mel Gibson treatment of sacrificial atonement and Rene Girard’s notion that what the cross is about is God’s generosity, not God’s anger, and Christ’s acceptance of violence for the sake of ending violence. I also asked them to reflect on what is to me the profound significance of the fact that Greek word for “forgiveness” used in relation to the forgiveness of sins is the very same word that also denotes literal release debt peonage, slavery, and other forms of oppression. In other words, I asked them to see Jesus in the all-important context of the Jubilee tradition that shaped him and that he himself claims will be the hallmark of his ministry when he stands and reads the Isaiah scroll in his home synagogue (Luke 4).
Why does any of this matter? It matters because in an overwhelmingly Christian country, what people think about God and Christ has important real-world consequences. Quite clearly, if nearly 60% of American Christians think that God is primarily a God of wrath, and that God needed to work out his anger on the body of his only son, that belief will have real consequences for family dynamics and a whole lot of other things. Likewise, if more than half of American Christians think the Rapture could happen at any time, or that Armageddon is a good thing because it will hasten the reign of Christ, such beliefs will affect the country’s foreign and military policies, not to mention its environmental practice.
But beliefs about Jesus also matter in the much more immediate way of how they shape understandings of everyday discipleship. If the central meaning of “I am a Christian” is that I am saved from my personal sin and will enjoy eternal salvation, there’s not that much need to change my life at a profound level. But if the central meaning is that I have been released from my self-absorbed former life so that I can serve my neighbors and be about the work of justice and peace, obviously that will have a transformative effect in a society where privatized getting and spending represents the dominant operative faith.
And so I welcome any turn toward contemplation of the great missing figure in American Christianity, namely Jesus of Nazareth.
In this regard I can recommend a newly published book by Obery Hendricks, Jr., of the New York Theological Seminary. Titled The Politics of Jesus, Hendricks’ book puts Jesus back into his historical context as a social revolutionary. Readers wedded to a spiritualized meek-and-mild Jesus will undoubtedly be deeply provoked by what Hendricks is up to, but they will find little to fault in his scholarship. Let the debate rage on, I say: whatever it takes to remind people, as Bill Coffin used to say, that Jesus was more than a prophet but certainly no less than a prophet. Whatever it takes to remind people that Jesus raised a few questions, shall we say, about our addictions to war, violence, and wealth. Whatever it takes to remind people that the American “prosperity gospel” is in fact no gospel at all.
- Peter Laarman
The desire to see the end of the world fulfilled is an unholy desire. This desire can be called the Gospel of Darkness …
Amos 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
The Jesus of American Christianity is such a bitter irony, is He not? How did my Jesus come to be used as a bolster for the power structure instead of the reason to critique it?
Having spent the last few days looking for people online who have an understanding of spirituality and politics similar to mine, I am so pleased to find this - a message of compassion instead of wrath.
I love what you say in your speech, referred to above: “I believe that forgiveness lies at the heart of Jesus’ ministry and mission. The corrective I would introduce, however, is a broader understanding of what forgiveness means. It means release from all forms of oppression: release from bondage to sin and guilt, certainly, but also from all other forms of bondage—from social exclusion, from economic exploitation and scarcity, and from spiritual blindness of all kinds.”
Yes! Amen!
Thank you also for mentioning Jesus’ statement of purpose, in Luke 4. I too have taken that as my purpose/mission statement, to keep me on track whether in my foray into Canadian politics, in my profession, or in my own writings.
Again, thank you. I am encouraged.
So, if America is to be taken back for Christ how do the Evangelicals explain that the lion did not yet lie down with the lamb? Oh, wait, sorry, that happens when Jesus actually arrives and brings peace on earth; so what Kingdom then ARE the Evangelicals talking about? Ahh! THEIR KINGDOM, not Christ’s, I see!
Instead, the Evangelicals are getting ready to sharpen their swords instead of turning them into plowshares, and sharpen their spears instead of turning them into pruning hooks. There’s something terribly wrong here. Something here does not make any sense whatsoever.
NEWS FLASH!!!
I have sad news for the entire civilized world: Christmas is dead! Sorry, but the Evangelicals ruined it for everyone and the spirit of Christmas has been killed! Now I never much liked Christmas myself and being a Christian I guess that would make me a, uhhh, a Scrooge or something, but, the Evangelicals have gone farther than anything I ever said or did or wrote about the evils of a materialistic Christmas holiday.
You see, they can no longer say “Peace on earth and good will towards all men.” They are building tanks, gathering nuclear weapons, and planning to take over the world. Their motto is now “Hell on earth and to hell with all men.” Yes, Christmas is dead! Why should the holiday continue if the message has changed?
We’ll have some very destructive surprises in our presents this holiday season! Beware of what will be put in your stockings, you might find a severed head! If you’re lucky it will be your own head in the stocking because like they say, some things are worse than death!
Wait! This just in! The Evangelicals do indeed plan to celebrate the Christmas Season! They just won’t be inviting any Muslims to their gatherings! Everything will be celebrated just as they have been for as long as any Evangelical can remember, with just several minor differences:
1) Christmas trees will be replaced by nuclear warheads, and the Evangelicals now want to be known as The People From Beneath the Planet of the Apes!
2) All the children will receive presents that are associated with war: guns, bombs, knives, and not to mention a promised bed during the summer at the nearest Jesus Camp.
3) Any T-shirts must have the words, “My Dad Is In The Army” printed across the chest area.
4) All parents will betray their children, all children will betray their parents, and all brothers will give up their brothers to be imprisoned, persecuted and slaughtered.
So, Merry Christmas to everyone! And to all a very good night! And sleep well!
And don’t worry about the sound coming from your chimneys, it’s just a Christian invading your home with a knife in his teeth and a great big ho-ho-ho to wake you from your candy-filled dreams.
(*Shiver*)
I don’t think my extremely sarcastic comments belong here on this page. Please remove them if you like and move on with your conversation. My commentary has a bit too much bite for many people’s taste and I wouldn’t be offended if it were removed. I’ll try to keep my absurdist-statements within the confines of my own irreverent blog from now on.
http://christianprisoners.blogspot.com/
I hope Nate won’t think his comments are too biting for these pages. I don’t think they are. “Withering” or “vivid” language is quite welcome as far as I’m concerned, and sarcasm usually denotes the presence of subject matter that warrants a certain amount of scorn.
WHERE IS THE WHOLE PACKAGE???
The Evangelicals are pushing the idea of Armageddon but they haven’t identified the other culprits in The Great Christian Holocaust to come. I mean, we can talk about the Jews being killed and placed in ovens during World War II and how horrible it was. But here come the Fundies and they’re celebrating and jumping up and down like children in a playground, announcing The Great Battle To End All Battles, and how they’re gonna make sure it happens. Well, where are the other players in this evil scheme.?
Who is the AntiChrist? Who is the False Prophet? Do the Fundies have the answers to these questions as well? What city is the Whore of Babylon where the Saints will get their heads chopped off? Is it Italy (Rome) or New York City or Houston Texas? Surely the Fundies must know … I mean, they’re pretty sure about Armageddon, right? And, if they don’t have the answers, what the hell are they doing starting Armageddon? Will they stand there dumbly and say, “Uhh, gee, I, uhhh, I should know this, shouldn’t I? Uhhh, I think his head gets wounded by a sword, ain’t that so? Uhhh, you’ll know who it is when you see him standing in the temple making himself out to be God. Sorry, but that’s the best we can do at this time. Keep watching the television and the moment will come and best of luck to you!”
Huh?
I’m talking here about Dark Prophecies that came from Jesus’s own lips.
John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Revelation 20:4 - And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I know it is not a pleasant topic of discussion but when are we Christians going to discuss what we must all face?
Okay, so we need not get into it in depth here, but sooner or later it’s got to come up, because the times are a changing and the Christians are being hated more and more because of the Evangelicals’ nonsense and insanity.
What do I see? I see public executions. Televised executions surely, to remind others not to contradict the established government. I see millions of people who will not kill, they refuse to kill in the name of Jesus, and refuse to accept the mark of the beast.
Was Jesus a prophet or not in accordance with the rules set down in Deut.18:22? In order for Jesus to be a true prophet, every single prophecy of his MUST COME TRUE, or he is a failure and God did NOT send him. Does anybody out there understand? Does anyone get the message?
Deut 18:21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
If things go according to the Scriptures, the test of a true prophet will arrive soon, and the evil men of this world will start sharpening their swords. You won’t find the true Christians in the halls of power, you will find them in the prisons.
Forget about video games, and teaching Sunday School, forget about having coffee at Starbucks and such, all that is overwith, do you understand?
The chopping block or the guillotine is our destiny.
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
“Bye, mom, bye, dad, I love you.”
“Into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
“God is love.”
“See you guys on the other side.”
“Jesus Saves.”
“Shall we gather at the river?”
“May the Lord make his face to shine upon us all.”
“God, forgive me my sins.”
What shall you say when the time comes? And what is the point of meeting our maker wearing robes washed in the blood of Christ, if we’re going to dirty our robes, make them unclean with the blood of our victims as well? Why kill or murder in the name of Jesus and Christianity, fight in some bloody war for oil so people can drive their SUVs?
If it is time and Armageddon is near as they say, then God grant us the strength to do what must be done. Forget about the Fundies telling us what needs to be done, they’re too busy preparing for Battle and Rapture.
I think only the worthy will be Raptured, and the Fundies don’t fit the following description …
Luke 21:36 - Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
How can one be found worthy of standing before Jesus if the last thing he was doing on earth was … praying for the deaths of millions of people?
Thanks, Peter. I recently left a site where some fellow asked me to “get some help” because he felt I had gone too far. I wasn’t sure if you guys were offended or not. Some Christians don’t understand that it is okay to be angry as long as there is a reason. Christ said, “Do not be angry with you brother for no reason.” Well, we have a reason! Holding onto that anger forever is what is a bad thing. Even Christ himself got angry, when he had a reason to be. Evangelicals should be accepted as long as they leave the political process, stop worshipping the nuclear bomb, and learn that they are not the only Christian Denomination that has the truth. I believe Christ will take from all denominations the people that will follow him throughout eternity, and that the offenders, those who are filthy and commit iniquities, like murder, stealing, lying, sorcery (drugs), etc, will be cast into the outer darkness and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Your good deeds can never get you into the kingdom, but you best believe your bad deeds will keep you out. And praying for Armageddon is indeed a bad deed, doing so is praying for the deaths of others. This is not godly. Only the devil wishes that Armageddon comes, it is the culmination of his life’s work.
So, let’s keep ourselves clean of this heresy the Evangelicals are wallowing in. When I was wish the Fundies years ago, we used to make fun of how the Jehovah’s Witnesses emphasized the idea of the battle of Armageddon; how did things get so twisted that the Evangelicals became what they once hated; and furthermore, decided they’d be the ones to roll that evil rock down the hill upon all humanity?
Twisted, man, just plain twisted. Let’s have no part of their evil deeds.
Peter,
Thank you for this thoughtful post. You echo the frustration that so many of us have with our more fundamentalist brothers and sisters who seem obsessed with the concept of the end times and judgement. The message seems drowns out Jesus’s message of love and compassion. Indeed, if we look at the Gospel Jesus as you suggest, his stern warnings are not about end times, but rather how we treat each other here and now on Earth.
Like a recent article by Walter Russell Meade, I would distinguish between the fundamentalists and the evangelicals. (http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060901faessay85504/walter-russell-mead/god-s-country.html) Like Meade, I would argue that there is a great deal of hope within the Evangelical community in moving off the narrow focus of abortion and homosexuality to a more wholistic view of Jesus’s message to deal with things like poverty, HIV, and the environment. There is hope, but we progressives must off the strong words of counsel that you provide Peter. Thank you for what you are doing.
Looking forward to seeing you Peter. As always, you wisdom regarding the TRUE Gospel of Christ is BEAUTIFUL. Rose