How might the Jewish legacy of rebellion against oppressive rule and ungodly paganism help us understand the context in which Jesus began his ministry?

Answer 1

What an interesting question. And I think it deserves some thought and discussion. Here are my thoughts.

Jesus lived during the period of Roman occupation of Judea under a puppet king (Herod) who may have in fact been insane, a Temple that was under the thumb of the Roman authorities, a people intimidated by Roman legions, the introduction of foreign diseases like leprosy by returning Roman troops, and a way of life based on a religion that was torn apart by the imposition of civil rule. It must have been pretty hellish. And only about 30 years after Jesus's death the Romans did destroy the Temple and much of Jerusalem after a huge siege. It was about that time that the remnants of perhaps the rebellious Essenes withstood a similar siege on the Masada heights, and may have committed mass suicide rather than submit to Roman rule, leaving behind unwritten texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, as the only evidence of their attempts to continue to practice their religion and make sure it survived in some way.

How does one help a people cope with this kind of living hell? In Matthew ch. 5 where Matthew records Jesus's "Sermon on the Mount" Jesus talks about obeying the law (Jewish law) but also expanding on it. Observing Jewish law had become virtually impossible because the Romans did not understand that Jewish law encompassed everything in life. And when the Romans undertook to govern by their version of the "civil law" it stripped the Jewish leadership of much of their power, and left the people uncertain how to conduct their own lives. If you look at the sermon carefully, on the one hand you have a rabbi exhorting his people to observe the laws as he viewed them, but he also was teaching them how to cope under, as you put it, an oppressive rule and ungodly paganism. If you could not engage in your traditional ritual, be guided by the laws of the Temple in your daily life, you had to have a code of ethics that was inbred, and broader, and more disciplined in fact.

Jesus and his followers, all presumably devout Jews, must have been angry and frustrated at this situation. And yet the Sermon preaches utmost kindness, going out of one's way to actually show kindness to your enemy..... What was he doing? Could he have been trying to find a way for the people to survive under Roman oppression that provided them some dignity? He spoke of the Sanhedrin as one authority for traditional law, and yet a broader code of ethics to live by in order to enter the "kingdom of heaven".

If it is hell on earth and you begin to wonder why you are subjected to it, where is relief? If one could not fully practice one's religion, as it was restricted by foreign domination, how does one conduct one's life. Where is there any "salvation". In another life perhaps? 1st Century Jewish belief included the idea of resurrection, perhaps precisely because of the distress that real life brought and an inability to reconcile why God might allow the oppression of the people under Roman rule. How does one preach "rebellion" and yet not appear rebellious? How does one reconcile the hell of life with the concept of a God who protects his people? Resurrection was now a new concept. In fact it came to Judea from the Egyptian experience, and reincarnation came from the East.

My sense is that it is a context in which a strong and passionate person, a rabbi, would want to provide guidance in ways that allowed people to survive spiritually and provide hope. To provide for both a continuation of the traditions and yet find new means of expression that were inward, and did not rely on ritual that was banned.

In my view it may not be unlike how spiritual life was able to survive in the concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Europe in the last century. How does one survive in hell? If you rebel, you are shot. If you open your mouth, you are beaten or starved. 600 years after Christ another prophet would say that the primary way to "heaven" was through submission to God's will -- Mohammad. So sometimes in life the only way to survive is to let things go, not hate each other because there is a common enemy. Attempting to abide by laws that no longer served the people, no longer were allowed, and seemingly diminished the very deity from which those laws were believed to have come, requires a new answer.

Also as a Jew, Jesus knew of the Exodus story, and of the slavery of his people beforehand. He knew, however, there was no promised land to lead the people to. They needed to find a "promised land" where they were. There was no place to escape to. How does one lead one's people to freedom if there is no place of refuge? To within. And to withstand morally the onslaught.

These are my thoughts. I welcome any discussion that may come from them