By Guest Blogger, Hoodathunk.
Lots of talk these days. Politics, religion, religious politics. Some things just naturally go together to their mutual benefit. Like peanut butter and jelly, or peanut butter and chocolate or Irish whiskey and coffee, or, well you get my drift. Religion and politics really fall into the category of oil and water, fire and ice, or life and death. This melding has been something that has been tried many times in Western history and the results have never benefited mankind in general. You would think that by now we would know better, but such is not the case.
The reason for this is, IMHO, there are a great many people out there who claim to be Christian, but lack the comprehension of basic Christian teachings. Somehow they keep coming up with the idea that this Jesus fellow was about fighting. I suspect much of this is due to reading the rather violent Old Testament and some of the books of the New Testament written by folks who never really met the man and that, over the years, interpretations and editing have tweaked the message in the divinely inspired book to fit the more militaristic aspects of human society.
The New Testament is filled with contradictions. This is to be expected because much of the information was written down a generation after it happened or later. For me, this places the Bible into legend. None of it was written by the man himself and, IIRC, only one book was written by someone who actually was with him. But in spite of this, there is one thing that remains pretty constant and that is the legend of that last week. Up until then Jesus had done a good job of side stepping the whole Messiah issue. I suspect it was because there were several factions in the Jewish community who were chomping on the bit, looking for a warrior king like David to lead them so they could get rid of the Romans.
That wasn’t Yeshua’s bag. He was Gandhi, 2,000 years before Gandhi. He was the original counter culture revolutionary. Love, not war. His teachings were all about suffering anything in this world because it would get you a penthouse in the next. Read the Sermon on the Mount. The only slight step out of character was the thing with the money changers in the Temple, and even then his anger was at the money.
So now we are down to the big fundamentalist lie. The monstrous Christian lie, propagated over the centuries in the name of political power and control and spitting in the face of the man who supposedly founded their religion justified by one act — His dying. In the final days there were several opportunities for him to either walk away or rally his supporters to fight for him. He begged his father to take the cup from him, to let him live and finally said, “Into your hands, Father.” Pilate gave him two chances to duck. Herod gave him one. In the end, in all accounts, he bore his cross, suffered and died because of his belief. Didn’t ask anyone else to do it for him. Didn’t call up the warriors to defend him. He died for his teachings.
Had he done what his followers are calling for today and have all across the centuries there would have been a huge revolt in Israel. The Jews were primed for the return of their warrior-king Messiah. Blood would have flowed and in the end Judaism would have probably died. If you don’t agree, check out Masada and the Diaspora. Might have survived as a minor religion. Christianity would never have been born. Rome would have pounded Palestine into submission in their very efficient and brutal fashion.
But the bottom line is the heart of the one legend that shows in the various books of the Bible. Jesus died for his beliefs. Didn’t fight for them, didn’t go to war for them, he accepted and died for them. You can pick any other reading from any other book to try to explain, justify or whatever but the bottom line is Jesus so believed in what he did that he was willing to die for it. All by himself, not behind a wave of warriors, just him. Sort of how it always comes down to it, every person is always faced with one last thing. One on one, with their maker.
No mulligans.
Many lessons in that great piece!
Many christian religions teach ‘leave it in God’s hands’ – this, to me, seems as if responsibility has no play. Pray and what ever happens is God’s will.
Their Jesus took responsibility (as you so deftly wrote) yet his many ‘followers’ really aren’t (following in his footsteps/teachings).
Don’t recall if this has already been posted:
Bad Religion – American Jesus
Last one: Johnny Cash – Personal Jesus
Excellent post. There are those that believe that Jesus was just another mythological character.
Here’s one…Chocolate Jesus
Excellent essay.
That one time he ‘stepped out of character’ and overturned the tables of the money changers – that’s when the Powers That Be within the Jewish faith decided he had to die. They were willing to tolerate Him, up until he directly threatened their cash flow.
Remember, he was something like 10 years old when he did that.
Well said badger!
Excellent piece, hoodathunk, well-thought-out and insightful.
Your ending reminds me of the end of one of the X-Files episodes, I think it was “Clive Barker’s ‘From Outer Space’”, when Scully is typing up her report. I forget exactly what led to it, but her last line was something like, “In the end, we are all, ultimately, alone.”
Truly insightful post. Thank you.