IAmJoshBrown.com
Subverting The Empire
Why We Do What We Do
“When you become a Christian, Jesus will invade your life and make you into somebody he can use to change the world. Through you, he will challenge racism. Through you, Jesus will attack sexism, poverty, and militarism. That was never taught to me when I was growing up. I never heard that I could be an instrument that God could use to change the world. All I was told was that being a Christian meant I would go to heaven when I died. I was never told that the primary reason Jesus saved me was to make me into somebody whom he could use to change the world into the kind of world he willed for it to be when he created it.” - Tony Campolo
Like I’ve said before . . . Jesus really started messing things up for me not to long ago. I had always heard the story of God told in such a way where Jesus always ended up as subtext. Even in the cross . . . Jesus was presented as nothing more than some sort of sacrifice, a little bit better than a goat or a sheep. I never really heard much about the gospels. Or the radical reorientation of the social, spiritual, and physical worlds that Jesus made possible through his words and actions in the gospels. I grew up with 2 images of . . . the God of the Old Testament (who was wrathful, angry, in need of appeasing) and the God of the church (where Paul was almost seen as the missing part of the Trinity). Jesus was brought up at Christmas time and at Easter. Other than that he got glossed over for the image of Vengeful God and Church God.
Some people have referred to Jesus as having 3 roles . . . a prophet, a priest, and a king. Even within those roles we typically thought of Jesus as a priest and a King. But rarely the prophet.
Much of recent church history has tended to interpret Jesus by looking back at the Old Testament. It is believed that only when you understand the Old Testament can you fully understand Jesus. But maybe it’s the other way around . . . maybe only when you begin to understand Jesus can you understand the Old Testament and the God of the Old Testament. And maybe only when you begin to understand Jesus can you understand the church.
But that’s not the way we’ve typically been taught to see Jesus.
Anyway, I bring that up because now that I’m beginning to catch this fresh vision of Jesus as prophet, I’m finally starting to understand the wild, peculiar words of men like Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel.
When you begin to see Jesus as a prophet you start to realize how much of a role that played in his fate. It wasn’t so much that he was a King that threatened to take over Herod’s throne. Let’s be honest . . . Herod probably thought of Jesus as laughable at best. I doubt he considered him much of a threat to his throne. I have a hunch that it was because of his role as a prophet to both the Jews and the host Roman Empire (N.T. Wright has heavily influenced this thought for me). In this light you can see why even his own family and city turned a cold shoulder to him. If he was claiming and moving toward being a King then they would have certainly jumped on the bandwagon. But it was his work as prophet that made them uneasy.
I guess the reason I’ve been thinking about all of this lately (no thanks to Irresitible Revolution and Exiles) is because of how “alien” I’m starting to feel in this world.
Bottom line . . . people are starting to look at me (us) weirdly. Sometimes it doesn’t bother me. And sometimes it does. And I know explaining myself . . . the theology behind the words and actions probably won’t make things any better. And ideally we’d be able to sit across the table as friends and share . . . but unfortunately . . .
So for whatever it’s worth . . . the next couple of posts are going to be an attempt at articulating why I believe it is the role of the community of God to stand with Jesus in subverting the consumerism, individualism, militarism, and nationalism of our host empire. This prophetic role that not only undermines the host but calls forth and constructs hopeful alternatives.
For whatever it’s worth.
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I think you make some tremendous points here, Josh…especially with the centrality of Jesus and the emphasis on his often underemphasized prophetic identity. As one of my teachers says, “Jesus gores all of our oxes”; or, put more simply, Jesus offends us all with his vision of reality because it’s so radical and revolutionary that we cannot maintain the status quo and call it Christianity or call us disciples.
I’d take issue with one area of your post, though.
You said:
“It wasn’t so much that he was a King that threatened to take over Herod’s throne. Let’s be honest . . . Herod probably thought of Jesus as laughable at best. I doubt he considered him much of a threat to his throne.”
The issue of Jesus’ kingship is much more complex than the figurehead king that Herod was. He had no real power, and simply lived a wealthy carefree life much like the British monarchy does today. So in reality Jesus would have considered Herod’s “kingship” laughable at best. It was no kingship at all.
But Jesus clearly was gathering a massive following, had subversive revolutionary things to say, and was ascribing a HUGE amount of importance himself to who he was…so much so that he told Pilate HE had no real authority! In a revolutionary time period, Jesus’ ministry was considered a deep threat to both the Roman and Jewish religious rule…and not just in a simple prophetic way, but in a whole ‘nother kingdom way!
The only reason they would have undersold his claim to kingship then (and the reason we do today) is because his kingship and his kingdom looked radically different than anyone expected. Messiahs were expected to crush Israel’s enemies, not be crushed by them. Yet it was in this crushing that Jesus showed the way of the kingdom. He was the ultimate servant king.
good points nathan. totally agree. my point is just that while they may have been scared of the stuff he was stirring up. i doubt herod was concerned about losing his “title or throne” to jesus. and caesar certainly wouldn’t have been concerned with jesus become emperor. it was more of the prophetic role that he had . . . namely stirring things up . . . that had them concerned. i think it was that prophetic role that had to do with the kingdom. but i agree there were 2 different kingdoms. i would just say that jesus was more of the prophet-King than earthly-King.
Love the post. I never saw Jesus as a prophet while growing up in the church. It is not a title or hat that they give Him to wear. I am looking forward to the new series.
Stay LOST.
I see where you were going now…thanks for the further explanation
As you are the master of drawing unique and sometimes odd perspectives to describe your thoughts, please accept my analogy with a grain of salt. I think that Jesus is perceived by society (especially old-school Christians) a little like Willy Wonka. You see, if you do the right thing and say the right prayer, you too can be the proud owner of the Golden Ticket. That ticket gets you into the Chocolate Factory (side note that if heaven was a Chocolate Factory, then my wife would be in…well, Heaven). I digress, but churches (mega-churches, evangelical rallies, revivals, etc.) have long been measured by how many people they “saved†or baptized…how many have received the Golden Ticket. You are IN. You are now a member of the brotherhood of Ticket-hander-outers and your job is to give away tickets. The first question in the Ticket-hander-outer handbook is… “If you died today, would you have your ticket…†Need I say more?
We have not been well equipped to see Jesus in a different light. The songs sound the same, the sermons run together, and when you break away for a little while to get your own head on straight about your personal beliefs, you become the outcast. Don’t you just squirm in your skin when someone that you went to church with before comes to you and says, “So, what church are you going to now?†And your answer is, “well, umm, I am gonna start trying some out soon, etc.â€. I once thought that squirmy feeling was the Holy Spirit moving me to get back to my old church. Well, I think that it is the Holy Spirit telling me that this Journey of discovery is uncomfortable and a little scary at times. I bet if you were to ask one of the folks that wandered around with Jesus for a few years about their journey, words like uncomfortable and a little scary would quickly come to mind. So, perhaps our goal is not to just hand out Willy Wonka tickets that get you into the Chocolate Factory. But rather to find those people that don’t even know who Willy Wonka is, or that the Chocolate Factory exists, and show them that you don’t have to wait until you die to get to the factory. They have candy bars to eat…today. And it doesn’t even require a Golden Ticket to eat one. Matter of fact, I’ll honestly give you one with no strings attached.
Josh-today was my first foray into joining you in the ranks of writing something that most others would read and say, “Huh?. That guy makes no senseâ€. I have equated Jesus to Willy Wonka, Salvation to the Golden Ticket, and the Kingdon of Heaven to sitting around eating a candy bar. Glad to join you…
tad, where i come from . . . you’re what i call awesome. thanks for being a friend. i totally get it. the only thing that gives me pause for concern is the oompa loompa’s. what are they? like roman centurions or something.
those things are creepy. have fun on your trip.
Sharing your interest in Tony Campolo’s work, and life challenges, I thought you might like to see this video.
http://www.eastern.edu/change
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