Categories: uncategorized
Date: 01 December 2011 20:23:31
Greg Carey has sought to open discussion and debate in his article about Jesus and the way he provoked the authorities. On one level it is a good piece of radical theology, but on another level it tells only part of the story...leaving the most important bit out.
Within his article Carey rightly identifies that Jesus behaved in a way which was provacative to the authorities - to say the least. Carey equates this to being a sort of Occupy Jerusalem. He poses the central question of "How did Jesus get himself killed?" saying it is more important than why did Jesus die. Well I want to say the most important question is "why did Jesus make the choices he did which led to his death?"
The rephrasing of the question in this way looks at the process, which is what Carey is seeking to do, but then asks why was that process necessary? Put another way, why did God send Jesus in to that context at that time and put him in a situation where certainly for three years, and probably for longer he had to play this sort of yes / no game of having to make all the choices which would lead to his death on the cross.
I agree with Carey Jesus was not an innocent victim - he had to make definate choices which would lead to him fulfilling his divine destiny as acting as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. This was an active choice I believe Jesus made which involved him experiencing all the fear and mental anguish about his actions that any person undertaking a highly political act in an occupied country has.
Yet he still chose to make those choices and it is through his active decision making that we are able to enter into full relationship with God. Why was it necessary and what response does his active decision making lead us to making? These are the questions I feel we need to pose and think about, particularly during this time of advent. If Jesus was the Word and the Word was with God from the beginning then the active decision making had to start in a dimension beyond here. Jesus had to decide to take the actions which would fulfil prophecy from before his conception as man.
This advent as we think about the light who came into the world and the light who is with the world and the light who will return to the world perhaps it is to ask the question why? What decision making processes were involved and how might we have the courage to live lives where we are ready to take the hard and difficult decisions rather than the comfortable ones. What actions might having that courage then lead us to? That last bit is something that we will need to pray through individually but also I believe corporately...is God calling his church to have the courage to make the difficult decisions which will lead us to appearing counter cultural and dangerous (and note here this is not the same as casting ourselves as bigots because we think that is what being counter-cultural means). Jesus was prepared to piss off the authorities - yes but he also annoyed the zealots by putting forward an alternative vision aswell as getting on the wrong side of the political elite. Again we are back to wisdom, courage and being in tune enough with the divine to take the really, really difficult path.
Remind me again why did I sign up for this one rather than finding a comfortable, easy religion ;)