On a spring day in the year 30, two processions entered Jerusalem. It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. In centuries past, Christians have celebrated this day as Palm Sunday. For many, this week, which ends with Easter, is the most sacred week of the Christian year.
One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial Roman procession. From the East, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives as his followers cheered. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth, and his followers came from a peasant class that was considered beneath both the Jewish and Roman rulers.
On the opposite side of the city, from the West, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial soldiers and cavalrymen with pomp and circumstance. It was a statement of raw military might. As Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan write in The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus' Final Days in Jerusalem (2006):
Imagine the imperial procession's arrival in the city. A visual panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums. The swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.
Pilate's procession displayed not only imperial power but also Roman imperial theology. The emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome; he was seen as the Son of God. Thus, for Rome's Jewish subjects, Pilate's procession embodied not only a rival social order but also a rival theology and, thus, a rival kingdom.
Jesus' procession, however, proclaimed a different kind of kingdom, a kingdom for here and now. As Christ teaches his disciples to pray, "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). This kingdom is based on love of humanity and peace where rulers were to be servants of the people. This was the kingdom of God.
Pilate's procession, however, proclaimed the power of empire -- an empire of subjugation and violence where the people either obeyed or suffered. The two processions embodied the central conflict that led to Jesus' execution, and it is the same conflict that confronts Christians who dare speak the truth of Christ to power today.
As Jesus rode the donkey down the Mount of Olives to the city, he was surrounded by a throng of enthusiastic followers. They spread cloaks, strew leafy branches on the road and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9). "Hosanna" is the Hebrew word meaning "Save, we pray."
The meaning of this demonstration has both political and religious connotations. It uses symbolism from the prophet Zechariah. According to Zechariah, a king would be coming to Jerusalem (Zion) "righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9). Zechariah 9:10 details what kind of king he will be:
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Jesus the king, riding on a donkey, will banish war and violence from the land--no more chariots, war-horses or bows. He was a king of peace.
The message to the powers-that-be, as Borg and Crossan note, was clear: "Jesus' procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate's procession embodied the power, glory, and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus' procession embodied an alternative vision, the kingdom of God."
This contrast -- between the kingdom of God, based on love of people and peace, and the kingdom of Caesar, based on subjugating people and violence -- is central to the story of Christ. As such, Jesus' procession that day symbolized his direct and subtle undermining of both the political and religious establishments that ruled the world.
Of course, the Romans eventually came to see Jesus as enough of a threat to have him killed. In the time of Jesus, religious preachers and self-proclaimed prophets were not summarily arrested and executed. Nor were nonviolent protesters. Indeed, the high priests and Roman governors in Jerusalem would normally allow a protest, particularly a small-scale one, to run its course. However, the authorities were quick to dispose of leaders and movements that even appeared to threaten the Roman Empire.
The charges leveled against Jesus -- that he was a threat to the stability of the nation, opposed paying Roman taxes and claimed to be the rightful King as Messiah of Israel -- were purely political, not religious. To the Romans, any one of these charges was enough to merit death by crucifixion. But the gravest charge, for which Jesus was ultimately crucified, was stated in the inscription on the cross: "The King of the Jews." The Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who alone had the authority to execute Jesus, focused on his political identity: "Are you the king of the Jews?" (Matthew 27:11). This seems to be primarily what mattered to Pilate, whose job it was to uphold the religious, as well as the temporal, power of the deified Caesars.
Jesus does not deny the allegation which, if true, will lead to his death. He answers: "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (John 18:37).
Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God -- also known as the Government of God -- was a total reordering of both the spiritual and temporal life. Jesus' teaching on the Government of God, as seen, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount, is that the significance of the rule of God pertains to everything -- marriage, money, personal relationships, community life, religion, politics and so on. Jesus also addresses prayer, faith, repentance, forgiveness, honesty and our relationship to God. And although the Government of God is far broader than politics, it has political ramifications. "The rule of God over everything is also God's rule over politics," writes Alan Storkey in Jesus and Politics: Confronting the Powers (2005). "It is the central truth of political life, the reference point for states, rulers, law, and justice --whether they recognize it or not. Logic requires it. How could the rule of God not apply to states and politics, as though God opted out of this part of their existence?"
Incredibly, Jesus had entered Jerusalem riding a donkey, proclaiming the Government of God and eventually laying it all before the people and their rulers. That is why Jesus was able to say to Pilate: "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above" (John 19:11). Earlier, Jesus had told his followers not to fear rulers because they can only kill you (Matthew 10:28). Now standing before the Roman governor with his back ripped open and bleeding, Jesus flatly refused to relinquish the fact that the Government of God is for here and now. As he told Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place" (John 18:36).
In other words, Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom of peace and love does not originate of "this world" of violence, avarice and greed. It originates from God. Thus, Jesus will not resort to the tactics of rulers such as Pilate and maintain power by force.
Jesus' government points to another way.
Follow John W. Whitehead on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rutherford_inst
It's a storyline that had been kicking around the med region for a number of centuries, in various "incarnations," prior to the christian cult picking it up and running with it, but it's certainly not an original.
Hats off to the early christian church for turning this version into the "Framton Comes Alive"-scale, celebration of death and resurrection, success story that's it's become.
Nevertheless, celebrating a sadistic make-believe death and it's resultant fairy-tale cosmic zombie, within the safe confines of a voted-upon-by-politically-connected-clergy "official truth" just doesn't do it for me.
Quite frankly, I believe I'd miss the old fertility rites and the ritual dancing hotties of the original Oestre, not to mention the rollicking Brumalia celebrations in December.
Could we have them back, please?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV5PbrTySxY
Man is fallible and limited, and man creates his own evil and his own hell, due to the free will God gave us. Many people rationalize violence as an answer to many of their problems, and focus much of their life on fear and violence. Violence in business and the marketplace, as well as in politics and war.
We all have a choice, and we all must choose.
He wasn't teaching by example, I take it? Ever read that Old Testosterment?
Did you know that the Vatican's status as a state is being challenged in Britain, the same people behind prosecuting War Criminals are behind it and if successful The Pope will NOT be immune from prosecution from any crime as a head of state.
The "Dic" tator Mussolini declared the Vatican a sovereign state and a leading International Lawyer declared "The notion that statehood can be created by another country's unilateral declaration is risible,"
meaning it's B.S and these are the guys who put the worst of the worst of the African & Bosnian nutters
behind bars.
Even IF they fail the heat is just getting hotter and hotter for those evil old men...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100404/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_pope
As a citizen of the United States you believe that a republic is the best form of government. Yet how can this be maintained if the government of the universe is a monarchy? Surely in that case a monarchy will be the best form of government. Many of the conflicts in our society arise from the fact that although we are running a republic, many of the members of this republic believe (or believe that they ought to believe) that the universe is a monarchy. Therefore, they are, above all, insistent upon obedience to law and order, and if there should be democracy in the Kingdom of God, that would seem to them the most subversive idea ever conceived.
" ~ Alan Watts
from - http://madphilosopher.ca/doc/philosophies_of_asia.html
Who should be the monarch?
There is one eminently qualified, sometimes referred to as "King of Kings"
It's like "Waiting for Godot" with magic powers to boot.
More important is what we learn about ourselves from this annual encounter with the behavior of our fellows at this time of year. It has become more pertinent as I have aged. Never before have I felt faced with such utter hopelessness, not for myself, but for our human race. I am confident that wide-spread human suffering is on the increase. That comes after growing up during a time when progress was deemed inevitable.
Consequently the temptation is to place hope in an end of time or some kind of life hereafter, as the gospels also told. Neither of those work for me. I am left hoping in hope itself. Dickinson captures it:
Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul, /And sings the tune--without the words, /And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard; /And sore must be the storm /That could abash the little bird /That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land, /And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, /It asked a crumb of me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJML0tOqYTY&feature=PlayList&p=B57F4E5DE094CC1D&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=2
The author, like many commenters, confuses a political tactic with a set of policies or laws. I would rather see Jesus as a community organizer, which I think is how Borg and Crossan see him--not as a candidate for political office. (Of course organizers can become candidates, as in the unfortunate case of Obama.) Principles of fairness, compassion and respect are not political policies that can be codified in law, they are moral maxims that can be applied to political situations on a case-by-case basis.
A tremendous amount of confusion would be avoided if kneejerk atheists kept this in mind: the Bible is not a BOOK, it's a LIBRARY. It contains dozens, if not hundreds of different writings by people with wildly differing points of view. It's stupid for atheists to keep pointing out historical facts about the composition of the books, but then turn around and complain about "contradictions" between different texts, as if there were a single author.
The anti-government tactics of Jesus are an example of what I, as a religious atheist, value about traditional texts. I don't waste time thinking about their alleged supernatural origin.
The bibles of the world are only books of lies and written by hands of ev.il men to control the masses. I'm not an atheist because I do believe in the Creator of the universe, not just earth itself. And that Creator loves all it's creations, mankind being only one of many others.
For us to even think we are the only beings in existence is to be quite close-minded for sure. This world has made people believe that it just began 6,000 years ago and that was the beginning of the biggest lie ever told. Especially when the latest bones were found in Africa to be over 160,000 years old. Now where is the story of those people and how to they fit into the book of lies?
I haven't heard an answer from anyone yet to cover that one point.
Your contention that it is possible to have a government without force -- really, no police or army, no courts with any power to enforce their rulings? -- just strikes me as bizarre.
Possibly, unless the other way pointed to by Jesus (as suggested in the article) was how one governs self rather than how one forms or participates in a governmental organization to govern others.
"The rule of God over everything is also God's rule over politics...It is the central truth of political life, the reference point for states, rulers, law, and justice --whether they recognize it or not."
When I hear republicans using the word real, who is real Americans, Palins TV show called Real Americans. Who are the real Americans it is sad. To me using the word real is causing a divide, telling others you are lower then us? Your not real Americans, slaves. With God there no divide in his Kingdom, God's Government ,or God's church. Those who use the word Real=slavery. For they are telling all who is of value, they make us their slaves, Repubs? thinking, they have that authority, like a God.
God also commanded the Hebrews to tell it to their children, children, children for generations to come. Tell your children, the day the Lord took you out of slavery, bondage, write it on your door post also.
Finally Jesus takes us all out of the slavery of S*t*n. We all have now hope, eternal salvation. Not spending eternity in He1l. S*t*n cannot destroy our eternal salvation. Jesus says. Where oh where is thou sting of death? We were all slaves to S*t*an, his bondage, for we are all sinners, who cannot pay our debt of sins off. But Jesus could, for he was not sin.
http://atheists.meetup.com/80/messages/boards/thread/8867046/
She had me on the reformer once, but I ran away.
If I had known what Pilate's "workout" for Jesus was, I would have smote her!
(sorry, couldn't resist)
The book of lies has been scientifically proven to be that because we now know that man lived on this planet at least 160,000 years ago and there's no mention of these humans or how they survived.
Yes, Jesus was pointing to another way beyond the stars. There IS a Creator of the entire universe which he was referring to and which man named God. The Creator is NOT the man god of the bibles because the god of the bibles was NOT a just and loving god. He was evil and wrathful upon people and that is NOT the Creator at all. The bibles have taught the people of this planet how to hate, lie, steal, k!ll, s.exual perversions and everything else that is evil in this world today.
Your eternal savior is in your hearts. That's where your love, common sense, and peace resides, not in your minds which have been conditioned to approve of the hate being taught to you from the so-called words of man's god.
The conclusion is pretty obvious, especially since we know that the Gospels were written decades after the death of the historical Jesus (you are right some scholars posit there never was such a person but most believe he did actually exist). Each Gospel author had a different agenda and crafted their story to fit the agenda. Part of the agenda was to win over people who believed in Roman (and Greek) myths and hence it was essential to give Jesus all the qualities of a hero from that mythology.