Here is a fact
you may find interesting: The Ford’s Theater Centre in Washington, DC houses more than 15,000
unique titles of books written about Abraham Lincoln. One wonders if there is anything new to say
about a person after – oh, I don’t know, say – 10,000 books. Each one of these works will tell you
something about Lincoln, to be sure. In
addition, they will tell you something about the author. But they also say something about the times
in which they were written. Each book
attempts to bring Lincoln’s life to bear on circumstances unfolding at the time
in which it was written.
We will be reading from the gospel of
Luke throughout this lectionary year, which began in Advent. We have spent a few weeks with what scholars
refer to as “the birth narratives”, but beginning with today’s reading we dive
into the heart of Luke’s story. It is
helpful to keep in mind that when he was writing about Jesus’ baptism he was
describing a historical event which took place around 27AD, but he is
describing it to an audience in approximately 80AD. So the more we know about that period, the
more we will understand how Luke is trying to present Jesus to his target
audience.
The first thing to keep in mind is the
majority of Luke’s readers had not known Jesus personally. They never met him or heard him speak. In fact, some knew very little about Jesus at
all. At best, they might be aware of a
small sect who followed him and believed him to be the Messiah.
Now the concept of a messiah is something
those readers knew much about. Several
prominent figures before Jesus claimed to be a messiah, and several people
after his death laid claim to the title as well. The most recent messianic figure prior to
Luke’s gospel was Menahem
ben Judah. He was the leader of a group
of assassins known as the Sicarii. They
were named for the small knife they used.
A Sicarii hid a dagger in the sleeve of his cloak, pulled it out, struck
quickly at the target, and faded into the crowd. There methods gave rise to the phrase “cloak
and dagger operation.”
In 66 AD, ben
Judah led an assault on the Roman stronghold at Masada and captured its
weapons. He then orchestrated an attack on
the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, which met with incredible success. ben Judah established himself as the ruler
of the liberated city, but became such an insufferable tyrant a rival gang of
Zealots murdered him.
After the Roman
army laid siege to Jerusalem, an uneasy truce between Zealots and Sadducees
erupted into full-scale civil war. The
infighting was so fierce and destructive that the city’s entire food supply was
burned. The Romans breached the city’s
defenses in 70AD and destroyed the Temple.
Those who escaped were hunted down and killed, with the final battle
ending with the famous siege at Masada in 73AD.
All told, over a million Jews lost their lives.
These horrific and disastrous events were still fresh in the minds of
Luke’s reading audience. They were still
living with the wounds and consequences of this serious military and political
miscalculation. Israel had longed for a
messiah and over the years several different people stepped up to claim the
role. Each manifested himself as God’s
champion; a revolutionary figure empowered to lead the people in a violent
uprising. And eventually each figure and
each revolt was put down, and put down hard.
Just as our country takes years and even decades to assign blame and hash
out lessons learned when our actions don’t succeed, Luke’s reading audience was
engaged in an on-going quest to determine what went wrong and how they needed
to change. Luke adds his voice to the national
conversation. He says as clearly as
possible, “We need to revisit Jesus of Nazareth, a messianic figure from a
half-century ago.”
What do you think those initial readers thought when they heard John’s
words in today’s lesson: “One is coming who will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork
is in his hand, to clear the threshing floor.
He will the gather the wheat and burn the chaff”? They must have thought, “Oh, this Jesus is
going to be just another Zealot or revolutionary. All he will do is guide us into another
catastrophe.” But as they continued to
read, a very, very different picture began to emerge. Jesus’ embraces a non-violent approach. His beef is not so much with Rome as it is
with the leadership of his own people.
Yes, he is trying to establish a new kingdom, but it is one not shaped
by geographical boundaries or won by military conquest. It is a kingdom located in every human heart
where God’s love is allowed to reign.
So Luke is doing more than giving a historical account of Jesus’ life and
teaching. He is laying out devastating
critique of other messianic figures whose violent ways led the people to great
harm. He is proposing a new idea of
Messiah, which Jesus embodied through his life, death, and resurrection.
2016 is a presidential election year.
Primaries begin soon. This
summer, both political parties will nominate a candidate. One thing is sure… the rhetoric is going to
heat up as we approach November. More
and more, presidential elections take on messianic overtones. Each candidate will portray him/herself as a
savior able to solve all of our problems and will paint opponents as misguided
(and perhaps evil) figures who will lead our country to ruin. A good number of citizens will buy into this
notion and pursue the election as if salvation itself is at stake.
Perhaps it is a good year to work our way through Luke’s gospel much the
same way his initial readers did.
Perhaps it will be a good year to measure the words and actions of
candidates against the words and actions of Jesus. By doing this, perhaps we will gain a more
clear sense of the kingdom Jesus brings as well as an awareness of the scale
and scope of any president’s ability to ‘save’ us from all our troubles and
threats.
Now don’t fear, I am not going to stand in the pulpit week in and week out
evaluating the candidates and telling you which one is most like Jesus. This is not my judgment to make. It is not a judgment Luke hopes for us to
make. He wants us to take a look around
our world, to measure our times, and then take a fresh look at Jesus. I, for one, am looking forward to meeting
Jesus anew and thinking about him in the light of our times.
