The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus by John Dominic Crossan

Author:John Dominic Crossan [Crossan, John Dominic]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

My kingdom is not from this world.

If my kingdom were from this world,

my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over….

But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.

Focus on that accurate contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Rome. Rome’s kingdom is obtained and maintained, preserved and protected by violence, but God’s kingdom will not allow violence even to free Jesus.

In other words, and I cannot emphasize this enough, Pilate got it precisely right (as did Antipas with John earlier). With violent rebels, Roman officials executed the leader and as many followers as they could capture. With nonviolent rebels, Roman officials executed the leader and ignored the followers. On the level of this most secure historicity, Pilate certifies for all time that Jesus was both a revolutionary—hence a need for public, legal, official crucifixion—but also nonviolent—hence no need to round up his companions. For Jesus and for many other Jews both before and after him in that dangerous first century, nonviolent resistance rather than violent rebellion was the preferred strategy against Roman imperial control.

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