Jesus of Nazareth by Paul Verhoeven

Author:Paul Verhoeven
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2010-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

RADICALIZATION

At the grave of his murdered friend Lazarus, Jesus was brutally reminded of the cruelty of the imperialistic Roman-Jewish rule. In fact, Jesus was so upset that “he roared with anger and trembled.” His fury was no doubt aimed at the authorities—both Jewish and Roman.

Yet I think that what made him tremble was the realization that he had again been mistaken. Lazarus’ arrest had not been a sign; God had not asked him to sacrifice himself; his death had not been ordained from on high. Jesus had been left to his own devices. From now on, he would have to face this harsh reality as a mere mortal. God was noticeably silent. In 1931, R. Eisler wrote, “It may also be that in the face of the impenetrable silence of heaven, he [Jesus] decided on his own account to give up waiting . . . The burden weighing most heavily on his conscience was the tragic necessity of breaking that law of the ‘better righteousness,’ of non-resistance, which he had himself proclaimed as the will and ordinance of God . . . He now resigned himself to the realization that the peaceful kingdom of God could only be established through battle.”76

I share Eisler’s opinion and think that Jesus’ switch to the use of violence took place in the weeks following the death of Lazarus. It was a big leap from a peace-loving prophet to a militant who ordered his followers to purchase swords. A few months (or perhaps even a couple of years) earlier, Jesus had balked at the idea of becoming the leader of a rebellion. When the crowd that had gathered on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee after the beheading of John the Baptist wanted to proclaim him king, Jesus had fled—presumably because he was anxious to avoid an armed confrontation with Herod Antipas. At that time Jesus was still assuming that God alone was the active agent who could bring about the kingdom of God and that human action, armed or otherwise, would have no bearing on this process. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus’ statement, “The violent take it [i.e. the kingdom of God] by force,” is presumably a reference to this.77 After his flight from Jerusalem and the death of Lazarus, Jesus’ thinking underwent a radical change, and he came to accept the use of violence.78

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