Solus Jesus by Emily Swan & Ken Wilson

Author:Emily Swan & Ken Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000 RELIGION / Christian Life / General, REL109000 RELIGION / Christian Ministry / General, REL108000 RELIGION / Christian Church / General
ISBN: 9781641800167
Publisher: Front Edge Publishing
Published: 2018-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

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[136] Josephus reports that Roman General Titus killed 500 people per day after a revolt in the Galilee around 4 C.E. General Varus crucified thousands.

[137] Additionally, there were smaller-scale rivalries with neighboring people in the land, like the Samaritans.

[138] Some believe Judas was, or had been in his past, a Zealot, in addition to his fellow apostle, Simon the Zealot.

Jesus, a classic scapegoat

As a Jewish man in Roman-occupied territory, Jesus perfectly suited the role of scapegoat. He hailed from the Galilee, a much-disparaged rural part of northern Israel. (Recall Nathanael’s reply to Philip in the Gospel of John: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”) Jesus was also rumored to be illegitimate—a mamzer, a child of questionable paternity. He was different, and his followers were different—they were the poor, the unclean, women, tax collectors and other so-called sinners.

Yet while he stood apart, Jesus was also deeply rooted in the traditions of his people—of the line of prophets (Thurman, 80). [139] Jesus stirred people up and both spoke and acted against unjust structures through stories, teachings and healings; many in power found his sizable crowd of disciples to be threatening. [140] People started murmuring that Jesus might be the messiah, the anointed one who would establish God’s reign on earth. How would Jesus do that? Would he lead a violent rebellion, as many imagined the messiah might? Would he overthrow the Roman Empire? Would he become high priest in the Temple?

Jesus forged a different path. He encouraged people to lay down their power rather than seek it. He taught his followers to renounce violence and love their enemies. The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) remains Jesus’s most famous teaching. Girard writes, “Look again at the Sermon on the Mount. We can see that the significance of the Kingdom of God is completely clear. It is always a matter of bringing together the warring brothers, of putting an end to the mimetic crisis by a universal renunciation of violence” (Girard, Things Hidden, 197). He urged the faithful to submit their desires to God and renounce rivalrous relationship patterns.

Jesus challenged the authorities of his day through his teachings on nonviolent resistance, and in openly accepting and championing people despised by their communities (Wink, 98-110). [141] As he did, those hoping to keep peace with Rome became increasingly afraid that Jesus’s message might upend the tenuous entente.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man, performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation” (Jn. 11:47b-48, emphasis mine).

That’s what some people believed was at stake: that both the Temple and the nation would be seized from the Hebrew people. And they were right, as the Roman destruction of both, in 70 C.E., proved. The pressure was real and it was intense. Sometimes entire structural systems are at stake when we follow Jesus. By the time people realize entire systems may crumble, the time is ripe for a scapegoat.

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