The Radical Christian, No. 2, 4/4/17

In my last post, I discussed definitions of “radical” and “Christian.” We might want to further explore “Christian,” of which I offered a the definition “Jesus of faith.” The root of the word is “Christos” (Greek), which was in turn a translation from the Hebrew “Messiah.” Both meant “anointed,” which in turn means dedicated to God’s service. “Messiah” meant a human being, not a savior sent from God, who would be anointed king at the end of time. Neither “messiah” nor “Christ” includes an understanding of divine descent.

Jesus never called himself “Christ.” Fascinatingly, the word appears only six times in all the Gospels, always in the third person. The other 463 appearances of the word are in the other NT writings, most of those in Paul’s writings.

Jesus also never called himself the “Son of God,” even though the term appears many times in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the few times it is placed on Jesus’ lips in the Gospels, it is always third person and somewhat obtuse. Many others attributed that name to him, but not Jesus. Much more frequently is the term “Son of Man” used by Jesus. Again, always in the third person, often it is seen as seemingly referring to himself. Scholars have not been able to agree on the meaning of this phrase, though it clearly refers to a human being.

The point of this brief discussion is that nowhere in Scripture does Jesus of Nazareth claim to be descended from God, sent by God, be the Son of God, etc. He calls God “Father, Abba” but the Greek word carries no connotation of biological relationship. He sees himself as a humble Jewish human being, dedicated to God’s service. ALL of the attribution of divinity comes AFTER Jesus’ ministry, from those who had no contact with him. These attributions triggered vigorous, sometimes violent, debates about the nature of Jesus’ divinity, much of which survives in our very day.

So, the question is, what if Jesus was “just” a prophet, a human being, a dedicated servant of God, a man with a profound understanding of both the nature of humanity and the nature of God? What can we learn of God through Jesus’ ministry? Does his revelation of God change if he were “simply” human? In his 2011 book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Islamic scholar Reza Aslan explores this question. In Islam, Jesus is seen as a prophet nearly at the level of the great prophet of Islam, Mohammed. What does Aslan find, and what does he conclude about Jesus?

Aslan offers new perspectives on Jesus, the man. The story he tells is one rooted in both scripture and history. Jesus was born and grew up in Galilee which, at the time, was awash in revolt against heavy-handed Roman oppression. Jesus and his family would have first-hand exposure to the bands of Robin Hoods who roamed the area. Being themselves poor, they would have sympathized with the cause of these rebels. This was most likely the reason that the famous “Magnificat” was placed on the lips of Jesus’ mother, drawn as it was from the Song of Hannah in the Hebrew scriptures.
The most fearsome leader of the time was called Judas the Galilean, not to be confused with Judas, the disciple of Jesus. Judas the Galilean was a charismatic teacher and revolutionary; he and his followers were committed to ejecting Rome from Israel, so that they could freely worship their one God. They had “zeal for the Lord,” and walked in the footsteps of the prophets and heroes of old. A “zealot” was a revolutionary for God.

The final paragraph of Aslan’s book sums up his views of Jesus the man:

The memory of the revolutionary zealot who walked across Galilee gathering an army of disciples with the goal of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, the magnetic preacher who defied the authority of the Temple priesthood in Jerusalem, the radical Jewish nationalist who challenged the Roman occupation and lost, has been almost completely lost to history. That is a shame. Because the one thing any comprehensive study of the historical Jesus should reveal is that Jesus of Nazareth -- Jesus the man -- is every bit as compelling, charismatic and praiseworthy as Jesus the Christ. He is, in short, someone worth believing in.

Hopefully, this gives us the beginnings of an understanding of what it means to be a “radical Christian.” In the next installment, with the first two as a basis, we’ll update and explore what it means in a contemporary context.