The next two chapters (16,17) of Jesus Before Christianity look at how Jesus viewed suffering and death and at the uniqueness of Jesus as a man.
In chapter 16 Nolan says that Jesus viewed suffering and death differently than the Jews: "The
Jews had a long tradition of persecution and suffering. Theoretically
the righteous person always suffered on account of his or her
righteousness, and every faithful Jew was willing to die rather than
disobey the law...The early Christians did not invent the idea of
martyrdom nor the idea of an atoning and redemptive death; it was part
of their Jewish heritage..."
The author goes on to say,
"The Maccabean martyrs died for the law; the Zealots died to defend the
sovereignty of Israel's God; other people have been willing to die for
other causes. Jesus did not die for a cause. As he understood it, one should be willing to give up one's life for exactly the same reason as one gives up possessions, prestige, family and power, namely for others...Jesus
was fully alive because he was willing to suffer and die not for a
cause but for people...It is a willingness to die for all people. The
willingness to die for some people would be an expression of group
solidarity. The willingness to die for humankind is an expression of
universal solidarity...(it) is a service rendered to all people."
And Jesus knew that in order to be in solidarity with suffering people,
He would have to suffer, meaning He would have to come out of hiding and
face those who were seeking to get rid of Him.
Chapter 17 is a beautiful chapter about the uniqueness of Jesus. Nolan says that "there are no traces of fear in Jesus. He
was not afraid of creating a scandal or losing his reputation or even
losing his life...even John the Baptist (was) scandalized by the way he
mixed socially with sinners, by the way he seemed to enjoy their
company, by his permissiveness with regard to the laws, by his apparent
disregard for the seriousness of sin and by his free and easy way of
treating God. He soon acquired what we would call a bad reputation..."
Much of chapter 17 focuses on how, unlike all others, Jesus insisted on not using any titles for Himself: "Jesus'
courage, fearlessness and independence made people of that age ask
again and again, 'Who is this man?' It is significant that Jesus never
answers the question. There is no evidence that he ever laid claim to
any of the exalted titles which the Church later attributed to him."
Jesus wanted nothing to do with the whole idea of acting and speaking 'with authority' (the right to be obeyed by others): "...did
Jesus claim authority, any kind of authority at all, even implicitly?
Would it not be closer to the truth to say that what makes Jesus
immeasurably greater than any other human being is precisely the fact
that he spoke and acted without authority and that he regarded the
'exercise of authority' as a pagan characteristic...
"Jesus
was unique among the people of his time in his ability to overcome all
forms of authority-thinking. The only authority which Jesus might be
said to have appealed to was the authority of the truth itself. He did
not make authority his truth, he made truth his authority...(He) did not
expect others to obey him; he expected them to 'obey' the truth, to
live truthfully..."
The chapter ends saying, "The secret of Jesus' infallible insight
and unshakeable convictions was his unfailing experience of solidarity
with God, which revealed itself as an experience of solidarity with
humanity and nature. This made him a uniquely liberated man, uniquely
courageous, fearless, independent, hopeful and truthful. What would make anyone want to destroy such a man?..."
Friday, July 16, 2021
Jesus Before Christianity (Part 6 - The Man Who Emerges)
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