The Other Kind of Power
Last week, my middle school bible study class discussed "misunderstandings," specifically, how Jesus was misunderstood by his own people. You see the Jewish people had lived under military occupation for centuries - first by the Babylonians (in exile), then the Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans. As a result, the desire for liberation permeated every aspect of life, including religious beliefs. After all, what did God think of this whole situation? How was the Divine going to set things right? The answer to these questions came in the form of a Messiah, a divinely appointed savior who would conquer Israel's enemies and rule over the world for eternity. Like the empires of this world, the messiah was expected to rule through violence and intimidation. You can imagine, then, what people must have been thinking when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, was later arrested, mocked and finally, crucified by the very empire they wished to o