Esachatology in First Century Israel
To understand the anger of the Jews, one must be able to look at the situation through their perspective; the best way to do this is to use symbolic world analysis. Symbolic World refers to “The system of lines and boundaries, the definitions and classifications, the patterns of behavior and perception, the practices and beliefs” (Bell SW 3). Symbolic world uses the metaphor of lenses as something we put on in order to see clearly into another culture. Within symbolic world, there are thirteen different lenses which, “correspond to the basic ways that Anthropologists and Sociologists have observed that people tend to draw lines that define and give meaning to their world” (Bell SW 3). This paper will not use the specific lens so much as give a range of practices, beliefs, and so forth, which will be able to give the reader a better understanding of where the first century Jews were coming from.
As said before, Israel’s mood in this time period was an eschatological one. The people had a hope that they would be redeemed by a savior sent by God. Their hope came from prophesies and signs pertaining to a messiah. Of course, the Israelites wanted this messiah to be a sort of warrior king who would drive out their enemies and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. When John the Baptist came, they at first thought that he was the messiah because of his teachings and how he was bringing the Jews together. When Jesus came, however, he was not what they had been expecting; instead he was a suffering messiah. He also spoke of resurrection, which the Jews assumed would be bodily, and he spoke of the coming judgment. They prepared for this by re-evaluating their covenants, by bringing the Diaspora Jews back to Jerusalem, and many other things. Jesus’ healings and cleansings of the unclean also pointed to the coming of the Kingdom of God. Along with this were John’s admonitions of the people of Israel, and his warning of the Kingdom of God.
The first century Jews were a people divided into many factions. They fought the Romans as well as amongst themselves. Rome could not understand a monotheistic culture, and for their part, the Jews had a huge problem trying to resist the pressure to engage in Imperial cult worship. Within the Jews, their were the Sadducees and Pharisees, which had differing views on many aspects of their religion. There were those who were against Jesus, and those that feared and hated him. It was quite simply a time of great upheaval for Jews.
The most important figure for the Jews at this time was of course, Jesus, whether or not they liked him, Jesus created quite a stir. His struggle in life and his resurrection brought about a religious revolution that forever changed history. Jesus’ disciples and the large crowds that followed him became his biggest proponents. His disciples are more than followers, they become like bodyguards; this is important because it speaks to Jesus’ “royalty” in that he is the “heir” to the House of David as well as the son of God. His disciples are constantly differing to him and treating him with the respect due a member of the nobility. Luke repeatedly speaks about the crowds and how they were “amazed”, or later, “spellbound”. In one such instance in chapter 12, Jesus attacks the Pharisees and it is because of the great crowd that the Pharisees cannot do any harm to Jesus. This becomes important later on when Jesus is arrested. Jesus is always playing to the crowd, and his honor continues to rise, not as a simple man, but as the Messiah. Chapter 19 talks about a man, Zacchaeus, a tax collector of all people, who climbs a tree to watch Jesus’ entrance into Jericho. Jesus’ honor and influence were such at this time that he inspired this man whose place in the social order was greater than his, to repent and repay those whom he cheated in the past. The reversal of honor and position is one which his carried through Luke.
The highest point that Jesus’ honor reaches is upon his entrance into Jerusalem in Luke 19:28. At this point Jesus has already earned the respect of the people by performing healings and exorcisms, as well as relating many parables in which he calls out his enemies. In many of these stories it is the Pharisees whom Jesus censures. One such parable is the Pharisee and the tax collector found in Luke 18. In this parable Jesus condemns the Pharisee, who thinks himself above others, while the tax collector, who calls himself a “sinner”, is praised for his humility. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Another tale in which he “denounces Pharisees and lawyers” is in chapter 11. Here Jesus makes enemies of them by calling them hypocrites. At other times the Pharisees argue with him for healing on the Sabbath. In Luke 13:17, the Pharisees attack him for doing this, but he answers are such that his opponents become the ones who are shamed.
Later, it becomes the Romans and the Sadducees who are the greatest threat to Jesus. As soon as he comes into Jerusalem, the Sadducees start trying to get him into trouble. The Romans on the other hand don’t really care, until their hand is forced by the Sadducees. The “Triumphal entry into Jerusalem” is the point at which Jesus’ honor is at its highest. His followers find this colt for him to ride in on, and people are throwing down their cloaks in front of him; all of which should be an allusion to royalty. In contrast to these royal images though, is the fact that instead of Jesus riding a war horse, it’s a colt and instead of acting happy to be there, he starts reproving the people of Jerusalem.
Once Jesus is in the city the Sadducees become his main problem. Because of the crowds, they cannot openly condemn him, so instead they come up with all of these little philosophical traps that Jesus just walks right through. In 20:20, there is a section where “spies” are sent by the Sadducees to try and trick Jesus. They ask about paying taxes to Rome, and he says,
Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent. (Luke 20:25-6).
This clearly shows how important the crowds were in the protection of Jesus, as well as the difficulty that the Sadducees had with trying to ensnare Jesus. Obviously, they couldn’t get the job done by themselves. There is another passage in chapter 20, in which the Sadducees test Jesus again by asking him about resurrection, which they do not believe in. The question is asked about who a re-married widow would be with once resurrected. Jesus says basically that no one will be married after resurrection because there will be no point in that, and then the scribes say, “Teacher, you have spoken well,” then Luke writes, “For they no longer dared ask him another question” (Luke 20:39-40). These shortcomings of the Sadducees give examples as to why they needed to pull the Romans into the situation in order to persecute Jesus.
The status and honor which Jesus had procured began to decline after the Romans got involved. Knowing what power the crowds which surrounded Jesus possessed, the Sadducees waited for an opportunity where they would find Jesus relatively alone. His disciples, once again acting as bodyguards, wanted to fight, but Jesus allowed himself to be taken into custody and tried.
During his trials, Jesus remained steadfast and did not once beg for mercy or deny that he was the son of God. Nor did he perform any sort of miracles, or “signs” such as Herod wanted, which may have saved his life and proven that he was the Messiah. This would in his advocates eyes make him even more honorable, but to the Romans and the Sadducees, it was as bad as a confession of guilt. To the Sadducees, even the fact that he died would have been a blow to his honor, since they believed that the true Messiah would not have let himself be taken by the gentiles. Luke says that, “Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him” (Luke 23:11). This would have been an insult to his honor, to have the leader of his own people against him. The most serious injury to his honor, of course, would have been his crucifixion beside common criminals.
Crucifixion would have been seen as a status degradation rite in which the victim would have been subjugated to a slow a painful death. “The point of crucifixion was precisely the fear its sudden, merciless application; it was one of the purest forms of social governmental violence” (Message & Kingdom 86). Crucifixion was a manner of death which the Romans took great advantage of, using it as a means of both humiliating the “criminal” and as a warning to those who would oppose them. In the case of Jesus, he was accused of stirring up a revolt and telling the people not to pay their taxes, and so forth. In The Message and the Kingdom, it says, “The fact that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified is as eloquent a testimony as any to the depth and the clarity of the threat that he posed” (M & K 86). The degradation of Jesus continued even after his death, when the soldiers gambled for his clothes; and had he been a common criminal and not had followers, his body would have been left out to rot and be eaten by animals.
God’s response to all of this can be seen in both the saving of Jesus’ body from further humiliation, as well as his resurrection. Through his resurrection, Jesus’ honor is restored by his patron, God. In chapter 24, Jesus himself tells the people that it was required for him to die first. He says, “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). His honor needed to be stripped away before God could restore it and make it even more powerful. A resurrected Jesus would certainly make more of an impression upon people; and being “carried up into heaven,” cannot hurt either. Both of these occurrences show the favor and honor which God bestowed upon Jesus.
This resurrection and the restoration of Jesus’ honor would have been very important to the Jesus followers. The early Jesus followers were a mixture of Jews and gentiles, trying to find a way to bring their very different traditions together. There were many factors which made this a hard thing to do. Whether or not gentiles had to be circumcised, there were debates about food laws, and all sorts of other seemingly unimportant obstacles. These debates however, were key to Jews because they took the law so seriously and it was more than just food guidelines and social conventions. What the early Jesus movement did was to bring together the Jewish and gentile cultures in the following of Christ.
The kerygma, or proclamation of the group was very specific. They believed that Christ died for their sins, in accordance to Hebrew scripture. They believed that Jesus died and was buried, and then rose on the third day. They believed that Jesus appeared to many of his followers, and this list appears in the gospels, the last of his witnesses being Paul. One of the most important of their beliefs was that through his death and resurrection, Christ had defeated death. This belief came about through their faith that God was able to create through Ex Nihilo. It was a key thought that those who died as martyrs would be able to be resurrected with whole and perfect bodies because of this.
In the end, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are a lesson in what true honor is. Jesus takes apart those who think themselves great and righteous men. He reveals people as the hypocrites and sinners that they are. His example is one of humility and an inborn nobleness which inspires praise by those who would follow him, and fear in those who would oppose him. Likewise is the story of his followers, who risked their own lives to follow him and the new traditions which were being created. This new faith included much from Jewish belief, such as many of the feast days, like Pentecost. Yet, other traditions, like circumcision, were cast aside. From the turmoil of the first century came a faith based religion that many opposed, but none could ignore.
