How Jesus Wins Debates

Jesus spent at least a day debating with the priests and scholars of his day.  His answers were intelligent and showed a deep understanding of Scripture.  But Jesus didn't silence his contrarians because his answers were more true or were better argued.  Rather, he won the day because of his clear moral authority.

Jewish religion, including Jesus' theology, is based on law.  But not just the letter of the law, although some groups like the Pharisees built their reputation on focusing on the letter instead of the principle.  But Jewish understanding of religion is based on moral principles, no matter what the specific law says.  They don't just want to understand the fact of the law, but the reason behind the law, the moral principle upon which we should live our lives.  And Jesus clearly had a greater understanding of the moral principle of God's law for humanity.

Jesus shows that he shows respect for authority, especially the greatest authority who is the Lord.

Jesus shows wisdom in not getting caught in an answerable question by asking an unanswerable question.

Jesus undermines any authority that uses their power to oppress the innocent, even if the innocent is himself.

Jesus strips through confusion by getting to the basic principles of theology-- the power and love of God.

Jesus declares that all moral authority is based on love, love alone.

Then Jesus asks a question that indicates that Scripture itself is a mystery, to be revealed only by God.

On the internet it is easy to engage in debate.  But the one who wins debate isn't the one who is right.  It' is the one who demonstrates the moral authority of love.  Love always wins.

Debating with Jesus, part 2

Jesus made quite an impact in the first couple days he was in Jerusalem.  He came into the town as a victorious king, and then he declared the legal practice of selling in the Temple to be illegal in God’s eyes.  He fully represented the authority of God in that place.  But those who actually ruled the Jews in Jerusalem—the members of the Sanhedrin and the ruling priests—were upset and wanted to challenge his authority.

On Jesus’ third day in Jerusalem, he was teaching in the Temple area, which is where the ruling priests and elders found him.  Immediately, they challenged him, “Who do you think you are?  On what basis did you think that you could act like a king?  Who is your authority?”

            Jesus replied, “If you want me to answer your question, you need to answer mine: Where did John the Baptist’s authority come from—God or from someone on earth?”  

   The priests and elders huddled together, discussing quietly a proper answer.  They said among themselves, “If we say his authority was from heaven, then this teacher will rebuke us for not listening to him.  If we say that his authority was not from heaven, the people will be angry at us.”  So they turned to Jesus and said, “We don’t know.”  

   Jesus replied, “Even so, I won’t tell you who my authority is.”

            Jesus then spoke to the crowds listening to his teaching, “There once was a farm and the owner put the farm under the control of some shareholders.  The owner sent a messenger to the shareholders, wanting some fruit of the harvest.  The shareholders, however, just beat the messenger and sent him away.  The owner sent many other messengers, but the shareholders beat them all and killed some.  Finally, the angry owner said, ‘I will send my son to them, for they will respect him.’  When the shareholders saw the owner’s son, however, they said, ‘Here is the owner’s son.  We will kill him and then gain the farm for ourselves.’  So they grabbed the owner’s son, beat him, threw him out of the farm and killed him.  When the owner heard this, he gathered his army and destroyed the shareholders and gave the farm to someone else.”

            Jesus then said to the chief priests and elders, “The Scripture says, ‘The building stone which the builders rejected has now become the chief cornerstone.’  Everyone who rejects this stone will be crushed by it.”  They knew that Jesus was speaking specifically against them, and they wanted to see how they could make him be ashamed in front of the crowds.

            So they sent a group of Sadduceean scholars to confront him.  The Sadducees didn’t believe that there would be any resurrection, nor did they believe in any Scriptures except the first five books of Moses.  They came to Jesus and said, “Good teacher, we have a situation we would like you to judge.  As you know, the law says that a woman whose husband has died must marry his brother.  A woman among us has become a widow, and so married her husband’s brother.  Suddenly, her second husband died, so she married another brother.  Then her third husband died, so she married another, and so on until she had married all seven brothers.  Finally, she died.  Our question is this: which man will be her husband in the resurrection?”

           Jesus replied, “You do not know the Scripture or the power of God.  When the resurrection comes, there will be no more marriage, but everyone will be like the angels of heaven.  As for whether the resurrection is true or not, didn’t God say to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living—so there must be a resurrection.”  The Sadducees left, furious, but unable to answer him.

            Hearing his responses, a scribe came up to Jesus and asked, “Rabbi, what is the greatest command of the law?”  

  Jesus replied, “The greatest command is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind and with all of your strength.’  The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the law and the prophets rely on these two commands.”  After hearing his responses, no one asked him any more questions.

            Then Jesus said to his challengers, “Now I have a question for you:  David said about the coming king, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “I will set your enemies at your feet.”’  But if David is the coming king’s father, how can he call him ‘lord’?  But if he is not the king’s father, why do we all say that the coming king is David’s son?”  No one could answer him, and Jesus left Jerusalem for the day.

Black Jesus and Rabbi Jesus

The latest version of Jesus is pleasant, jovial, friendly and weed-smoking.  And there’s a number of good Christians that are up in arms about it.

Senior pastor Kerry Buckly says, "It was horrible, disgusting and completely offensive. Down to a person, everyone in the youth group was offended. It just shows where we are a nation. … We have no respect for God.”  And that’s just after watching the trailer.

Certainly the first episode had a number of questionable activities.  Jesus is living a party life, living in a van, partaking in weed and he hosts parties where he’s not welcome.  He’s a moocher, he participates in illegal activity, and is arrested.  The first episode also diminishes Jesus’ death by having a character say, “Yeah, that was 2014 years ago, that's old.”

But if this portrayal of Jesus is problematic with the modern church, then I suspect that they wouldn’t much care for the original Jesus.

Because that Jesus travelled from town to town, going to one party after another.  He described the kingdom of heaven a number of times as a “feast” (which is just another name for party).  In Luke 14, Jesus uses a party as an illustration of the kingdom of God at least three times.  And he says this while at a party.

The original Jesus was homeless, of course, having “nowhere to lay his head.”  He was poor, and a mooch, because he held his parties in other people’s homes.  One example is Zacchaeus in Luke 19, where Jesus just tells him that he’s having a party at his home.  Often Jesus held parties in places where he wasn’t welcome, such as Simon the Pharisee, where Jesus insulted his host because he wasn’t fawning enough (Luke 9).

What about weed?  Jesus certainly didn’t smoke weed, did he? Some more religious cannabis users want to show Jesus smoking janga, but since weed didn’t grow in the Middle East in the ancient world, that didn’t happen.  However, Jesus was about drinking wine.  A lot of it.  The good stuff, which is the more fermented kind.  He was known as a “drunkard”.  My more conservative friends say that Jesus never got drunk, but there certainly isn’t any evidence for that.  He certainly hung around with people who were drunk.  And really, what is the difference between alcohol and weed except that alcohol is more likely to make you violent?

Sure, Jesus is a moocher in the episode, but he gives as much as he takes, sometimes more.  He is seen as a joyful, generous, miracle-working man, trying to encourage everyone to be kind, compassionate and at peace with each other.  The statement about his death is called into question by the end of the episode because in the end Jesus helps everyone

So what really is the problem with Black Jesus?  It’s the same problem religious leaders had with the original Jesus—he is on the wrong cultural side of the tracks.  Religious folks are naturally conservative, always trying to reach back to a better time in which people were more polite, less irresponsible, more moral and generally safer.  It doesn’t matter that this time never existed.  But in general, religious folks like order.  They want to squelch any attempt at chaos or irresponsibility.

But Jesus was irresponsible.  He quit his job, left his family (even though he was responsible for his widowed mother), travelled from home to home with a number of disreputable men and women(!).  Jesus had no regular income and encouraged his disciples to live off other people’s charity.

And Jesus was chaotic. Sure, he talked about God’s will, but he was always tearing at the institutions of his day, whether the priesthood, the temple or even the law.  He challenged the political and economic institutions of his day and encouraged a sort of anarchy.

Let’s face it, the original Jesus, just like Black Jesus is an affront to middle class, reputable morality.  Religious people just can’t handle that.  So they will talk about how “blasphemous” Black Jesus is.  When really what they find blasphemous is the original Jesus, just like the religious institutions did 2000 years ago.

As for me (and the people in my congregation), I’d much rather hang out with Black Jesus than the Jesus that they have in their churches.  Constantly dying, rule-making, stern and institutional.  Mind you, I would find Black Jesus to be a bit more like the original Jesus if he’d talk about sacrifice and humility as well as joy and love.  But I’m willing to give the show a chance.  It’s a pretty good start. 

Couldn't Bear to Watch

I wonder if some of the disciples ran from Jesus, not because they feared arrest or death, but because they couldn’t bear to watch him suffer for his love?  

Perhaps their motivation was mixed, but he was still alone, bereft of friends at the darkest of moments.  

The love that turns away from love— right when he chooses to suffer for his love— is that truly love?

Debating Jesus, Part 1

Jesus went out of Jerusalem that night to sleep.  The next day, he was back in the temple, teaching.  Some Pharisees came up the next day to challenge Jesus.  They flattered him, trying to make him give a foolish response to their question.  

They said, “Master, we know that you teach the truth and that everything you say is right.  So please tell us, should we pay taxes to the Romans?”  They knew that if Jesus said “no” then the Romans would arrest him, but if he said “yes” that he wouldn’t be popular with the people.

Jesus didn’t respond how they thought, however.  He said, “Why are you trying to trick me?  Do you have a Roman coin?”  One of the Pharisees pulled out a Roman coin and showed it to Jesus.  Jesus then asked them, “What image is on that coin?”  

Some of the Pharisees backed away, because they realized that Jesus was displaying to all the people that they had brought an image into the temple, which was immoral and illegal. One of the Pharisees responded, though, “That is Caesar’s image.”  

Jesus said, “All right then, since the emperor’s image is on the coin, if he wants it, give it to him.  It belongs to him, as you can see.  On the other hand, God’s image is on every one of you.  So give to God what belongs to Him.”

"Caesar Augustus/Son of God"

What Jesus Said About Welcoming Sinners

Mark 2:14-17

As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Luke 15:1-32

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So He told them this parable, saying,

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Luke 15:11-32

A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 'I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'

"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.

"Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"

Matthew 20:28-32

But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.' And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For God’s prophets came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe them; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe them; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe.”

Luke 17:3-4

If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Matthew 18:15-35

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector…Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Luke 19:10

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

The Poverty of Jesus

From the book Poverty of Spirit by Johannes Baptist Metz

To become human as Christ did is to practice poverty of spirit, to obediently accept our innate poverty as human beings.  This acceptance can take place in many of life's circumstances where the very possibility of being human is challenged and open to question.  The inevitable summons to surrender to the truth of our Being suggests itself in many ways.  Here we want to highlight the most important forms that our poverty takes, to show how our daily experiences point us toward the desert wastes of poverty.

Poverty of the commonplace
There is the poverty of the average person's life, whose life goes unnoticed by the world.  It is the poverty of the commonplace.  There is nothing heroic about it; it is the poverty of the common lot, devoid of ecstasy.

Jesus was poor in this way.  He was no model figure for humanists, no great artist or statesman, no diffident genius.  He was a frighteningly simple man, whose only talent was to do good. His one great passion in his life was his "Abba."  Yet it was precisely in this way that he deomonstraed "the wonder of empty hands" (Bernanos), the great potential of the person on the street, whose radical dependence on God is not different from anyone else's.  Such a person has no talent but that of one's own heart, no contribution to make except self-abandonment, no consolation save God alone.

Poverty of neediness
Related to this poverty is the poverty of misery and neediness.  Jesus was no stranger to this poverty either.  He was a beggar, knocking on people's doors.  He knew hunger, exile and the loneliness of the outcast (so much that he will judge us on these things).  He had no place to lay his head, not even in death-- except a gibbet on which to stretch his body.

Christ did not "identify" with misery or "choose" it; it was his lot.  That is the only way we really taste misery, for it has its own inscrutable laws.  His life tells us that such neediness can become a blessed sacrament of "poverty of spirit."  With nothing of one's own to provide security, the wretched person has only hope-- the virtue so quickly misunderstood by the secure and the rich. The latter confuse it with shallow optimism and a childish trust in life, whereas hope emerges in the shattering experience of living "despite all hope".  We really hope when we no longer have anything of our own.  Any possession or personal strength tempts us to a vain self-reliance, just as material wealth easily becomes a temptation to "spiritual opulence."