The Myth of Christian Revolution

If Jesus were a revolutionary, he had two groups of people he could have revolted against: The Romans, and the Hebrew leadership. He did not revolt against either. Rather He submitted to them.

If Jesus were a revolutionary, surely He and the zealots would have made common cause. At the very least He would have had more followers for many Jews had grievances against the Romans. And yet, when people come to tell Jesus about what the Romans were alleged to have done, He uses the story to remind the crowd that they must repent.

Luke 13 begins with some from the crowd, probably Zealots, telling Jesus of a Galilean whose blood Pilate had mixed with sacrifices. These sort of stories happen now in the Middle East. They are almost formulaic. During the recent Israeli/Lebanon war, Hezbollah engaged in wholesale creation of such stories, to the point where there was photographic evidence of fraud.

Jesus' response is unlike anything the crowd would expect to hear. The story casts the Romans in a very bad light. These stories are intended to justify revolution. Jesus instead starts talking about repentance. He is saying the revolution is not the way you justify yourself. Repent. He mentions that these men who died had no more sin than anyone else.

This is the opposite of what normally happens. In Ireland, Catholic priests and Protestant ministers would tell their violent allies that they were doing God's work. For revolutionaries, the cause is what purifies. Jesus comes directly against such suggestions. He says very clearly that they must repent or else they will perish.

Jesus was definitely radical. He spoke a message that was ultimately a message of restoration, redemption, of fulfillment. He went on, through death to resurrection and beyond, regularly coming into this world, into us, the body of Christ. There was nothing for him to revolt against. Any man who thought he had power over Him was sorely mistaken.

We aren't revolutionaries either. The message of revolution encourages ideas about secret knowledge, ideological purity, and discrimination. A revolution is militaristic; how many of our brothers and sisters are strong enough to put up with physical hardship? Regardless of whether the group is violent or pacifist, this sort of thinking immediately creates divisions.

Given that most of us are actually trying to follow the Lord, we end up at an impasse. Our Father's plan can't unfold any further. We tend to get further away from loving one another because this grand revolutionary goal seems to be more important. The Kingdom of God is among us, not somewhere else. Revolutionaries forget relationships in favor of the dash to utopia. In doing so they lose the very thing they are looking for. Please don't run past the Kingdom.