Jesus in Jerusalem, part 1

Presented to Dr. Renate Hood, LeTourneau University, 26 April 2004:

Jesus in Jerusalem
The Threat to the Socio-Political Order as Depicted in Luke's Gospel

Introduction

Contemporary evangelicals rarely view Jesus as a first-century political figure. Instead, they often deride those of Christ’s day who expected the Messiah to smash Roman power in Palestine. Darrell Bock, for example, writes regarding Jesus' words in Luke 20:20-26, "No one can charge him with political subversion. [. . .] he is not interested in the political agenda of changing Rome."¹ Such interpreters are correct in emphasizing the propitiatory mission of the Messiah over any imperial considerations. However, a closer analysis of the social structure in first-century Palestine suggests that Jesus did challenge the temporal order at its highest levels. His character as a servant was not a rejection of politics; it was an inversion of the political values and social structure of the age. This challenge climaxed with his final entry into Jerusalem, by which he made claim to the central place of Israel. A study of his time in the city reveals the nature of this challenge; the present analysis will examine the Jerusalem encounters as they are portrayed in Luke's gospel.

This paper will treat political, economic, and religious power as essentially the same. Although modern readers of the New Testament may view these spheres of authority as distinct categories, it is unlikely that the earliest audience would have. According to Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, economics and religion did not exist as separate institutions; they were "embedded" and "intertwined" within kinship and politics, the two major institutions recognized by first-century society.² The rest of this paper will examine the various ways Jesus challenged this broadly defined "political" power.

The Journey to Jerusalem

The city of Jerusalem has been identified as a focus of both of the Lukan narratives. Peter Walker writes that Luke’s interest in the city is "without parallel" in the other synoptic gospels. The preoccupation with the metropolis in the Gospel of Luke continues in the Book of Acts; as Christ moves toward Jerusalem in Luke, Christianity moves outward from the city in its apparent sequel.³ Bock observes that Jesus' journey to Jerusalem forms the longest section in Luke's gospel; nearly 37 percent of the verses in the book are part of a travel narrative with Jerusalem as its destination.⁴

This attention to the ancient capital of Israel is striking but not surprising. If Jesus intended to challenge the religious leadership of the nation, then he would need to enter the nation’s "central place." An ancient metropolis functioned as a meeting place of the elites, the arbiter of social action (political, religious, and economic) throughout its region.⁵ Jerusalem presumably served in this capacity for all of Israel—indeed, for all devout Jews, who recognized no other city's temple. For centuries, the nation had linked its political as well as religious hopes with this capital.⁶ It is no surprise that the advent of Jesus in Jerusalem should absorb so much of the attention of the gospel writers.

In the thirteenth chapter of Luke, as he travels through the villages between Galilee and the city, Jesus announces his purpose for going to Jerusalem. He states his intentions explicitly and ominously. When a group of Pharisees warn that Herod intends his death, Christ retorts:

"Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today [. . .]. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" (Luke 13:32-34)⁷

In this passage, Jesus identifies himself not only as a prophet being sent to Jerusalem, but as a prophet with extraordinary patronal authority as well as a desire to change the existing order. Walker comments that the portrayal of God as a mother bird protecting its young is found in the Old Testament several times (Deut. 32:11; Pss. 17:8, 36:7, 91:4; Ruth 2:12). Noting also that Jesus differentiates between the city and her children, Walker interprets the statement as a personal claim to the authority of Jerusalem. The people are not being properly protected by this city, this false mother, so Christ proposes to take them away from her. He establishes himself as a defender of the people against the influence of Jerusalem.⁸ The parental metaphor is consistent with the function of the metropolis; the Old Testament occasionally refers to the client villages surrounding Jerusalem as its "daughters."⁹ Walker's interpretation puts Jesus on a path of deliberate conflict with the society's ruling powers, who are not caring properly for the Jewish people as a whole.

This implied dichotomy between the people and their leadership is seen clearly when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. Inside the city, the leaders of the people try several times to put an end to Christ's influence. Each time, until they finally arrange to capture him in secret and subject him to the shame of degradation rituals, they are thwarted by the will of the crowds. From their failure to silence Jesus in the temple in 19:48 to their use of a traitor to seize him privately in 22:53, the religious leaders are unable to overcome the pressure of their own populace. Even as Jesus is crucified, the people remain quiet while their leaders mock him (23:35). It seems that Jack Dean Kingsbury is correct to assert that "Luke draws a sharp distinction [. . .] between the people and the authorities," who "are second only to Jesus as the ones who influence most the plot of the story."¹⁰

Read the second part

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1. Darrell L. Bock, Luke: NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996) 512.

2. Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003) 397-398.

3. Peter W. L. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996) 58.

4. Darrell L. Bock, Luke: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996) 2: 957.

5. Malina and Rohrbaugh 337-340.

6. Walker ix-x.

7. Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

8. Walker 70-72.

9. Richard L. Rohrbaugh, “The Preindustrial City,” The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation, ed. Richard L. Rohrbaugh (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996) 108.

10. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Conflict in Luke: Jesus, Authorities, Disciples (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991) 79, 21.

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