Featured The political side of Jesus's life and Parallels with today's politics

[AgnosticBoy]

A week ago, a member created a cool discussion about the religious aspects of the movie Star Wars. Turned into a good discussion and found a lot of things to compare.

In this thread, I want to discuss any political aspects of the Gospel narratives of Jesus's life and how that compares to politics today. Sure, the Gospels are largely about theology, but I also think there is a political angle, and one that's very relevant to the politics today.

I'll offer some details to get the discussion started...
Let's introduce some characters:

Of course Jesus had a whole BUNCH of acid things to say about corrupt and crooked leaders. But too often we don’t have eyes to see what he was saying, or we reframe it as “spiritual” because we don’t understand the political situation of Judea during the days of Jesus.

Four competing groups had risen up to hold power and influence:

1. the Sadducees who sucked up to Rome and reaped the benefits

2. the Pharisees who wanted separation from Rome and a religious state

3. the Zealots who wanted to overthrow Rome with a well-regulated militia

4. and the Essenes who were the hippies of their time and lived in communes

To imagine that these guys were just a motley assortment of priests and pastors who sat around doing inductive Bible studies and critiquing Jesus on minor theological points would be to miss the point.

Source: https://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/corruptpoliticians

In Israel, political and religious factions were one and the same. Back then, it was Pharisees and Sadducees. Today, we have conservatives and liberals.

The Pharisees were the most religiously conservative leaders. They had the most influence among the common working poor, who were the majority. They believed that a king would come one day to conquer Rome with violence and free their nation. Some preyed upon a mostly illiterate population by adding extra rules and requirements that were designed to force the working poor into a posture of subjugation.

The Sadducees were wealthy aristocrats who had a vested financial interest in Roman rule. They were in charge of the temple, and they didn’t believe any savior king was coming. They made themselves wealthy by exacting unfair taxes and fees from the labor of their own people and by contriving money-making schemes that forced the poor to pay exorbitant prices to participate in temple sacrifice—a critical part of their religion.

There were Zealot groups who hid in the hills and violently resisted Roman occupation, and then there were the Samaritans, often oppressed and marginalized because of their racial and ethnic identities.

Source: https://hegetsus.com/en/articles/would-jesus-be-fed-up-with-our-politics-too

Using this as a starting point, what political aspects of Jesus's life? How do they compare to politics today?

 

[Scooter]

I believe the only politics Jesus was interested in was the Kingdom of God. He dealt with political and religious leaders, but His focus was on bringing people into God’s kingdom.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

I agree, Scooter. While politics was not his focus, but it still would impact on his life since he's living under a government, laws, etc.

One big area I see politics at play is with his own death. I understand the theology behind why he died. But there's also a political element at play from the religious leaders point-of-view. The Pharisees and others were thinking politics when dealing with him. His views were a threat to those in power and they were afraid it could cause an uprising. Jesus was exposing them. So the religious leaders conspired against him. In fact, he had several attempts on his life but was able to slip away until someone from his inner circle turned on him.

I'd also say that some of Jesus's moral teachings cut into politics. Politicians tend to do things just for show - to get attention and a certain perception from others. Such acts, while they appear good from the outside, but they come from a bad or non-genuine place. It's like politicians nowadays, that do things just to get votes and ratings. Politics* can be part of anything really, even in religion. I can see how some acts could be highly regarded by the religious, and then to have religious leaders do things to be highly regarded as opposed to doing things for truly pious reasons. For instance, having using big crowd sizes to make yourself look more influential. The problem comes in not with the crowd size, but rather it's the intent and focus on crowd size and wanting attention from that.

*Political (from Google Ai search):
relating to, affecting, or acting according to the interests of status or authority within an organization rather than matters of principle.


Here's some examples from Jesus's teachings:
Mark 12:38-40
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.

Matthew 6:5
5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be
seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full

 

[Scooter]

Yes, Jesus was seen as a threat by both religious and political groups. He was a threat to their position and power. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy and the common man applauded His actions. In fact the religious leaders knew if they didn’t silence Jesus, the whole world would follow Him John 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Matthew 23:28
Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (KJV)

Doesn't this apply to the politicians today?

Perhaps seeing this in action is more powerful... found some videos... I'll post one here: