Rev Gav
Was Jesus political?
Today’s Bible reading is in two halves. The first half is subtitled, in my Bible (NRSVUE) as ‘Repent or Perish’ and the second section is subtitled, ‘The Parable of the Fig Tree’, and as we will see, the two stories are connected.
It is not uncommon to read in the gospels about how people came to Jesus to see how he would react or respond, and in this first section, some people come to Jesus to tell him about how Pilate, the cruel and brutal Roman governor of Judea, had had some Jewish people put to death. Think of this as being similar to those who came to Jesus to ask if they should pay taxes to Caesar. Would Jesus condemn the Roman authorities and put himself on the line for the Jewish cause?
Jesus responded with two rhetorical questions and statements:
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”
and,
“Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
We do not know what the tower of Siloam was, nor how it fell, but some scholars think that it was part of a Roman aqueduct — being built with Jewish labour — that collapsed, killing eighteen Jewish people.
So what did Jesus mean? The subtitle in my Bible, repent and perish assumes Jesus is making a strictly spiritual response to the question, saying in effect, it does not matter how you die but you are all going to ‘eternally’ die unless you repent of your sins. Note, I had to add the word ‘eternally’ in there for it to make sense, but this is a very modern interpretation of the Bible passage, and I am projecting a particular theology of ‘eternal salvation’ onto the text.
Also, if Jesus was speaking only spiritually, then this would be incongruous to the way he dealt with other questions. When asked about whether to give taxes to Rome, he did not ‘spiritualise’ by detaching the spiritual from the political, but asked whose head was on the coin and give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is God’s!
So, in the same way, Jesus was not detaching the spiritual from the political. Yes, Jesus was political.
Herod Antipas, the Jewish leader was colluding with the Romans, and Jesus was saying that if you get caught up in the earthly Roman ways of thinking, living. and having your being then it will lead to your destruction — you too will perish.
Jesus then goes on to talk about the fig tree planted in the vineyard. Now, the vineyard represented the Jewish people, and the fig tree represented the Jewish leadership who were bearing no fruit — the very ones colluding with the Romans. How should they be treated?
‘So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’
Who is the gardener? Is it a coincidence that Jesus’ ministry took place over three years?
The gardener replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”
In this parable, which represents the response of God and God’s anointed one, we see God’s compassion. God longs for the Jewish authorities to repent and turn back to God, and wants to give them time and space to do so. Sadly, we know how it ended up for them.
So, I hope you can see how the two sections are connected and how Jesus was responding to the announcement or question with both a spiritual and political answer. Politics is the activities associated with making decisions in society such as the distribution of welfare and resources, and politics very much mattered to Jesus.
I wonder if the message Jesus communicated to those who were listening is a message we need to hear today. Do our leaders collude with the worldly values of greed, corruption, selfishness, exclusivity, prejudice, and resource depletion. If you read any of the daily readings from the prophet Isaiah this week, you would know that God calls us to a different way of living:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1.10, 16–20)
But typically, when we are tempted to point to others and call them out, Jesus brings it right back to us.
“Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? … You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit.”
To those listening, Jesus asked us to reflect on our own hearts. Do we have a heart of repentance? Do we recognise our own brokenness and need for God? Yes, we can lament at those in power for their corruption and wicked ways, but we are responsible for only one heart, and that is our own.
Amen.
and then