Teachings,+the+secret+message+of+Jesus+(8)

The scandal of the message
(Kai Stormwalker)

“In the previous chapter, you may have noticed that I strategically avoided an important issue. Among the many signs and wonders of Jesus, I never mentioned one of the most important and - to many of us - strangest: Jesus confrontations with evil powers. Those demonic confrontations give us a window, I believe, into Jesus’ secret method to bring his secret message to fruition… “…for Jesus’ secret message of the kingdom to be realized, it must first expose the evil of all alternative kingdoms or regimes or systems or ideologies. And for that evil to be exposed, it must be drawn out of the shadows, where it hides in secret.”

- Brian D. McLaren

Read Matthew 8:28-34; 17:14-21

“What if this individual strategy is itself a sign pointing toward Jesus’ larger strategy - for the nation and perhaps the world? What if it is yet another sign and wonder pointing to his larger, less obvious strategy: to draw corporate or even cosmic evil out from the shadows and into the broad daylight, so that it can be seen and named and rejected and banished? “What do I mean by corporate and cosmic evil? We’ve all heard terms like team spirit or school spirit, the soul of a nation or corporate culture, the crowd mentality or feeding frenzy - terms that express how a kind of groupthink can emerge in a group and then take it over, “possess” it, drive it. “By drawing out covert evil so that it manifests itself, Jesus exposes the dangerous “spirits” that can inhabit the most respected of institutions - government (the Roman Empire, Herod’s puppet kingdom), political movements (Zealots and Herodians), religious parties (Pharisees and Sadducees), religious structures and hierarchies (chief priests), professions (scribes), and family systems (“do not call anyone on earth ‘father’” and “let the dead bury their own dead,” Jesus says of these systems [Matthew 23:9; 8:22]).

- Brian D. McLaren

Read John 13:27; Matthew 16:23

In these instances Jesus shows the evil in his own followers. What a contrast this makes to the new force, the new spirit that is in the world - not a demonic spirit, but the Holy Spirit.

“These forces of evil, in Paul’s mind are not simply invisible, individual devils hiding in individuals. Instead, they are very real and powerful forces that enter groups of people and guide or even control their internal functioning and external behavior. Under their influence, people move together as with one will, like a school of tuna or a flock of crows…paralyzed or convulsed or twisted or massaged so as to conform to values and dictates that they may never have imagined on their own.”

Jesus exposed two of these invisible but real forces in particular as opposing God’s kingdom.

“First, Jesus confronts the Roman Empire, which many Jews identify as the source or focal point of all evil and trouble among them. Ironically, reading the narratives of Jesus’ life, one is struck not by the strength of the Roman regime, but rather by its weakness. A Roman centurion - a representative of the empire - comes to Jesus, seeking healing for a beloved servant. For all his power to control and destroy with swords and spears, he…needs a greater power to heal. This greater power he recognizes in Jesus. Even…Rome’s puppet governor Pilate seems like a skittish petty politician, not a frightening potentate. He’s manipulated by crowds, pressured by his wife, conflicted and paralyzed internally, fearful of making a decision until he is forced to do so…Jesus stands before him flogged and beaten, mocked and bound, waiting for Pilate to pass judgment. Why at that moment does Pilate seem the insecure one, asking “What is truth?” and why does Jesus seem at peace, powerful in his refusal to answer questions - keeping the truth as it were, to himself - confident that Pilate’s power is insignificant. “Second, Jesus confronts the equally dark spirit of the religious elite of his day. It is one thing to show the weakness of the apparently powerful; it is another to show the evil of the apparently righteous. And this is what Jesus does…Jesus seeks to lure covert systemic evil out of the shadows and into the light where it can be named, exposed, and expelled… Sometimes he directly confronts it - such as when he goes into the temple and turns over the moneychangers’ tables, when he calls the religious leaders hypocrites and wolves disguised as sheep, or when he intentionally and publicly heals someone on the Sabbath, inviting the fury of the religious elite. Their violent and hateful reactions show their true character and confirm Jesus’ assessment of them. Sometimes he makes ambiguous statements (which) his critics interpret in the worst possible light and again in their ugly response, show what they’re made of and what drives them…When Pilate presents Jesus to the crowds, beaten and bloody, they shout, “Crucify him!” and even more scandalous, they declare, “We have no king but Caesar!” Faced with the kingdom of God, they choose the kingdom of Caesar. “These religious leaders (like so many today) have pretended to be about religious piety and national fidelity. They seemed to want liberation from Caesar. But now they manifest their true desire: to affiliate with the powers that be, to maintain sovereignty in their little turf and the continuation of their little religious regime, as if to say, “May our will be done!” If Jesus’ secret message threatens their domain, they will scream for Caesar to bolster their leverage. Their true colors - pale, bilious, gangrenous - have shown through.”

- Brian D. McLaren

Read Mark 3:24. How might this relate to these religious leaders and the kingdom of God?

“The story is familiar: the religious and political-military powers collaborate and negotiate and reach an elegant final solution: Jesus will be crucified as a rebel. He will be nailed to a Roman cross - the visible symbol of the power of the Roman principality and power, the instrument of torture and execution that is the end of all who stand up against Rome. “This is the scandal of the message of Jesus. The kingdom of God does fail. It is weak. It is crushed. When its message of love, peace, justice, and truth meets the principalities and powers of government and religion armed with spears and swords and crosses, they unleash their hate, force, manipulation, and propaganda…the resistance movement known as the kingdom of God is crushed. “What if the only way for the kingdom of God to come in its true form - as a kingdom ‘not of the world’ - is through weakness and vulnerability, sacrifice and love? What if it can conquer only by first being conquered? What if being conquered is absolutely necessary to expose the brutal violence and dark oppression of these principalities and powers… - so they, having been exposed, can be seen for what they are and freely rejected, making room for the new and better kingdom?

- Brian D. McLaren

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.

“Can you see why such a message is too subversive to be over?