Following Jesus, not Worshiping Jesus
Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is wrong on so many levels. Here are one trivial and one not so trivial wrong.
First, even the Romans in 1st century Judea didn't speak Latin. (As Dan Quayle knows, the only place people speak Latin is in Latin America). They spoke Greek, the language equivalent to English today. It was the language of empire, of global business, and diplomacy. The so-called Romans serving in the military occupation in Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, Samaria and Gallilee most likely weren't from Rome or even Italy. They were from modern day Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, maybe even the Balkans. If they wanted to speak to one another or to the Judeans, they spoke Greek, not Latin.
Second, Gibson's sadistic portrayal of the death of Jesus is a reflection of centuries of Christian propaganda that transformed Jesus from a human being to a god and made his death a sacrifice for our redemption. However, Jesus was killed for how he lived. He was a political and theological threat to the Romans. Gibson, by concentrating on his suffering and death, tries to make that suffering and death the reason that those who believe are saved. Gibson's movie is the latest chapter in a two millenia long derailment of the message of Jesus of Nazareth. It is simply the latest, and most cinematic, method of worshipping Jesus without having to follow Jesus. The difference is attractive to the worshippers because to follow Jesus is to enter into an endeavor that will very likely end in ostracism and death at the hands of the good, religious people of your society.
Mark's gospel is about the "way" of Jesus. Mark wrote in Greek. The word for way is (to transliterate) hodos. It can also mean path, but Mark uses it mostly in a manner that for us English speakers is best translated as the way. Regardless, the point of a path or a way is that it must be followed or travelled upon.
The non-canonical book of Thomas and the canonical Mark are two of the earliest stories written about Jesus. Only some of Paul's letters were written earlier. Thomas dates from about 50 CE and Mark from about 70CE. This fact doesn't necessarily makes these versions true, but it does mean that they have less interpretation and "spin" attached to them. Mark's gospel is a story of how Jesus followed his path that led to the confrontation with the Roman empire and its local upper class Judean collaborators and how he was killed for following that path. It is also the story of how even his closest disciples couldn't, or wouldn't, follow that path. (The most notorious story of this is Peter's triple denial that he even knows Jesus on the day he was executed).
By the time the gospel of John was written, Jesus has become a god equivalent to the Father, present at the creation of the world, and is simply not recognizable as a human being, but is something more like one of the gods on Olympus. The way of Mark has become Jesus himself whom John called "the way, the truth and the light." He can no longer be followed, because He and we do not share a common humanity. He is more than human, he is perfect and therefore can't be followed, only worshipped. Christianity went wrong within the first few decades because it is easier to worship a god than follow a prophet.
I'll have more on this in later posts, and more on how current Chrisitanity in America functions as an equivalent to the Roman theology of Jesus's time rather than an expression of the teachings and actions of Jesus.
First, even the Romans in 1st century Judea didn't speak Latin. (As Dan Quayle knows, the only place people speak Latin is in Latin America). They spoke Greek, the language equivalent to English today. It was the language of empire, of global business, and diplomacy. The so-called Romans serving in the military occupation in Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, Samaria and Gallilee most likely weren't from Rome or even Italy. They were from modern day Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, maybe even the Balkans. If they wanted to speak to one another or to the Judeans, they spoke Greek, not Latin.
Second, Gibson's sadistic portrayal of the death of Jesus is a reflection of centuries of Christian propaganda that transformed Jesus from a human being to a god and made his death a sacrifice for our redemption. However, Jesus was killed for how he lived. He was a political and theological threat to the Romans. Gibson, by concentrating on his suffering and death, tries to make that suffering and death the reason that those who believe are saved. Gibson's movie is the latest chapter in a two millenia long derailment of the message of Jesus of Nazareth. It is simply the latest, and most cinematic, method of worshipping Jesus without having to follow Jesus. The difference is attractive to the worshippers because to follow Jesus is to enter into an endeavor that will very likely end in ostracism and death at the hands of the good, religious people of your society.
Mark's gospel is about the "way" of Jesus. Mark wrote in Greek. The word for way is (to transliterate) hodos. It can also mean path, but Mark uses it mostly in a manner that for us English speakers is best translated as the way. Regardless, the point of a path or a way is that it must be followed or travelled upon.
The non-canonical book of Thomas and the canonical Mark are two of the earliest stories written about Jesus. Only some of Paul's letters were written earlier. Thomas dates from about 50 CE and Mark from about 70CE. This fact doesn't necessarily makes these versions true, but it does mean that they have less interpretation and "spin" attached to them. Mark's gospel is a story of how Jesus followed his path that led to the confrontation with the Roman empire and its local upper class Judean collaborators and how he was killed for following that path. It is also the story of how even his closest disciples couldn't, or wouldn't, follow that path. (The most notorious story of this is Peter's triple denial that he even knows Jesus on the day he was executed).
By the time the gospel of John was written, Jesus has become a god equivalent to the Father, present at the creation of the world, and is simply not recognizable as a human being, but is something more like one of the gods on Olympus. The way of Mark has become Jesus himself whom John called "the way, the truth and the light." He can no longer be followed, because He and we do not share a common humanity. He is more than human, he is perfect and therefore can't be followed, only worshipped. Christianity went wrong within the first few decades because it is easier to worship a god than follow a prophet.
I'll have more on this in later posts, and more on how current Chrisitanity in America functions as an equivalent to the Roman theology of Jesus's time rather than an expression of the teachings and actions of Jesus.
posted by Phronesis at 9:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home