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| Judean wilderness |
What needs to change for the world to be more like heaven?
This story takes place in 29 AD. More importantly, Luke names all of the major political and religious leaders of the day again. (Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire from 14 AD to 39 AD. Pontius Pilate was procurator from 26-36 AD). Luke does this to orient the story in history and to give this story and its characters significance. What John and Jesus do here is happening under the noses of these world leaders. Both Pilate and Herod, named in the beginning of the story, will have direct ties to the main characters. Caiaphas, the high priest, will also play a role as the story unfolds. But Luke's point is precisely that God is acting within history and on behalf of the oppressed members of society and not the ruling class. God is not in the imperial courts in Rome or in palaces or temples, but in the wilderness with John and Jesus!
Here, we are reintroduced to John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is in the Judean wilderness. He is preaching. He is baptizing people into repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People are visiting John there, hungry for a message from God, for truth telling, for an invitation to a changed life. People who are aware of their own brokenness and vulnerability go to John for cleansing. John is a voice crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." This is a reference to the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. (See Isaiah, chapter 40). He is inviting and challenging people to a higher moral life under oppression. Soldiers and tax collectors, aligned with the Roman empire, come to John. He is not just attracting religious types. In fact, the religious Jews are comfortable in their identity as Abraham's children. They belong to God. What more ought they to do? John is challenging them to have a faith perspective, to see the world differently. He is challenging them to see that the current system is broken and must be destroyed. Those who benefit from the system must divest from it. They must bear fruit worthy of repentance That is their pubic actions, their productivity as active leaders and participants in the world must show that they have changed in ways that align with the values of the biblical God. The strict adherence to the law of Moses requires an economy of shared resources, not competition in which there are winners and losers. The rich and poor. The book of Deuteronomy and its focus on social justice seems to play into the mindset of the storyteller and into the words of John. Repentance means to move from an unjust past into a more just future. It is to reject allegiance to corruption and harmful acquisition. Baptism in the Jordan is also a reenactment of God's people crossing the Jordan to enter the promised land after 40 years in the wilderness and 400 years of Egyptian slavery. It is an act of defiant emancipation!
John's message resonates powerfully with people. But John is not the Messiah. His work is preparatory, to make people ready for the Messiah to come. John suggests that the Messiah will be more powerful, more dangerous, more challenging, more inspirational than he. And that he is coming soon. Then John is arrested. We don't know why yet. Could it be his message of repentance?
Jesus is baptized. While he prays the Holy Spirit like a dove comes to him and a voice says, "You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased." He is identified and empowered to act as God's representative.
Then we have this ancestral chart. The intent of the chart is to tie Jesus to Adam as son of...son of....son of...God. Aren't we all sons or daughters of God, according to the bible? Yes. Precisely. Jesus is a human being. Like me and you. And yet, the language "son of God" has political implications in ancient Rome. According to Roman custom, the Emperor Augustus was considered divine or a god. And Tiberius is his son! The Emperor is Son of God! Or is it Jesus? A Jew in the Judean wilderness? Son of God? This is a Messianic claim, a challenge to Roman imperial hegemony and power. Who is more powerful, Rome or Jesus? Is a battle beginning? We will see.
From what must we be emancipated as the children of God?
Tomorrow, Luke 4. Tested.
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