Radical Reformer or Divine Prophet and Counter Revolutionary

The rallying cry Jesus Christ was a revolutionary was tailor-made for 1960’s hippies and it’s purpose was to make Christianity appeal to a generation in revolt against every level of society.

It was undeniably a political stunt and an opportunistic move with its message crafted to fit with the times, and still does.

Personas have been superimposed on Christ since time immemorial but the claim He was a revolutionary certainly isn’t valid given He was recognized as avidly apolitical, rejecting political solutions outright.

Yes, revolutionary can mean innovative but it also means radical and for a peer group who sought the overhaul of civilization it was the bottom line.

Scriptures are hijacked in support of political preferences and as a weapon, strangely non- believers and those of other faiths engage in both practices, thinking it a good way to throw poo at their pesky religious and political rivals.

So then, accusations mired in faux outage over American conservatives mixing a false Christianity together with their politics ring hollow not to mention hypocritical, all things considered.

Narrative is a powerful thing with the battle over who gets control and those who push a line are determined everyone buy-in.

The idea behind narratives is to get people onboard with an idea, or get them to change their views; it’s a persuasion tool to get others to modify their thinking so they’ll get behind whatever it is the peddlers are selling.

There’s no doubt narratives matter because they inform our understanding so if dodgy the whole house of cards falls because everything people believe is wrong.

Getting the Story Right Vs Pushing a Line

The Scriptures don’t provide much background on the Pharisees but what’s gleaned from Jesus Christ’s confrontations with them is the two sides loathed each other.

Here’s what they get wrong; the Pharisees weren’t the upright religious conservatives they painted as, which means Jesus couldn’t be their radical foil in the tale either.

Details about them outside of the Gospel accounts fill in the gaps.

The Pharisees had no religious or political power but a fair amount of influence as the intelligentsia, they practiced a personalized form of worship instead of that prescribed by the law of Moses, followed oral laws passed down from generation to generation and applied their own form of Judaism to day-to-day activities.

They’ve been described as evading the straightforward instructions of the Torah to overlay the scriptures with 146 of their own interpretations.

A modern day example of a Pharisaical type- religion would probably be Universalism because they both believe salvation doesn’t come from God but is determined by the works of men, based on a universalist principle- hence the name, come to think of it — Universalism also makes up its own religion as it goes along.

Pharisees also emphasized a commitment to social justice belief in the brotherhood of man and were the group who actively campaigned to have Christ killed.

Warnings in the New Testament were probably written with the Pharisees in mind, like this one; whoever adds to or takes-away from the scriptures name will be removed from the Book of Life.

Or the warning to those who identify as Christians; you are without excuse ……

Ever wondered where the claim He broke all the rules comes from, why from revolutionary Jesus supporters that’s who.

But the accusations first came out of the mouths of the Pharisees because J. C. refused to buy their revisions concerning the Sabbath, or anything else.

They were outed by Christ himself and called the sons of hell and walking dead men aka white washed tombs.

What about the part where Jesus supposed to have hung out with prostitutes and undesirables?

Well, it depends on what is meant by hung out, if it means he threw them a party and joined in the answer is no.

Of course He accepted dinner invitations as a guest to a cross-section of society not forgetting he had day to day interactions with all kinds of people, hardly the same thing as choosing a particular group to socialize or hang out with.

It can’t be coincidental Christ made his appearance at a time in history when Judaism the religion and its politics was in crisis-mode and prophets hadn’t been heard from for thousands of years.

The Sudducees had both political power and religious clout so they made themselves gatekeepers of the Temple, laying down strict requirements for participation in religious life, with the result three quarters of Jews were non- practicing.

Obviously Judaism’s early prophets wouldn’t have recognized the religion in any form, proof it had been a captured religion for some time.

Jesus mission was not only to bring back the religion of its prophets but to restore it to its proper understanding making him a unique divine prophet and counter revolutionary at the same time.