Jesus of Nazareth lived the life of an ordinary Jewish man in Palestine 2000 years ago. He was a man of his time, place and culture.
We know that as a toddler he lived for some time with Mary and Joseph in Egypt as a part of refugee family. King Herod had been threatened by the birth of this reputed Messiah and had sought to kill all male children under the age of two. Hence their flight across the Sinai Peninsula.
Back home in Nazareth, Jesus was a loved child. He grew up to become a devout and observant Jew, his faith passed onto him as his mother told him stories of ancient times and prophets past. He would have learned his first words from her and said his childish prayers to the God he was getting to know, as yet unaware of his divine destiny. He learned that he belonged to the Chosen People and was immersed in a grand history of hope and heartache cherished within collective memory. He would have played in sawdust and shavings in Joseph’s workshop, this quiet good man who does not get a speaking part in the Gospel narrative, but whose life was eloquent in its faith and loyalty to those whom he loved and protected.
ROMAN OCCUPATION
All Jesus’ life was spent under Roman occupation. Daily life was hard in the brutishness of oppression and a curtailment of some liberties. However, they were permitted to practise their faith and as Jesus later famously reminded them when quizzed by the Pharisees, Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s; render to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21).
They may have lived under the privations of the Pax Romana but they rejoiced in the covenantal relationship they had with their God. Their greeting to each other was Shalom – peace. The recitation of the Shema, Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) was a daily reminder of this profound and foundational connection, this explanation for who they were as a believing people in a pagan world. Communal life was conducted in the village square, the marketplace, at the well and in the synagogue.
We know little about Jesus’ childhood apart from his lecturing of the religious leaders in the Temple when he was 12 years old. At that tender age, he surprised them with his knowledge and authority. He then seemed to disappear into anonymity until his public ministry began when John baptised him in the river Jordan. At 30 years of age, he began to teach and preach and what he had to say was not what the local religious leadership wanted to hear.
ORTHODOXIES CHALLENGED
In an honour and shame society, where everyone knew their place, and the rules that kept them there, Jesus challenged these orthodoxies. The heated debate over the minutiae of the Law and its 613 commandments was part of daily life and Jesus was theologically combative, much to the consternation of the authorities. His interpretation of the scriptures was open-hearted and generous, not rigid and legalistic.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus overturned the stereotype of the Samaritan, a group whom the Jews reviled for having different worship practices. This would have been shocking for the religiously elite who began vocally suggesting that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy. When the disciples were accused of breaking the rest day of Sabbath by plucking heads of grain, this was another opportunity for the Pharisees to catch Jesus out.
AUTHORITY AND GOOD REASON
Instead of aggression, Jesus peaceably answered The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27) Jesus always responded with authority and good reason; not with a narrow literalness that denied the fact of the human being in a living encounter. Jesus’ interpretation of the Law was endowed with a wisdom that showed up the hypocrisy and hard hearts of those whose piety was for public show.
In an unforgiving world, he offered the hope of another life beyond this one. He offered gentleness and compassion instead of judgment and punishment. His message lifted the downtrodden with a sense their lives mattered, that they were not the least and forgotten, that their lives had dignity and worth, that their God knew and loved them.
Jesus of Nazareth opened hearts and minds with his own revolution of tenderness, a lesson for its time and for all time.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Jesus, change, changing gender roles and the Church - questions and activities
How did Jesus teach us to deal with change? Was Jesus a changemaker? Who were some influential female changemakers from Biblical times? How does the Church change and deal with change when it comes to issues of gender?