The Kingdom of God: The Alternative Politics of Jesus Christ (Explorer's Conference 2022, Part 2)

 The 2022 Explorer's Conference at Wi-Ne-Ma Christian Camp was mt first opportunity to speak on the topic of the Biblical vision of the Bible. I was given three sessions to discuss the politics of the Bible, which I broke up into the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Below you will find the video of the second session, the text of my notes, and a link to a PDF of the combined notes from all three sessions.

PLEASE NOTE: unfortunately, there was a technical difficulty with the recording, and part of the middle is missing. 

Download complete notes here

Scarcity Politics in
Second-Temple Judaism

•    Scarcity– The exile was a form of theological scarcity, and in spite of God's promises to the contrary, the returning exiles feared that they may not be restored.

•    The fear was political, not personal: “how will Israel be restored?”, not “how can I be saved?”

•    Competition- this led to a combative competitive mindset, in which the identified lawbreakers and gentiles as threats to the covenant and modified their religious observances to emphasize strict enforcement, and exclusion of gentiles.

•    Violence– this pathological fear of The gentile threat that a covenant ultimately led to the violent revolution of the Maccabees, and the mentality that was present at Jesus's time that violent defense of the Torah was the ideal.

The Gospel as a response

•    The message of Jesus addressed the scarcity politics of his time.

•    Jesus addressed communities.

•    The words he chose were political.

Mark 1:15 NIV

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

•    Kingdom of God/Gospel

Isaiah 52:7 NIV

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

•    Repent and believe

Deuteronomy 30:1–3 NIV

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.

•    Jesus carried his message to towns, looking for a collective reaction.

Luke 10:8–12 NIV

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

For Jesus, Israel was at the cross-roads; it must choose between two conceptions of its national destiny, and the time for choice was terrifyingly short. This explains why, in his instructions to his disciples, he speaks of ‘towns where they receive you’ and ‘towns where they do not receive you.’ He seems to have expected not individual but mass response.... The disciples were not evangelistic preachers sent out to save souls for some unearthly paradise. They were couriers proclaiming a national emergency and conducting a referendum on a question of national survival. (G. B. Caird)

•    Jesus warned that if the Jews didn’t change their course, their scarcity politics would lead them into chaos and destruction.

Luke 13:1–5 NIV

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Luke 19:41–44 NIV

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

•    Jesus’ message to the Jews was an echo of God’s message to Cain (and to Israel):

•    Scarcity is a lie—God will provide for his people (The Kingdom of God is coming)

•    Stop following the lie and live in God’s providence (Repent and believe)

The Political Shape of the Gospel

•    Jesus claimed to be fulfilling the Law—not obeying, but accomplishing its mission of creating a faithful political community

Matthew 5:17 NIV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

•    Jesus did claim to have a kingdom—but a kingdom of a different type.

John 18:36 NIV

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

•    What type of kingdom can finally fulfill the Old Testament vision of a faithful political community?

The Foundation of Providence

Matthew 6:28–34 NIV

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

 

Matthew 7:7–11 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Results of Providence

•    Because of their absolute trust in God’s providence, God’s people can completely reject scarcity politics and show generous love to others.

Matthew 5:38–48 NIV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

•    Because God forgives, God’s people must forgive.

Luke 17:3–4 NIV

So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

 

 

 

 

•    Lawbreakers are not a threat to the covenant, but people to be loved and restored.

Luke 15:28–32 NIV

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

•    Sabbath ought to be shared, not jealously guarded.

Luke 13:16 NIV

Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

•    Followers of Jesus can reject coercive power entirely as a solution because it only perpetuates the cycle of competition and violence.

Matthew 26:52 NIV

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

•    Followers of Jesus pay taxes, not because they depend on or fear the government, but because they are not afraid of scarcity.

Matthew 22:21 NIV

“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

•    In fact, the Kingdom of God is so reliant on the providence of God that it forgoes the use of power altogether, and instead creates and shapes social order through selfless service.

Matthew 20:25–28 NIV

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

•    This is the sense in which the Kingdom of God is different from other kingdoms.

John 18:36 NIV

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

Summary

•    Jesus came to restore Israel as a faithful political community

•    Rather than restoring them to statehood (which would lead them back down the path to exile and destruction) Jesus preached a kingdom that was a genuine political community (it was not private, but intentionally created and shaped order in the world) that did not use any of the trappings of statehood.

•    The shape of this community was not guarded and competitive, but open and compassionate, viewing others as people of value instead of threats.

 

The Coming of the Kingdom

•    How does such a kingdom get established?

•    First, Jesus called Israel one last time to respond to his message.

Mark 11:15–17 NIV

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

•    The Gospels portray the crucifixion of Jesus as a coronation—the only kind of coronation consistent with Jesus’ teachings.

•    Through his crucifixion, Jesus demonstrated his radical commitment to the providence of God in the face of all the powers of the kingdoms of the world.

•    Through the resurrection, God vindicated Jesus’ trust in his providence and elevated Jesus as the true ruler of the world—a ruler of a different kind of kingdom.

•    Jesus restored the Kingdom of Israel, not as a military nation-state, but as the community of the church.

Acts 2:42–47 NIV

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.