anti-empire

the movement of Jesus was (is) a radical one
it ran counterclockwise to the society of his day
against the tide
uphill

in my time that life-statement of Jesus was illustrated mostly in postures and presentation
in the stances we (Fundamentalists) took
and in the way we looked

'separatist' was the basic-training position
'militant' was the presentation

the picture becomes
armed
against

having survived that era and come out on the other side
scars and all
i stand on a promontory
i look back
i survey
i am not 'in' it anymore ...
thank God!

it is a hellhole of rabbit trails and red herrings
a waste of energy
a misdirect
a tragedy

to put it simply
i don't think Jesus dressed or looked particulary different to the average 'Joe'
nor do i think he set himself against the average person of his day

in fact
i think
Jesus
specifically aligned himself with just those people
in such a way that he was 'familiar' to them
he looked like them
smelled like them
and was
with
them

not to say he behaved or believed like them
but he was easy on the eyes
easy on the attitude

how so different from the attitude of my Fundamentalistness ...
how did we ever get there
i wonder

how could the overt, pointed, purposeful association of Jesus with the common people
be construed/constructed/convoluted into an 'against' stance
a military or, if you prefer, formal look
in the face of the norm

it's baffling

it speaks
methinks
to the militant/engaging/oppositional mindset
of the cult

Jesus was not a cult leader

he came to initiate a movement
to declare a kingdom
to be
the way
the truth
the life

and
to me
the marked positioning of that movement
was
anti-religion-of-the-day
...
anti-Judaism of the day
and, lesser so, anti-Caesar/god of the day
and, lesser even, anti-Greek/gods of the day

Jesus declared liberty for all
under the love-reign of Creator God

that positioning
that attitude
was most blatantly visible
on the cross

cross
place of abandonment
of rejection
of condemnation
of ridicule
of judgement
of criminality

place of suffering

place of death

that was the genesis
this is our opportunity to manifest that attitude
in our time
in our day

it is
fundamentally
anti-empire ....

it runs counter
upstream

it is anti-imperialistic

anti-empire

what, indeed, does it profit a person
to gain the world
and, in the doing of it,
lose his very soul

no profit
think loss
dreadful loss

when i align myself with the kingdom perspective of Jesus
i look to be 'love'
nothing beside
only love

out of that attitude
flows everything
everything

for the King
is
love

and i am
his servant


peace