[audio:http://www.dodgevilleumc.org/pastor/sermonbrowser/?download&file_name=01-17-2010-TheFifthGospel.mp3|width=90%]

I was absolutely floored this week when one of my colleagues made this statement in an email: “I don’t think the world needs Jesus. I think the world needs compassion and justice, sometimes named ‘God’ – and for some that connection happens through Jesus. I think most of us can’t take Jesus, frankly. We accommodate the Gospel and Jesus’ witness. I think the world might need people who have a servant heart as Jesus did; people who pursue their spiritual life as Jesus did … people who welcome all as Jesus did….” But … the world doesn’t need Jesus? 

“Why don’t you tear the sky open and come down? The mountains would see you and shake with fear. ² They would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire. Come and reveal your power to your enemies, and make the nations tremble at your presence! ³ There was a time when you came and did terrifying things that we did not expect; the mountains saw you and shook with fear. ⁴ No one has ever seen or heard of a God like you, who does such deeds for those who put their hope in him. ⁵ You welcome those who find joy in doing what is right, those who remember how you want them to live. You were angry with us, but we went on sinning; in spite of your great anger we have continued to do wrong since ancient times. ⁶ All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through. Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind. ⁷ No one turns to you in prayer; no one goes to you for help. You have hidden yourself from us and have abandoned us because of our sins. ⁸ But you are our father, Lord. We are like clay, and you are like the potter. You created us, ⁹ so do not be too angry with us or hold our sins against us forever. We are your people; be merciful to us.
¹⁰ Your sacred cities are like a desert; Jerusalem is a deserted ruin, ¹¹ and our Temple, the sacred and beautiful place where our ancestors praised you, has been destroyed by fire. All the places we loved are in ruins. ¹² Lord, are you unmoved by all this? Are you going to do nothing and make us suffer more than we can endure?” – Isaiah 64:1-12 (TEV)

• First, Jesus was a real Jew: that as fact was part of Jesus’ culture! In Matthew, it took a listing of 42 generations of Jews to establish Jesus’ bloodline—something extremely important, if you are Jewish… Wouldn’t it have been more exciting to start out the first Gospel with something like ‘a teaser on how this book will change your life?’ No; not to its audience, who was primarily Jewish. Making sure that Jesus was a real Jew was extremely important, if he was to take a place of prominence in their history. Jesus’ passed this test, by the way, all the way back to both King David and then Abraham!
• Next, Jesus’ own name was significant; it came from the word Joshua—‘he shall save’—a common name in those days. It’s very ‘ordinariness,’ not unlike ‘Bob’ or ‘Joe’ today, must have grated on the Jewish ears of those listening to Jesus’ words in the 1^st century. Folks, Jews didn’t even pronounce the name of ‘God’ … and this ordinary man with a very ordinary name was actually claiming to be God! (Note: Jews today still won’t even spell out the name of God; instead, they write out ‘G_d.’)
• Signs of Jesus’ ‘Jewishness’ surface all throughout the Gospels:
  • He was circumcised as a baby—something very Jewish!
  • The one scene recorded from Jesus’ childhood has his family at an annual Jewish festival in Jerusalem—very Jewish!
  • As an adult, Jesus worshipped in the synagogue and temple, followed Jewish customs, and spoke in terms that his fellow Jews would understand.
  • Even Jesus’ conflicts with other Jews—i.e. the Pharisees—highlighted the fact that they expected him to be more like them … in every way!

• Throughout the empire, THE PAX ROMANA (“Roman Peace”) was     in place, assuring citizens they had protection from outside enemies and they could enjoy the benefits of Roman justice and civil government—the best Rome had to offer. The poet Virgil—a contemporary of Jesus—said, sounding like an Old Testament prophet … that ‘a new human race is descending from the heights of heaven,’ a change that would come about due to ‘the birth of a child, with whom the iron age of humanity will end and the golden age begin.’ Virgil wrote these messianic words not about Jesus, but about Caesar Augustus, the ‘present deity,’ the ‘restorer of the world,’ who had managed to reunite the empire after a challenging civil war.
• Everybody in the empire was relatively happy and at peace, except for those Jews down in Palestine! While Rome, as a part of their Pax Romana, continued to tolerate many gods, the Jews held tenaciously to the notion of one God, their God, who had revealed to them a distinct culture as God’s chosen people. I can’t tell you how many empirical feathers this ruffled! As one author put it, ‘Palestine and those Jews were the one lump the anaconda could not digest.’ They exasperated Rome to no end!