Hey Mr. Penna, its Clare again so i ust wanted to give you a heads up and tell you that it is me not Austin again, nothin against Austin i just want my points you know.
-Clare Nelson-Johnson
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
chapter 15- "The temptation to Violence"
The Jews of Palestine were desperate for a leader, someone they could look up to, their hero- a Messiah. They were picturing a courageous king, who would shatter rulers and break them to pieces and destroy godless nations with the word of his mouth. This does not sound very much like the kind of "kingdom" jesus was aiming for, but some people believe that Jesus really was the Messiah and others are convinced that he was not. In numerous gospels it is said that Jesus denied the position and was very resistant to all the temptations. Jesus thought of being the messiah as evil and he said "to have regarded it as a temptation of Satan which had to be rejected". There were two instances where it would seem Jesus was the most tempted to accept the Kingship of Israel, the first was with the thousands of men at the meeting and the second was the fight with peter. There many records that support the idea that there was a meeting with all the disciples and many more gatherers where the miracle happened of the loaves and fishes. All the people soon thought that he was worthy to be the Messiah and to be King. Jesus told all the people no and then told his disciples they had to get on a boat and leave, then Jesus secluded himself and had reflection and prayer. Then Jesus and Peter got in a huge argument and Jesus does not like the fact that Peter thinks he should just take over and become all-powerfull, he tells peter he is acting and thinking like the devil. In those two instances Jesus is tempted with the power and control that would come with being the Messiah, he knows that with that role comes greed and violence and ultimately failure for not only himself but his people as well. Wether or not Jesus wanted to take over he knew that he wanted the Kingdom and becoming the Messiah was not the right thing to do. "The 'kingdom' of total liberation for all people cannot be established by violence. Faith alone can enable the 'kingdom' to come."
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Faith is a strong power, it always has been, probably now more then ever. There are everyday temptations out there in the world(sex,drugs,violence). People often don't have anyone or anything to turn to when these modern day temptations arise so they often just give in. If more people believed in something or had faith in something (doesn't even need to be God) they could probably over come the temptation like Jesus did so many times in his life.
ReplyDeleteI believe Clare is correct in saying that Jesus rejected the Messiah for being a machination of the Devil. The idea of a Messiah coming to save the people of God in the future sounds idyllic, but in Jesus' life, accepting himself as the Messiah wouldd represent a succombing to temptation. Jesus knew that claiming himself to be the Messiah would bring about the possibility of idol worship, which he did not want. Furthermore, I consider claiming yourself to be something you are not to be a sin, and it is very possible that Jesus did not believe himself to be the Messiah revered in Jewish scripture. Accepting the title of Messiah would have caused a distraction from his true ministry.
ReplyDeleteI think something that is not adressed enough in scripture and in the church is the fact that Jesus was tempted just as much (if not more) than everyone else. Whether he was tempted about power or greed, he had to deal with the same kind of struggles the people around him had to deal with. Although, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who dealt with their temptations better. He was the only guy sinless (thats 100% winning percentage). This really reinforces the humanity of Jesus. Yes, we all know that he cried and he had genuine emotions, but internally we have little idea of what Jesus really had to deal with, and how he dealt with his own spirituality.
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